Racing career
1980s
O'Neil's first rallying experience was in 1986, racing a Saab 99 he had prepared, winning Canada's Novice of the Year. [1] Prior to this he had raced stock cars, receiving rookie of the year honors in 1982. [1] In 1987, he won the New England Division Championship. [1] He was recruited by Volkswagen in 1988 to drive the Group A Golf GTI. [1] During that year's Press On Regardless Rally, he led for over two days before getting stuck in a ditch on the last stage. [1] He achieved his first overall victory at the Tall Pines Rally, clinching the Canadian Group A title. [1]
He formed Team O'Neil Motorsport in 1989 as Volkswagen moved from Group A to the Production Class. [1] He won six of the first eight SCCA National ProRally Championship Events, locking up both individual and manufacturer's championships by midseason. [1] As North American Production Champion, he also became the first Production class driver to win overall at an SCCA national event and also won the Tall Pines Rally Overall in a Production class car. [1]
1990s
In 1990, O'Neil drove the AWD, supercharged Rallye Golf prototype to three overall wins and then became the first American in years to compete in Finland's 1000 Lakes Rally, a World Rally Championship event. [1] In the same year, he used the car to set a record time of 7m, 45s in the Mount Washington Hillclimb Auto Race. [2] In 1992, O'Neil was signed by Mitsubishi, and drove a Galant VR4 to win the National GT Championship as well as winning overall at a national SCCA rally with a Production GT car. [1]
2000s
O'Neil drove a United States Air Force Reserve sponsored Group N Subaru WRX to many National class wins in 2002. He then drove a 2002 Ford SVT Focus in the 2003 SCCA ProRally Championship season and had many podium finishes. This car was featured in the game Sega Rally 2006. [3] At the end of the 2003 season, he announced a short retirement from competition to focus on developing his Rally School, the Team O'Neil Rally School in northern New Hampshire. [3]
Tim spent much of the 2000s training rally drivers who later went on to win many national championships, including Travis Pastrana, Ken Block, Dave Mirra, and many more.
He began competing again in 2006, driving a Subaru WRX STI, in several events in the Rally America National Championship in 2006 and 2007. [4] [5]
Tim also became involved with organizing the New England Forest Rally in the late 2000s as well as organizing several other rally races in the northeast.
2010s
Tim O'Neil continued developing the Team O'Neil Rally School as well as Team O'Neil Motorsports, a racing team that specializes in modifying production-based vehicles and has won many SCCA and Rally America National Championships.
During 2014, O'Neil drove EVSR, the fully electric racecar created by Entropy Racing, during Subaru's Climb to the Clouds Hillclimb at Mt Washington, NH. It was the first electric vehicle to compete in this event since its creation. Tim bested his old hill record with a time of 7:28. He now holds the fastest electric record at Mt. Washington.
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