Dyson Racing was one of the founding teams of the Rolex Sports Car Series, winning sixteen races and two drivers and three team championships from 2000 through 2002. James Weaver won the inaugural championship in 2000, his second with Dyson Racing, winning four races, along with two thirds and two fourths in nine races.

James Weaver went on to win his second Grand-Am championship in a row in 2001, with Butch Leitzinger only twelve points back in second. Dyson Racing finished second or higher in ten of eleven races, winning half of those in 2001.

A three-peat was not to be in 2002, with Chris Dyson, in his rookie year, missing the championship by only two points. James Weaver was third, Rob Dyson fifth and Butch Leitzinger sixth in the points tally. The team won five races and was one-two twice.

The team returned to a partial schedule of Grand Am in 2005, running the Rolex 24 at Daytona plus five races in partnership with Howard-Boss Motorsports. The driving trio of Rob Dyson, Chris Dyson and Harrison Brix drove the Pontiac/Crawford to a best finish of seventh at the Virginia International Raceway 400. Rob and Chris Dyson maintained their partnership with Howard-Boss Motorsports in 2006 and ran six Rolex races in the Crawford/Pontiac, starting with the Rolex 24 Hours, and had three top tens including a seventh at Miami-Homestead. They ran six races again in 2007, including the Rolex 24, in the now Porsche-powered Crawford with Howard Motorsports.

2007 Results

The 2007 Rolex 24 at Daytona International Raceway was the 18th 24 Hour for Rob Dyson. The Dysons have won it twice, but number three was not to be as the Thetford/Norcold-sponsored team retired during the tenth hour with engine-related problems. “Howard Motorsports and Crawford Race Cars did a great job of integrating our new Porsche engine into the car,” noted Chris Dyson. “We tested at Virginia International Raceway shortly before the race and the car ran flawlessly. The new engine transforms the balance of the car and makes the chassis more responsive. It has helped allow us to adjust the set-up to get more mechanical grip, especially in the low speed corners. The fact that our lap times compared favorably with teams who have been running this package for a year shows the yeoman job everyone did in a short period of time.”

The team next ran at Homestead-Miami Speedway on March 24. “We really had high expectations for this event,” Rick Howard, President of Howard Motorsports stated. “With the talents of Chris Dyson and Andy Wallace, together with the really good race car that we had, everyone felt as though we were going to have a strong race. This was a very unusual race with lots of caution laps. In fact, nearly one-half the laps we ran were under caution today. Unfortunately, our expectations were dashed when the car had steering problems and we had to retire it on lap 58.”

The VIR 400 on April 29 was the third race for the #16 Thetford/Norcold team in the Rolex Series and Rob and Chris Dyson finished 16th. Rob started the race and was running tenth when the first caution flag flew on lap seven. He turned the car over to Chris on lap 24. Unfortunately starter issues caused him to lose several positions. Starter issues plagued the team again on the lap 46 pit stop, putting the car down a lap to the leaders.

Noted Chris, "While it wasn't an ideal result, it was great to get Rob back in the Crawford Porsche this weekend. Considering he hasn't raced since Daytona, I think he did a very solid job in his opening stint and he made good progress throughout the weekend. We were treating this race as a tune-up for the upcoming Six Hours of the Glen. We made some gains with the setup over the course of the weekend, and we have some directions we can take to optimize the car for the Six Hours."

The Six Hours of the Glen on June 9 saw a 17th place finish for Rob Dyson, Chris Dyson, and Butch Leitzinger. The event marked the first time all three drove the same car in the same event. Rob and Chris Dyson have each driven with Butch separately.

Rob Dyson drove the first stint of the event, and when several competitors chose to pit during an early caution, he moved up to the seventh position for the restart on lap four. Shortly after Butch Leitzinger took over on lap 21 he had to come in for an unscheduled stop for a throttle cable problem, putting him down to 34th. Leitzinger would run his fastest lap of the race on lap 81, at 1:46.266 as he drove his way back to 18th by lap 83. Rob Dyson took over for Leitzinger and ran the next stint. Chris Dyson piloted the final stage of the six-hour race and brought the Porsche Crawford to the checkered flag in 17th position in the Daytona Prototype Class.

The Thetford/Norcold team returned to Daytona on July 5th for the Brumos Porsche 250, finishing 16th in the Thursday evening race. Rob Dyson qualified 16th in the 30-car field and started the race, maintaining his position when he handed the car over to Chris Dyson on lap 42. The remainder of the race was trouble free, and Chris Dyson took the checkered flag with the #16 car starting 16th and finishing 16th.

“The car was really pretty good today,” Rob Dyson stated after his stint. “It was a little tight, but the Howard Motorsports team did a great job making adjustments and giving us a good car to race. We had a few issues earlier in the day, but it’s such a joy to race here at Daytona, that we put all that behind us. This is an historic race and I’m glad that I had the opportunity to race in it.”