Greg Moore may have passed away in a mid-race collision in 1999, but his passion for the sport and for life live on for many decades later.
Soon, his legacy will live on in the form of a life-size statue of him that a fan hopes to erect within the year at the Greg Moore Youth Centre in Maple Ridge.
Plans for the statue were unveiled Saturday night at Mission Raceway Park, during a special dedication ceremony as part of the B.C. Historic Motor Races weekend event. Greg’s father, Ric, was present for the announcement and reportedly “appreciative” of the gesture.
“The Terry Fox of racing.” That’s how B.C. resident Ian Wood – likely many other locals – saw Greg Moore.
Wood is the one moved to create the tribute to Greg, who made waves with his racing. The young race car driver quickly garnered himself the title of an ‘oval track specialist’ within the racing community and earned him a spot in the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame.
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Moore has been posthumously honoured with the Greg Moore Raceway in Chilliwack, Greg Moore Youth Centre in Maple Ridge, and the Greg Moore Emergency Department within Ridge Meadows Hospital.
There have also been several smaller gestures to respect Moore’s legacy throughout the years, including at Mission’s motorsports track.
“I don’t know who did it, but at Mission Raceway Park, there’s a plaque on turn two that says ‘Greg Moore Corner,’” said Wood.
But Wood wants to take it even further by constructing a statue in Moore’s likeness.
“I want the statue to be mysterious and have the eyes seem to really move with you as you go past it,” he said. “I want it to be a rustic piece of art of Greg with his car behind him.”
The desire to do this came to Wood after he recently came across some Moore memorabilia.
“I came across a VHS of Greg somewhat recently and it really got to me,” he explained. “I looked at the cover of the VHS and thought, ‘he kind of looks like a statue’.”
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From there, Wood began working on a plan to make his statue idea a reality.
“I approached Peter Baljet, who owns a dealership on Vancouver Island, about the project and he told me, ‘I have a $1,000 for that’,” Wood said.
“Peter also talked to Greg’s dad, Ric, and said that Ric would come to the unveiling of the statue.”
This unveiling likely won’t be until 2023 as Wood is still in the beginning stages of the project.
“Hopefully, I can get this thing done in less than a year,” he explained. “I will probably even set up a GoFundMe so that other supporters can help get it done.”
In addition to helping immortalize the Moore legacy, Wood also hopes that this statue is able to provide further closure for Moore’s family, friends, and fans.
“There was that Coquitlam cyclist who got ran off the road in the rain and killed, and his family didn’t even get a service because of COVID,” he said. “They had a service a couple years later and it was almost better because no one was hurting as much, and I want this statue to be the same thing for Greg.”
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