Alister McNeill succumbs to cancer

Respected crew chief and team owner Alister McNeill (pictured at far left, next to Johnny O'Connell, with Ricky Cameron at far right) died on Dec. 30 after an 18-month battle against cancer. The New Zealander was part of a wave of Kiwis and Australians that migrated to Formula 1 in the 1970s and went on to settle in other forms of the sport throughout the world.

McNeill's move to America followed stints in F1, and after an initial stop in Georgia, McNeill based himself in Southern California where he continued working in road racing and formed McNeill Motorsports.

McNeill's team became a powerhouse entrant in Formula Atlantic and Super Vee, the two leading Indy car ladder series of the 1980s, where Johnny O'Connell – now a star in the Pirelli World Challenge with Cadillac Racing – made a name for himself in Alister's Atlantic program where he won the championship on his debut with the team.

"Without a doubt the most influential and important person in my career was Alister," O'Connell wrote in a tribute to McNeill. "Before the beginning of the 1987 Atlantic season I went to him with half the budget we needed. With an engine that began the season as a box of parts, we somehow managed to put together a championship-winning effort. I have no idea how he pulled it off financially, I can only guess that he was dipping into the kids' college fund!

"What was so cool was seeing his enthusiasm and competitiveness increase more and more throughout the year. He wanted the championship every bit as much as I did. His belief in me, his leadership, his integrity and friendship made that one of the best years of my life. So thanks my dear friend. Without your belief in me, your efforts.... All the rest would never have happened."

A young Kiwi named Ricky Cameron also advanced his career with McNeill. Cameron is one of the leading engineers in IMSA's Prototype class, and his son Dane, born the year after Ricky went to work for McNeill, has gone on to become an IMSA champion.

"I went to work for Alister in 1987 with Johnny O'Connell, but the first time I saw him was when he was doing the Kreepy Krauly March IMSA GTP cars, and then it morphed into the MOMO days with Gianpiero Moretti, and that got him to open his shop in Santa Ana, McNeill Motorsports," Cameron said. "Then he got into Atlantics for Scott and Jeff Wood, and he also did some Super Vee and [Indy Lights], but it was with Johnny in '87 where things started really taking off for him."

Cameron spent five years working for McNeill, and credits his character and passion as the driving force behind the team's success.

"The thing I remember the most is there was a lot of work available at the time because immigration was much easier, but he was one of the first guys to offer year-round employment," Cameron continued. "At that level of racing, below Indy car, it was rare, and for me, he was the most honest guy. He wanted you to know you'd have a job and you didn't have to worry about being on the street after the season was over.

"You knew there was no agenda or taking advantage of people. And he spent all of his budget on the race team. He didn't take in $400,000, put $200,000 for the team, and siphon off the rest to buy a boat. It all went into the program. He took a lot of personal cuts in the early days to make sure his team was competitive."

McNeill sold his team in the early 1990s and left the sport. Despite his long absence from motor racing, his connections with friend and former colleagues never diminished.

"He'd been out of the industry for a while, but everyone stayed pretty close with him," Cameron said. "He got jerked around towards the end in Indy Lights, and he stayed in when he shouldn't have because of his passion and didn't make the money he should, but he loved to compete. It wasn't a job for him. We lost one of the people who had more passion for competition and results than he did for his own lifestyle. He fought and fought to be successful. He did this for his competitive drive, and that's always stayed with me."

A memorial for McNeill is scheduled for Jan. 29 in Newport Beach.