We’re guessing that many of you heard about Team O’Neil’s lead mechanic, Ed McNelly (a.k.a. “Fast Eddie”), rolling the Fiesta R2 he was piloting at Missouri’s Rally of the 100 Acre Wood (100AW) and continuing to finish the race.  Well, we thought it would be fun to get a few more details out of Ed on this one and share them with you before the story becomes myth and myth becomes legend (unless, of course, that’s already happened…).

BEFORE: McNelly piloting the R2. Courtesy Matt Lamoureaux.

First, a little background.  As I mentioned above, Ed is our lead mechanic.  Yes, mechanic. According to Tim O’Neil – who was a mechanic before he became a five-time national rally champion – they used to say (and still do) that rally mechanics never make good rally drivers, because they wouldn’t go fast enough for fear of breaking the car.  Clearly, that old racing tale does not apply to Fast Eddie.

While Ed’s career as a rally car mechanic goes back to 1988, his rally driving career really only goes back a couple years, beginning in 2010 when he drove as a regional competitor at the New England Forest Rally. He competed in the same rally again last year, clinching 2nd in the G2 (2WD) class.  This past September, McNelly entered the Black River Stages Rally in New York, where he finished the race in a TON Stage 1 Ford Fiesta but with an off.  In October, he headed to Canada for the Rally Charlevoix with last year’s Rally America 2WD National Champion and former TON instructor Wyatt Knox as co-pilot, this time in one of the TON-built Fiesta R2s.  The team had been pushing hard and were second in class until, as Ed put it, “we had a fuel leak and ran out of gas.”  Literally.  And that ended that rally.  About a month later McNelly headed back to Canada for the legendary Rally of the Tall Pines.  This time his co-driver was Pascal Belperron and he was back in the Stage 1, whereas Knox was now competition and piloting the more powerful R2.  Despite some pretty nasty road conditions and starting at the back of the pack, McNelly pulled off an amazing third place finish as a national competitor at the final Canadian rally of 2011. Starting off the Rally America season at Sno*Drift, Ed drove to a 6th in class finish in the R2.

And now we come to 100AW.  This time, McNelly was piloting a newly built R2, and he was accompanied by experienced co-driver Ole Holter, who has been co-driving since 1997 and who was the co-driver for Knox in 2011.  The team did recce, making lots of note changes as they passed through, and ran shakedown not once, not twice, but four times. On day 1, McNelly was setting some good times, often finishing a stage in second place for the 2WD class and finishing the day in 3rd place.  Day 2 started off well enough, until the 4th stage of the day when Ed “drove around a corner a little too fast,” the car got “a little too sideways for the power” and he couldn’t pull out of the slide.

Ed says at first he figured they’d just spin out and keep going, but instead they ended up

AFTER: McNelly continues to push the R2, post-roll. Courtest Matt Lamoureux.

hitting a bank on the side of the road, and “we went backwards into the woods first, rolled two times, landed on the wheels on the bank but facing in the right direction. We asked each other if the other was OK, we both said yes, the car started, I drove and continued at the same pace.” The windshield was cracked, but they didn’t realize the extent of the rest of the damage at that point.  While the roll caused them to lose about 1.5 minutes on their time and their second place lead, they managed to finish the next stage without losing any time despite the bad windshield.

What had happened really didn’t hit him, says McNelly, until the next service, where he saw the crushed rear passenger side.  They ended up needing to replace the windshield, which Ken Block, about to become 6-time 100AW champion (and former TON student), provided them.  A changed taillight and headlight later, and they were ready to finish the race.

McNelly says they ran two more stages, and during the second to last stage knowing that

NOW: The R2 in the shop at Team O'Neil, awaiting a few repairs...

they were only 1 second behind Van Way and a podium spot, he “pushed beyond [his] driving limits and had a few ‘moments’” – that is, some sloppy driving that caused him to lose about 40 seconds. On the final stage, Holter calmed him down (ah, the benefits of having an experience co-driver!), and they ultimately finished the race with a very respectable 4th place in class and 10th place overall.

McNelly is currently tied for 4th place in the Rally America Championship Series, and just 8 points away from 3rd place.  We look forward to cheering him on at the 3-day Oregon Trail Rally in May!