Thomas Moore

Thomas Moore, also known as Tom Moore, is an American racecar driver. He drives the #24 McDonald's Saar for Saar Racing USA for the TM Master Cup Series. He is known for his two runner-up finishes at Michigan and Ohio and his proficiency on the short track.

Pre TM Junior Series Days
Thomas Moore grew up driving short tracks on the west coast in the West Coast Short Track Divison (WCSTD). Moore started competing in the league at the age of 14, which made him a late bloomer compared to other drivers. He ended up winning one race in the final race of his first season. In his second, Moore was highly impressive, taking six out of 16 possible victories. However, he ended up second in points behind his older brother, Chris. The next season, ended similarly with Moore winning seven races, but not the championship. His brother did again. However, he finally topped him the very next season.

During his fourth season, Moore, his brother, and three other friends formed a band whose goal it was to bring back the former glory of 90's Grunge Rock Music. The band became pretty popular in the Seattle area. The band received enough money from gigs for Thomas and Chris to form their own team in the WCSTD. For the next two and half years, the two dominated this circuit under the Moore Racing banner.

Unfortunately, tragedy struck in Thomas' seventh season at the age of 21. During a charity event, consisting of a concert and race, Chris Moore was killed in a brutal accident where the driver side of his car hit the pit wall head on. Thomas pledged never to race again, but he still played in the band for his brother's memory. Moore refuses to discuss this in interviews. Thomas' father convinced convinced him to get back into racing after a year away from it, but he should move in with his uncle and aunt in New Castle, Indiana where his talent could be noticed. After the push, he returned to being successful on go kart tracks in Indiana. After a year, Thomas Mac, of Big Mac Racing, noticed Moore's talent. He contacted him about an opportunity to run in the TM Junior Series, which Moore happily accepted.

TM Junior Series
Thomas Moore was not very successful during his TM Junior Series stint. Tom struggled to adjust to the weight of the cars along with the road courses and large ovals. Big Mac Racing, a new team at the time, had a lack of funding that hurt the car's performance throughout the season. The team had several engine expirations and days where they were way off the pace. The rookie combination of driver and team did not work out well. The highest the team was able to finish was 15th at the Round of Bristol. Because of this, the team was not accepted into the newly merged TM Lights Series. Moore now lacked a full time ride.

2011
Thomas Moore was out of a full time ride, but Big Mac Racing kept him on hand. Moore attempted the Round of Dwyer with Jacob Mac as his relief driver, but they were involved in an accident and DNPQ'd. Moore also failed to qualify at Rockford. This lack of success was also paralleled in the TM Master Cup Series. Moore failed to qualify for Decatur by just four positions.

2012
2012 was the beginning of the rise of Tom Moore's career. Big Mac Racing's application was accepted for an Independent's Trophy run. The team interestingly chose the new, Lycoia model for their entry. They chose Moore as their driver over ARLA Series regular Makoto Yamada, who was thought to be the favorite. The team decided to stick to the short tracks, where Moore excelled. Plus, all of the races were in the Midwest, where Big Mac Racing is based.

The first race the team attempted was Carbondale, which ended in Moore being wrecked by veteran Jose Luis Martinez. A normally calm Moore was irate after the incident. Later in the year, the team ran the short-fielded Round of Michigan. Thomas Moore shocked the division when he charged through the field and ended up finishing 2nd place. Moore kept up this momentum in the Round of Ohio where Moore moved up 32 positions in the field to finish second once again. Moore and his Lycoia technical teammates had all been fast, and all three Lycoia drivers were attempting the Round of Quincy. This is the first time Moore really had high expectations. Moore looked impressive during the race, leading several laps in the first half. However, Moore lost focus, got tight, and ended up wrecking himself and technical teammate Greg Woodard, which did not go over well. Tom Moore led the Independent's Trophy standings, but he lost the lead late to Danny Savin and eventual winner Gaspar de Sousa.

2013
Moore had yet another run for the IT Championship. This season featured more solid runs on various tracks, including some on the Road Courses, which Moore struggled with before. However, at Quincy his championship chances took a major dent after getting involved in an accident with technical teammate Greg Woodard. Moore would go on to finish 2nd again, but still had a solid campaign. A notable event during this campaign was qualifying for Karjala. However, Moore was DNQ'd after his car didn't pass inspection.

2014
In 2014, Moore accepted a full time deal with Delgado-Degarmo. The team struggled to find speed early on in the season, and Moore struggled to find any top twenty finishes. He also had a couple controversial accidents. The team ordered Moore to pick up the pace. He did just that at Quincy, where he finished in 11th place. This allowed Tom to maintain his ride. The team and Moore showed a couple flashes of potential after this, but no more results appeared. Later on in the season, Moore left Delgado-Degarmo for a vacant ride with Team Saar USA, the team Moore dreamed of driving for. Here, Moore found more success. This included a couple strong road course races and a strong finish in Brazil at a superspeedway, a type of track Tom has struggled with in the past.

Interesting Facts/Trivia

 * Moore was given the nickname "Teen Spirit" during his years driving in Seattle. This is a reference to the famous Nirvana song, "Smells Like Teen Spirit".
 * Moore and his girlfriend have dated for six years, beginning when they met at an Incubus concert.
 * Moore often reunites with his band in Seattle to play gigs around the city. Similarly, Moore is often seen playing hi guitar in the garage area before races.
 * Moore ran the number 2 in his career in the WCSTD, while his brother drove the 5. Because of this Moore normally requests to drive some combination of the two numbers so ,"his brother can ride along with him".