RIP Ed Mulligan
His part in a 45 year old Southern Cross Rally Mystery
With the so sad and untimely passing of the Master Jester of rallying in Australia and guru of the nickname, Bad Ed, the Hooligan Mulligan his Jester apprentice, Bruce - The Goose - Garland has informed Man on Road (not a Ed nickname!) that the Ed past onto him the answer to a 45 year old legendary rally mystery that was only to be spread upon his passing.
But what happened to the wheel? Various members of the Blue
Ford Team have accused some of the southern Nissan crew thieves of nicking it.
Well, we did have form there with several Escort Minilite mags
"disappearing" whilst a stricken Escort was being fetted by the likes
of John - the boatbuilder - Gray. But NOT this one your honour.
How was the Flat Bottom Minillte mag created.
It was on Day 4 of the 1980 Southern Cross Rally and another
great Australia motorsport storyteller, Max Stahl takes up the story ….
“The final day started with a run through the challenging
Rollover Road in Broken Bago Forest, a stage that would be repeated in reverse
the following morning. Portman set the pace on 11:05 followed by Fury 11:11,
Vatanen and Dunkerton 11:15. Carr had brake problems return, hit a bank and
dropped two minutes. He limped into control with the left front wheel awry and
had to limp 5 km to service with the tyre, mag wheel and half the disc
destroyed. Carr may have lost some road position and taken some liaison penalties
while the car was repaired.”
At the end of stage control point was – as usual and ever patient John - the boatbuilder – Gray with spare wheel and the spares to fix the minor – at this stage – front wheel alignment issues. But no Greggy and Freddy drove straight past John and turned right onto the bitumen and proceeded quickly down the Service Point 5 kms away. John Gray quickly packed up and set chase for the wounded Escort, watching the increasing shower of flames, sparks and disc brake parts leaving the LHF melting wheel area.
Arriving at Camp Blue a rather unimpressed team boss Colin
Bond watched the 3 wheeling Escort grind to a halt where Bruce The Goose and Bondy’s
band of seasoned mechanics set to repairs quick smart.
So, just what happened to wounded – flat at the bottom mag
wheel? There were upwards of 100 crew
members and spectators there watching as Colin Bond oversaw yet another Ford
Escort Team lost Southern Cross campaign!
This is where Bad Ed entered the
scene, Ed had retired earlier from the rally with engine failure and was no doubt
hanging around the Ford team like a Caption Smelly ( Eds mate Keith Burn nickname
from the 1979 Repco Round Australia Trial), bad smell and I have long harboured
the thought that the real story of the whereabouts of the Mag was an inside job
and this recent release of new info from the Hooligan may well prove that.
Also during COVID times in 2021 Loose
Goose Bruce was a guest speaker for an HRA Zoom club meeting with the topic of
the Flat Mag came up, and after further investigation I concluded that Bad Ed
assisted Freddy the Winch to hide the wheel and to keep it out of sight and
safe until after the event and then return it to Freddy. Bad Ed, I have been told by someone close, “forgot”
the return it to Freddy and placed it – for safe keeping - in his - at the bottom of a Sydney harbour - safe house 20” waterproof container
which was in an undisclosed watery home somewhere near Ton Uglys bridge in the
Georges River arm of Botany Bay.
I did say WAS as it seems that in
the lead up to the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games the Sydney Water Police and
Australian Navy conducted some “sweeps” of the Harbour and upon finding it,
proceeded to blow it up as a suspect package!
So there goes the possibility that the wheel still exists. Also to go up in a tidal wave from the
underwater bang was Bad Ed’s waterproof filing cabinet which contained, among other
things, a large number of embarrassing pictures of local and international competitors
and crew from most Southern Cross and Castrol International Rally after parties!
It can now be confirmed that those accusations were all part
of the plot - the ruse - to put rally fans off the chase.
Some of the details for this story – tale were presented to me by the Loose Goose on Sunday April 13th @ 6.00pm, whilst talking about his great mate, sponsor and even mentor of bad jokes Ed Mulligan. So now with Bruce taking on the mantle of the Cout Jester of Australian rallying, is it possible that this story is not even true?
Or is it an attempt by Bad Ed to immortalise his legend to
an even higher mantle by solving this 45-year-old mystery, being Rex D. Carrs infamous
Escort Minilite mag wheel tale.
By cementing himself with the most famous nickname - Rex D. Carr with the said Escort steerers
most infamous occurrence of losing the 1980 Southern Cross Rally due to events
detailed here in this tale.
Now seems we will never know if this is the complete story or just a collusion between the Master
and the Apprentice joker to add further northern NSW dust and gum trees leaves
on a still smouldering night time rally spectator fire, where the cold crowd were
known to call out looking for a “Howie” and wondering “where are we”.
Rest In Peace, Bad Ed Hooligan Mulligan
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