He drove for Dan Gurney. He drove for A.J. Foyt. He nearly won his first IndyCar race. He helped All American Racers and Toyota win their first Rolex 24 At Daytona. And he was loved throughout the sport.
Rocky Moran died last weekend after an extended battle with cancer, and with his passing, a fountain of warmth and positivity has been lost. Prodigious talent, as well.
“I’m sorry to hear that about Rocky,” A.J. Foyt told RACER. “He drove for me in a couple of 500s and ran good. When I got hurt at Charlotte, I asked him to drive my car at Laguna Seca. He was a solid driver and just a super guy.”
At 6-foot-3, the Southern Californian towered over most people, but his steady outpouring of kindness and supportive words put folks at ease. Along with his wife Kayla, the Morans made an impact at the many teams where he drove, as bringing baked goods to share with the crew was just one of the ways they made friends and family in the paddock.
Making his amateur debut in 1971, Moran raced extensively on the West Coast and in a range of open-wheelers and sports cars before stepping up to bigger nationwide series like Trans Am, Can-Am, and IMSA throughout the rest of the decade.
Having grown up near Dan Gurney’s All American Racers shop in Santa Ana, Calif., Moran idolized the “Big Eagle” and dreamt of driving for his hero. He’d get his big break in 1981 when Gurney nominated Moran to wheel the famed No. 48 “Pepsi Challenger” Eagle-Chevrolet at the Watkins Glen CART IndyCar Series race.
Qualifying a remarkable seventh within the 24-car field, Moran charged to first and led 21 laps, controlling the race until a problematic final pit stop left him without enough fuel to make it to the finish line. Despite the setback and disappointment at losing a clear shot at winning on his IndyCar debut, Moran was credited with sixth in the No. 48 entry as Rick Mears scored the victory.
A few years spent mostly away from the cockpit was resolved in 1985 when Moran got his second chance in IndyCar with the storied Leader Card Racing team where he placed an encouraging 15th at his home race in Long Beach. And with AAR’s move into IMSA with Toyota in the GTO class in 1986, Moran received the honor of a lifetime when he was hired by Gurney as a factory driver within the program.
Dovetailing with his duties in the Toyota Celica, Moran partook in eight IndyCar races with the modest Gohr Racing outfit and returned in 1987 to place 13th at Long Beach and miss out on his first attempt to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 with Salt Walther’s diminutive team.
One IMSA GTO race with AAR in January of 1988 — as the team readied a new GTP program for Toyota that would arrive in 1989 — meant Moran was locked in on his busiest season of IndyCar to date, starting with a stellar run to sixth at Long Beach for Gohr in an old car. He’d do eight more races for Gohr, but the big development for Moran in 1988 came when Foyt — impressed by his showings in lesser equipment — put him in one of his cars for the Indy 500.
Starting two rows behind Foyt in 28th, Moran took the No. 48 home to 16th — an engine failure prevented a better placing — and he earned a return invitation from the IndyCar legend for 1989 in a Curb Racing-entered Foyt machine. He’d start 28th again and improve to 14th, and when Foyt was injured and sidelined in a heavy crash during practice for the NASCAR race in Charlotte late in the season, “Super Tex” called Moran and asked him to step in and pilot his legendary No. 14 car at Laguna Seca.
In his Indy 500 and IndyCar swansong, a return to Gohr in 1990 saw Moran claim 33rd in time trials with another old car and finish 25th after the motor expired. He’d make a few more attempts to qualify for Indy through 1994, but the run with Gohr — just his 23rd IndyCar race over a 10-year span — was his last.
But Moran wasn’t done in the sport. As AAR’s GTP program evolved from its early prototypes into the unleashing of the all-conquering Eagle Mk III in 1991, Moran was entrusted to race its predecessor, the HF-90, with teammate Willy T. Ribbs — earning a podium at Portland — as the Mark III came online in the middle of the year.
Promoted to the new chassis in the endurance races for 1992, Moran partnered with PJ Jones and Mark Dismore to finish fourth at Daytona, and the following year, the trio made history for AAR and Toyota by taking the overall win at the Rolex 24 At Daytona. His farewell outing came at the next enduro at the 12 Hours of Sebring where he and Jones took the Mk III to third.
“Great teammate who I trusted,” Ribbs said. “I am truly sad. I will miss him.”
With his professional driving career complete, Moran turned his attention to supporting his son, Rocky Jr., whose rise up the karting ranks to junior open-wheel racing in the 1990s continued into the 2000s as he won races in the Toyota Atlantic Championship and earned a pair of fifth places in the standings.
Outings in Indy Lights and stock cars and sports cars followed before he pursued other interests, and thanks to an unexpected opportunity presented by Dale Coyne in 2015, Moran Jr. was able to make his IndyCar debut at Long Beach and impressed — despite having no testing time — in practice on Friday and again Saturday morning until a crash and a broken thumb ruled him out for the rest of the weekend.
Despite missing the chance to add to the legacy of fathers and sons to have raced in IndyCar, the elder Moran was beaming with pride throughout the event, a place where he’d burnished his name decades prior. Both were common sights at historic races in Monterey in recent years as Moran Jr. got a chance to drive one of the fearsome Eagle Mk IIIs once helmed by his dad.
The look on Moran’s face when his son strapped into the car for the first time and pulled away was priceless, one of love and fulfillment.
Moran is survived by his wife Kayla, daughter Kelly, sons Rocky Jr. and Cody, and seven grandchildren.