Chris Cyr, CEO of Team O’Neil Rally School located in Dalton, NH brought his racing chops all the way to Missouri this past weekend. The “100 Acre Wood” rally consists of tough gravel roads, where racers compete against the clock in their purpose built cars to get the fastest times.
Cyr raced in the Limited Two Wheel Drive class in the colorful 965 Ford Fiesta. Before the cars go out to the stages, they engage the local communities and rally fans by parking their cars along a main street in what is called “parc expose.” Chris’ 3 kids designed his car and encourage other children to add their own drawings and illustrations. “Our family calls this the Bearly Cyr-ious car,” said Cyr, “and we want other kids to add their artwork to our racing canvas.” During the parc expose, his car easily attracts the biggest group of young rally fans.
One of the hardest things about rally racing is maintaining the vehicle throughout the two days of intense driving, which covered 76 miles of racing stages. This rally is also known to be one of the fastest in North America. However, the difficult roads and tough competition wasn’t even the biggest struggle of this year’s event. Strong winds, rain, wildfires, and tornadoes brought the racing to a halt on Friday night in addition to causing widespread damage in the region. “The racing was going pretty smoothly but everything around us was going crazy. Wildfires and tornadoes are not what we are used to being from New Hampshire.” Cyr said.
However, the struggles were all worth it. Cyr didn’t just complete the rally–a challenge within itself–he remained competitive on every single stage. Cyr stood highest on the podium after the whole weekend, placing first in his class. His nearest competition was nearly 7 minutes behind him. He also placed 10th overall, against teams with million dollar budgets and the latest engineering technology in their vehicles. “We have some amazing partners–Michelin, Öhlins, and Hawk Performance–all of which are known for being the best in their businesses. We put the entire package together this weekend and proved it was a winning combination.” he said after the race. His co-driver Glen Ray echoed this sentiment, praising the “Amazing group of people, amazing group of guys, with some amazing cars.”
Team O’Neil Rally School in Dalton, NH is home to a 585 acre campus and specializes in driver training in all the worst case scenarios. Find out more information about Team O’Neil at teamoneil.com. Cyr is trying to win his first rally championship and will be traveling all over the United States in 2025. Follow his journey on social media @chriscyr965 and @teamoneil
By Sarah O’Neil
