A sad farewell to Frank Meagher - the people's champion in rallying. Story and images by Colin Courtney. March 2002.
Irish Rallying was dealt another severe bolt this week with the death of Frank Meagher from Tipperary, Ireland. Frank was killed during a private test session in forests around Carrick-on-Suir, close to his home. The exact details of the crash are not known, but coming just over a year after the death of another great Irish Rally hero, Bertie Fisher, and so close to the start of the new Irish Tarmac Championship in a few weeks time, the local scene is trying to come to terms with a second tragedy in as many years.
Frank has been a regular on the Irish Tarmac scene for many years. He first came to prominence in a BDA-engined Mark 2 Escort. He always threw his whole weight into the sport, and competed against the best drivers in the country, in the best cars, and with the biggest budgets. Frank ran a family car business, and every spare penny went to finance his love of the sport. He performed many a giant killing act in the BDA Mark 2 Escort, sometimes disappearing for months without sign until he had gathered the necessary finance to come along and put the "big boys" in their place.
As technology moved on, and the age of four wheel drive came along, Frank moved with the times and bought a Sierra Cosworth. But while the likes of Bertie Fisher, and Kenny McKinstry had moved on to the vastly superior Subaru Legacys and Austin McHale to the Toyota Celica, Frank still managed to keep up with the latest technological advances in his ageing Cosworth. Again though budget constraints were always foremost, and Frank had some major accidents throughout his career which ate away at whatever budget he had. Eventually though he attained some backing from 2Fm and Lombard Finance, and an Escort Cosworth was bought.
Even against the Escort, other drivers moved on further. Bertie Fisher now driving a Subaru Impreza, Kenny McKinstry still in the Legacy, Austin McHale in the Toyota, and Stephen Finlay in the latest specification Malcolm Wilson Motorsport Michelin Pilot Escort Cosworth. But in 1995, Frank's time had come. He had been locked in battle all year long with Bertie Fisher in the Subaru Impreza and Stephen Finlay in the Escort Cosworth. Bertie had only contested a few events, but would still have a chance if he won the Manx, a rally he never won in his illustrious career. Frank started poorly with a puncture on the very first stage, and Bertie romped off into the distance. With the finish in sight, Bertie's transmission gave up on stage 13, and Frank came through to beat a host of Formula 2 machinery and win the rally outright. The first ever Southern Irish driver to do so.
The battle for the championship came down to the wire in Cork. Bertie was not present, as he had no mathematical chance to win the title, but the pace between Frank and Stephen Finlay was as hot as ever. Frank's self-run machine wasn't a match mechanically to Finlay's works-spec car, but Frank's pace alone kept him in the hunt, until a mistake saw Stephen pitch the Escort off the road and into retirement. The championship was Frank's and the rest is history.
Since then, Frank has struggled against the glut of WRC specification machinery and newer, quicker drivers. But Frank was a driver they always looked up to, because they knew even with the lack of major sponsorship he was still a major threat to outright victory. In fact right up to 2001 when Foot & Mouth curtailed the season's rallying, Frank was still on the pace, setting excellent times in the two single-venue, sprint-type events at Punchestown Raceway. More recently Frank has campaigned WRC specification machinery, firstly an Escort WRC followed by a Focus WRC. Both were ex-works M-Sport cars.
Who knows what this year may have brought? The Circuit of Ireland is returning to the championship after a brief layoff, and with the massive interest in the Tarmac series as a whole, the death of "The People's Champion" seems all the harder a pill to swallow.
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