Press Contact: Dennis Punch: Howard Motorsports (704) 530-4754 cell
Watkins Glen, NY (June 9, 2007) … The Howard Motorsports Team of Rob Dyson, Chris Dyson, and Butch Leitzinger piloted the #16 Thetford / Norcold Porsche Crawford to a 17th-place finish in the Daytona Prototype Class of the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen on Saturday. The event marked the first time that the veteran drivers drove the same car in the same event in their long and historic careers. Rob and Chris Dyson have each driven with Butch Leitzinger in Rolex Series competition during their careers, but never all three on the same team.
With Chris Dyson testing the Dyson Racing ALMS car at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Thursday and Friday, Rob Dyson and Butch Leitzinger handled the practice sessions on Friday at Watkins Glen. Rob Dyson was selected to qualify the #16 Thetford / Norcold Porsche Crawford and posted a fast lap of 1:51.745 / 109.535 mph to earn the 17th starting position in the 46-car field for the six hour event.
Under beautiful race conditions, the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen took to the 3.4-mile, 11-turn Watkins Glen course just after 11 a.m. ET on Saturday. Rob Dyson drove the first stint of the event, and when several competitors chose to pit during an early caution, the veteran sports car ace moved up to the seventh position for the restart on lap four. Settling back into a comfortable race pace, Dyson was running 19th when he came to the pits on lap 21. Butch Leitzinger took over at this point, and had just rejoined the field when a problem developed. Leitzinger came back to the pits on lap 27 with a throttle cable issue. After thorough service from the Howard Motorsports crew, Leitzinger rejoined the event.
Leitzinger would run his fastest lap of the race on lap 81, a 1:46.266 lap. After falling to 34th after a pit stop, the veteran drove his way back to 18th by lap 83. Rob Dyson took over for Leitzinger and ran the next stint of the event. Chris Dyson piloted the final stage of the six-hour race and brought the Porsche Crawford to the checkered flag in 17th position (24th overall) in the Daytona Prototype Class.
“This was another very competitive Rolex Series race,” Rick Howard, President of Howard Motorsports stated. “It was great to have Rob, Chris, and Butch together for the first time in one car for this event. Although we didn’t achieve the results that we wanted, the entire team worked very hard, the pit stops were ‘spot on’, and all of our drivers gave their best. Unfortunately, during this race the tire buildup was unusually great, and that affected the performance of several cars. I know the entire team is looking forward to our next race, the Brumos Porsche 250 at Daytona in July. We’ve had lots of success at Daytona, and, if our recent test there is any indication, we’ll be very competitive when we return.” As Howard noted, the next event for the #16 Thetford / Norcold Porsche Crawford Team will be the Brumos Porsche 250 at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday, July 5th. SPEED TV will provide live coverage of the event starting at 8 pm ET.
