Dyson Racing Team
| Founded | 1974 |
|---|---|
| Team principal(s) |
Rob Dyson Michael White |
| Current series | Pirelli World Challenge |
| Former series |
American Le Mans Series Rolex Sports Car Series Can Am Indy Car IMSA GT Championship |
| Drivers' Championships |
Chris Dyson Guy Smith Butch Leitzinger Matt McMurry |
Dyson Racing is a professional sports car racing team based in Poughkeepsie, New York in the United States. Founded by Rob Dyson in 1974, the team is one of the longest-running and most successful North American sports car teams. The team will return to action later in the 2014 season with a Bentley GT3 in the Pirelli World Challenge.
Team founder Rob Dyson started his racing career in the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) in 1974 with a Datsun 510 sedan with a pit crew of one: his wife Emilie. He won his first race, a regional at the Watkins Glen road course in New York. He moved up to SCCA nationals in 1977, adding Pat Smith as crew chief and won a national championship in 1981 with a Nissan 200SX.
Rob Dyson’s first professional race was at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut with a 1983 Firebird. He ran the Firebird in nine races in the International Motorsports Association (IMSA) GTO class and selected Trans Am races with a best finish of third in class at the 1983 Elkhart Lake 500 miler.
Dyson formed a close relationship with Goodyear during this time that began with modest radial tire development and would eventually grow to a full-scale tire support program that would prove essential to the team over an unprecedented 20-year run of success.
Rob Dyson bought a Porsche 962 (chassis 101) from privateer Bruce Leven. He and co-driver Drake Olson won their first race at Lime Rock Park in May 1985, even though they were running the smaller 2.8 liter engine compared to the other 962s' 3.2 liter engines. The team went on to win two more races with Olson winning the inaugural Porsche Cup of North America. It was the first of four consecutive Porsche Cups for the Dyson team.
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