Off-Road Racer Podcast Episode 73: Chris Cyr
From Dreamer to Driver: How Chris Cyr Helped Save a Rally School and Shape American Rally
In 2013, Chris Cyr sent a cold email to Team O’Neil Rally School, offering free business coaching in exchange for a shot at learning how to drive. Two days later, Tim O’Neil called him back — and handed him a mission: save the company, or it would close its doors.
That phone call didn’t just change Chris’s life — it helped shape the next era of American rally.
In this episode of the Off-Road Racer Podcast, we sit down with Chris to hear how he went from obsessed teenage fan to managing partner of one of the most influential rally schools in North America, and how his work continues to ripple through rally, off-road, and beyond.
A Passion Born in the Dirt
For Chris, it started the way it does for many rally fans — watching late-night WRC coverage on Speed TV, diving into the early days of drifting and toge driving, and eventually making the pilgrimage to watch his first rally: Colorado Cog Rally in 2003. What he saw there — rally cars rolling off ridgelines, drivers wrestling for control at the edge of traction — left him hooked for life.
From then on, he chased it. But with no industry connections and no way to fund a racing career, he turned to business. His logic was simple: figure out how to build companies so he could someday afford to go racing.
The Call That Changed Everything
That “someday” came faster than expected. After nearly giving up on rally for good, Chris took one last shot — offering his expertise to Team O’Neil in exchange for driving time. Instead, he got a job offer… and a challenge.
The school was struggling. The business was weeks from folding. And Chris, just 26 at the time, was told flat out: you’re hired week-to-week. If you can’t turn this around, we shut it down.
He got to work — not on marketing or sales, but on the basics: HR, structure, leadership, internal systems. What followed was a full transformation of the business, from a small, passionate crew with no roadmap to a growing powerhouse that now trains hundreds of students each year across rally, drift, off-road, and emergency response.
From the Back Office to the Driver’s Seat
Despite helping grow and stabilize Team O’Neil, Chris didn’t actually get to race for several years. When he finally did — at STPR in Pennsylvania — his rally ended four stages in when his car caught fire and burned to the ground. It could have been the end. Instead, it became fuel.
In 2022, Chris returned to rally with a new car, a new vision, and a mission to race consistently while continuing to lead the business behind the scenes.
Building More Than a School
Chris’s role isn’t just about coaching students or booking classes. It’s about shaping the future of rally in the U.S. — from the ground up.
He helped launch the American Rally Association (ARA), pulling together a volunteer-driven effort to create a new sanctioning body that put organizers and racers first. He’s worked to connect rally with other motorsports — particularly off-road racing — and has become a key advocate for education, culture-building, and cross-discipline growth.
Today, Team O’Neil isn’t just a school. It’s an ecosystem — training rally drivers, off-road racers, military operators, and everyday enthusiasts alike. And under Chris’s leadership, it’s expanding into new disciplines like drift, moto, and high-performance tarmac driving — all with the same foundation of adult learning, real-world application, and passion for driving.
The Rally Mentality
If there’s one thing Chris believes in, it’s the value of rally as a foundational motorsport. From mental focus to driving discipline, it’s one of the most demanding forms of competition in the world — and one of the best training grounds for everything else.
Whether it’s desert racers learning how to handle chaos at speed, or action sports athletes looking to extend their careers behind the wheel, rally offers something few other sports can: total focus, total commitment, and the ability to crash — and learn from it.
The Road Ahead
Chris isn’t slowing down. With ownership in Team O’Neil, a racing program in full swing, and long-term goals to build out a franchise-style model that introduces more people to motorsports, he’s focused on growth — but not at the cost of culture.
Rally may still be an underdog in America, but with leaders like Chris Cyr pushing from within, the story’s far from over.
Listen to the full episode of the Off-Road Racer Podcast to hear Chris’s full story — and how one email turned into a lifelong mission to grow rally from the inside out.