POUGHKEEPSIE, NY, MAR. 12, 2004 -- Sportscar racer Rob Dyson credits an interdisciplinary approachwith helping him achieve success in two seemingly disparate areas of endeavor- auto racing and business.

Dyson is well known in the motorsports communityboth as a driver and as owner of the most successful sportscar-racing team ofthe past 20 years. But not everyone who follows the blue-and-white racers on thetrack is aware that Dyson is equally prominent in the business world, as the Chairmanand Chief Executive Officer of Dyson, Kissner, Moran Corporation, a privately-owned,international multi-industry holding company. And according to Dyson, his experiencesduring three decades as a racer and for four decades in the corporate world havecross-pollinated one another.

"It starts at the most basic level,"Dyson noted. "In both racing and business, you must compete. And to be competitiveyou need the right 'hardware' - in racing that means the right chassis, tiresand engine, and in business the right manufacturing facilities and equipment -and 'software,' which is the people. In racing, specifically, that's the guystwisting the wrenches and the guys turning the (steering) wheel."

Thesecond factor that Dyson identifies, and one that is characteristic of the sortof lean organizations that he oversees in business and in racing, is the needfor efficient and effective internal communication. "In both business andracing you absolutely need to have a team that communicates effectively internally,so that the inevitable problems that come up are solved," Dyson noted. "Andsolved quickly! In the end you need a team that is cohesive and where everyonecommunicates with everyone else on the team."

Everybody's Talking

Accordingto Randall Kelsey, that's one of the areas he's focused on since being appointed Team Manager last year. "The Lolas we're racing now are more complicatedthan the cars they replaced. More than ever it's important that everyone on theteam be talking to everyone else. We all need to be on the same page."

Andthat is really the essence of teamwork, both in racing and in business. Or asRob Dyson puts it, noting a third factor common to both, "The agenda hasto be short - simple, clear and spelled out - and everyone has to buy into it.Every person on the team, regardless of their discipline, has to embrace and supportthe core goals. In racing that's winning championships; in business it's winninglong-term relationships with customers. Everyone on the team has to have the sameethos, and work toward the objective."

It's clear that the driversand crew at Dyson Racing do in fact embrace the team's goals; in a sport wherecrewmembers and drivers seem to change with the weather, people tend to stay atthis team for a long while. At the age of 26, Team Manager Kelsey is beginninghis 11th season with the team. Chris Dyson, the 2003 American Le Mans Series LMP675champion, who is the same age as Kelsey, is the junior-most of the team's fourdrivers. And Chris is starting his fourth season. The other three primary drivers- including James Weaver, Butch Leitzinger and Andy Wallace - have been associatedwith the team for more than a decade each.

Not that the younger Dyson, whois a real estate developer in his life away from the track, isn't as imbued withthe team's values as his more senior colleagues. "Rob came to business asa young man out of college, and to racing a few years after that," Chrisnoted. "Because of Rob's involvement, I grew up around both. I can hardlyremember a time when I wasn't going to the track with my dad, or at least hearingabout his racing. None of what Rob talks about when he compares racing and businesscomes as any surprise to me - I think I picked most of it up through osmosis whileI was growing up."

Staying Flexible. The Role of Change

Inone last comparison, which is also perhaps advice as well as an observation, RobDyson notes a last factor that is key to success in the business world or on theracetrack. "You have to be constantly updating yourself," he said. "What'sgood enough this week isn't necessarily good enough next week. In some cases yourwhole plan needs to be scrapped and you have to move on to something else."

Giventhe longevity of the team's personnel and the seemingly cautious approach theteam has taken to changing directions, the passage above may come as a bit ofa surprise to fans and others who follow sportscar racing.

"But really,it shouldn't," said Chris Dyson. "We don't make precipitous changes,but when it's the right thing to do, we don't hesitate." Dyson, who as SportingManager is in effect Dyson Racing's chief operating officer, noted that in thetransition from the Riley & Scott chassis the team had raced for several yearsto the Lola it now campaigns, there were several changes in key personnel. "We'renever afraid of change; we just always want to make sure that each change is movingus in the right direction."

So far, it seems it has.