When his team’s pair of Porsche RS Spyders took the green flag for July’s American Le Mans Series round at Lime Rock, Rob Dyson marked his 25th anniversary in professional racing. Dyson’s first entry was a GTO-class Pontiac Firebird that contested IMSA’s Coca-Cola Three Hours at the Connecticut track in 1983, and he proudly points to the fact that of the 37 entries for that race, his is the only team still racing today.
During those 25 years, Dyson’s cars have amassed an impressive record, scoring 17 major championships, 61 victories and 165 podiums, all in sports car racing with IMSA, ALMS, and Grand-Am. Continuity, you might expect, is an essential element of such success, and the list of Dyson drivers is as impressive as their accomplishments, including the likes of James Weaver, Butch Leitzinger, Price Cobb, Andy Wallace, Elliott Forbes-Robinson, Dorsey Schroeder, Drake Olson and Guy Smith, as well as Rob and his son Chris, who now manages the operation for his dad. Together they have collected eight drivers championships, six team titles and three manufacturers crowns.
Also essential to the success of Dyson Racing over the years has been the work of Rob’s trio of team managers—the original Pat Smith, his successor Randall Kelsey and the incumbent Michael White—who have kept the operation’s machinery up to speed, as it were. Beyond that GTO Firebird, those entries have included Porsche 962 GTPs, Riley & Scott MkIII WSCs, various Lola LMPs and the team’s current pair of LMP2 Porsches.
Asked what he’d learned during his quarter century in the sport, Rob’s response was characteristically reflective: “I think the biggest thing I’ve learned is that it’s the kind of sport that demands so much of you that you have to step up to it. It takes a lot of effort, a lot of heart. You’ve got to keep working at it and eventually, with the right talent and the right bunch of guys behind you, and a little bit of luck, you can succeed.”
By John Zimmermann
