John O'Kea

John Righteo O'Kea (born June 21 1941) is a former rally driver who only participated in two rallies. He recorded a memorable debut victory in 1967 in the Gower rally in Wales where in his highly un-competitive Renault Dauphine narrowly beat Llewellyn Thomas a highly regarded driver of his time (winner of the Gower rally three times 1959,1963,1966). His grit and determination in that stunning performance was looked on by none other than original flying finn Rauno Aaltonen. Aaltonen immediately saw the young Welshman's potential and through a gentleman's agreement promised him that he would drive in the 1968 Monte Carlo rally in his 1967 winning car a Mini Cooper S. Sadly John's hopes of driving on The Famous Monte Carlo rally were dealt a shocking blow, when in his infamous Renault Daulphine which was currently 40 seconds ahead of second had a tyre blow out which caused injury mainly to his eyes, which lead to loss of sight for six months and therefore missing the Monte Carlo rally. Shortly after this incident John formally retired in March 1968 a mere year after his debut. Some say that he was destined to become one of the best drivers to come out of Wales but now we will never witness John at his prime again.

John, now aged of 65 currently drives for a commercial bus company (Briggs Coaches) in which he is known as "The Mole" (due to his mole-like appearance and a large mole on his face) is hoping to make a comeback in Welsh rallying by entering the Gower Vintage Rally in 2007, at the age of 66, this will also make him the oldest driver at this event.