Rocky Moran Jr.

William James "Rocky" Moran Jr. (born January 11, 1980) is an American racing driver from Irvine, California. He is the son of the late Rocky Moran, also a racer.

Racing career

Early career Moran participated in karting from 1990 to 1994. In 1994, he transitioned to cars through the Skip Barber Racing School. He made his professional racing debut in 1996 in the Barber Dodge Pro Series, finishing tenth. He improved to sixth in 1997 but fell back to eleventh in 1998. He made his Toyota Atlantic debut in 1998. Moran split his time between Barber Dodge and Toyota Atlantic in 1999. In 2000, he joined Toyota Atlantic full-time and finished fifth in points for P-1 Racing. In 2001 he began the season with Condor Motorsports but switched to Cobb Racing mid-way through the season. He captured his first series victory in the season finale at Laguna Seca and finished eighth in points. In 2002, he returned to the series driving for Sigma Autosport. He finished fifth in points with a win at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and two other podium finishes. Moran spent 2003 away from professional motorsports, but returned to Atlantics in 2004, making five starts with Polestar Motor Racing. He made three Busch North Series race starts in 2005 as well as two Atlantics starts and drove in the Infiniti Pro Series' Freedom 100 but suffered a gearbox failure after only four laps.

Sports cars In 2006, Moran made three starts in the Rolex Sports Car Series. He also made occasional road course appearances in the Busch North Series from 2006 to 2009.

In 2011, Moran was a Jaguar factory driver in the American Le Mans Series with RSR Racing, driving in five of the nine rounds of the championship. However, the car was plagued by mechanical problems and never finished higher than twentieth.

IndyCar Series Moran completed his first IndyCar Series test with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports in fall of 2014 at Homestead Miami Speedway.

Shortly before the 2015 Grand Prix of Long Beach, it was announced that Moran would drive in the race with Dale Coyne Racing, stepping into the seat formerly held by Carlos Huertas. His IndyCar debut came nearly ten years after his last Atlantics start. However, he broke his thumb during contact with the wall during Friday practice and was replaced for the rest of the race weekend by Conor Daly.

Racing record

American open-wheel racing results (key)

Atlantic Championship 1 C2 Class

Indy Lights

IndyCar Series Year Team No. Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Rank Points Ref 2015 Dale Coyne Racing 18 Dallara DW12 Honda STP NLA LBHWth ALA IMS INDY DET DET TXS TOR FON MIL IOW MDO POC SNM NC - Season still in progress