Neil Cunningham was born on 12 June 1962, in Auckland, New Zealand, in the Papakura suburb. When he was seven years old, his parents separated, and he moved with his mother to the Gold Coast, Australia. His cousin, Blyth Tait, is an Olympic gold medalist in equestrianism.
Cunningham began racing at the age of ten in Mount Wellington. After his family moved to Australia, he began racing in a Holden Torana. In 1980, he finished as runner-up in the Queensland Touring Car Championship. Three years later, Formula One champion Jack Brabham selected Cunningham to race in the British Formula Ford 2000 Championship. In 1993, Cunningham finished fourth in the British Formula Renault Championship.
After leaving single seater racing, Cunningham won the 1996 British Eurocar V6 Championship and the British Marcos Mantis Championship in 1998. In the 2000s, he continued to race in the British GT Championship alongside other grand touring and endurance events. In 2005, he finished third in points alongside Ben Collins in a Porsche 911 GT3-RSR.
Cunningham made his first 24 Hours of Le Mans appearance in 2004 for the Morgan Works Race Team. He returned to Le Mans two years later, racing a Courage C65 in the LMP2 class. Barazi-Epsilon and Cunningham finished the race 21st overall. In September 2011, Cunningham participated in his last race driving the same Van Diemen RF90 he raced twenty years ago when he first came to Europe. He reportedly did not have the strength to hold the steering wheel with his left hand.
In 2010, at the age of 47, Cunningham was diagnosed with motor neuron disease (MND). His diagnosis led to his retirement, after which he founded the charity Racing4MND. He died in 2016 while living in Swansea, Wales. By the time of his death, Racing4MND had raised over £100,000. The British GT Championship honored Cunningham following his death by branding each car’s windscreen with a Racing4MND sticker during the Silverstone 500.
Throughout his racing career, Cunningham was known for his car control, which led to work as a stunt driver. His largest role in this capacity came in 2008, when he doubled for Daniel Craig in the opening scene of Quantum of Solace, the 22nd James Bond movie, involving a car chase outside of Sienna, Italy. Cunningham was rumoured to be The Stig, the anonymous character from the British show Top Gear, but he denied this, stating “I always had the Stig in my mirror.”
Cunningham won the Silverstone Classic twice in a Jaguar D-Type. In 2011, during a Le Mans support event, Cunningham won his class in a Jaguar XKD 505 D-Type.