Back in the “old days,” drivers were known for their ability to man-handle a race car. Today, it is finesse that determines a driver’s success. It is the complete package of mental and physical ability that is the hallmark of accomplished drivers. Chris Dyson is one of today’s renaissance racers. He is articulate and erudite, able to converse on a wide range of subjects, but also blessed with physical talent. As an athlete, he was all county baseball, lettered in basketball and baseball and is more than proficient on the golf course. But these ingredients have no value until they are packaged with commitment.

It is a commitment both in and out of the car. In addition to co-driving the #16 BP sponsored Mazda Lola Coupe, Chris manages Dyson Racing. He has led an expansion of the effort into other series. The team ran Chris in partial Toyota Atlantic seasons in 2004 and 2005, and Chris also ran selected Grand-Am races, five in 2005, six in 2006, and five in 2007 in partnership with Howard-Boss Motorsports, driving with his father, Rob Dyson.

In the ALMS in 2008, Chris and his teammate, Guy Smith, drove their Porsche RS Spyder to sixth in the LMP2 driver’s championship, starting off the year with a class third in the 12 Hours of Sebring, garnering eight top six finishes and finishing out of the points only once.

In 2007, Chris and Guy were fourth in the LMP2 standings, four points behind the #16 Dyson drivers Butch Leitzinger and Andy Wallace and in 2006 he had three podiums and six top fives in ten races for sixth in the ALMS LMP1 championship.

Chris finished second in the ALMS LMP1 championship in 2005 with six seconds and a third in ten races, including a run of five of six podiums in the last half of the season. In 2004, he garnered six of nine podiums in ALMS LMP1, for fourth in the final standings. In sixty-four starts in the ALMS, he has sixty-four top ten finishes and has twenty-six podiums to his credit.

Chris also drove a Dome-Judd at the 2004 24 Hours of Le Mans with reigning FIA Sportscar champion Jan Lammers, finishing seventh, the highest placed American. The same year, he drove the Zytek 043 prototype sports car to 4th in the Le Mans Endurance Series race at Silverstone, England. In 2003, he made his Toyota Atlantic debut at Portland. 2003 also saw Chris win the ALMS LMP 675 championship in his first full year in the series with four wins including the class win at The 12 Hours of Sebring. Chris won five races in the Rolex Grand-Am Series in 2002, missing the championship by two points.

“I have so many great childhood memories of racing,” Chris says. “When I was small, I used to wake up from naps to the sounds of Pat Smith and my dad checking the timing of my dad’s Datsun 200SX.” From there to being a championship caliber driver and running the premier sports car team in North America – not a bad story – and one with many chapters still to be written.