Christopher Dyson (born February 24, 1978) is an American professional racing driver who competed in the

American Le Mans Series The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The American Le Mans' hea ...

for

Dyson Racing Dyson Racing is a professional sports car racing team based in Poughkeepsie, New York in the United States. Founded by Rob Dyson in 1974, the team competed successfully in North American sports car racing series, including the IMSA GT Champions ...

from 2002 to 2013. He is currently competing in the

Trans-Am Series The Trans-Am Series is a sports car racing series held in North America. Founded in 1966, it is sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). Primarily based in the United States, the series competes on a variety of track types includ ...

in the TA class where he just clinched his second consecutive TA championship (2021-2022). The son of team owner

Rob Dyson Robert Richard "Rob" Dyson (born June 21, 1946) is a retired American sports car racing driver and owner of Dyson Racing. Dyson began competing in amateur SCCA competition in 1974 and began racing professionally in IMSA GTO and the Trans-Am Se ...

, Chris is a two-time ALMS champion, having taken the LMP675 Drivers title in 2003 and earning the LMP1 Championship in 2011. He is the Vice President and Sporting Director of Dyson Racing.

Racing career

Early career

Dyson began his racing career at the age of 17, competing in the Skip Barber Formula Dodge championship at Lime Rock Park. Dyson drove in seven

Atlantic Championship The Atlantic Championship is a formula race car series with races throughout North America. It has been called Champ Car Atlantics (after its former name), Toyota Atlantics (due to the series' previous history of using Toyota-powered engines) ...

races in 2004 and 2005, earning a best finish of 4th at

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

in 2005.

Grand-Am

Dyson made his professional racing debut in the 2001 Grand American Road Racing Championship season, driving a

Riley & Scott Mk III The Riley & Scott Mark III (Mk III) was a sports prototype auto racing car developed by Bob Riley, Bill Riley, and Mark Scott of Riley & Scott Cars Inc. Initially designed in 1993, the car was created for the World Sports Car (WSC) category whic ...

in the final two races of the season. In 2002, he finished second in the

Grand-Am Grand-Am Road Racing or Grand-Am was an auto racing sanctioning body that was established in 1999 to organize road racing competitions in North America. Its primary focus was the Rolex Sports Car Series, an endurance racing championship series. ...

SRP1 points, winning five races. He has since made sporadic starts in the

Rolex Sports Car Series The Rolex Sports Car Series was the premier series run by the Grand American Road Racing Association. It was a North American-based sports car series founded in 2000 under the name Grand American Road Racing Championship to replace the failed ...

and

Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge The Michelin Pilot Challenge is a grand touring and touring car racing series run by the International Motor Sports Association. Originating from the Canadian Motorola Cup, the series was taken over by Grand-Am in 2001 to become the Grand-Am Cu ...

American Le Mans Series

Having made his

debut at the 2002 12 Hours of Sebring, Dyson went on to drive full-time in the series one year later, teaming with Andy Wallace in their

MG-Lola EX257 The MG-Lola EX257 (sometimes referred to as simply MG EX257) is a Le Mans Prototype built by Lola for the MG car company for their attempt to compete again at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in . The car has had many years of mixed success since its in ...

. Dyson took four wins and the drivers championship in the LMP 675 class. The 2004 season saw the MG-Lola reclassified into the LMP1 category against the Audi R8s; Dyson and Wallace scored 6 podiums in 8 races together. In 2005, he finished 2nd in the LMP1 drivers' championship, scoring 6 runner-up finishes. Dyson finished 5th in driver points in 2006, with a best finish of 2nd at

Mosport Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (formerly Mosport Park and Mosport International Raceway) is a multi-track motorsport venue located north of Bowmanville, in Ontario, Canada, east of Toronto. The facility features a , 10-turn road course; a adva ...

. Dyson also finished 4th at Laguna Seca with James Weaver, in Weaver's final race. 2007 saw Dyson team with Guy Smith in a

Porsche RS Spyder The RS Spyder (Type 9R6) is a racing car designed by Porsche in conjunction with Penske to compete in Le Mans Prototype Class 2 (LMP2) racing. The car takes its name from the legendary Porsche 550 Spyder of the 1950s (combined with Porsche's c ...

; the pair finished 4th in points. He finished 6th in points in 2008 and 5th in 2009. In 2010, he finished 4th in LMP1 points and won one race with Guy Smith. In 2011, despite winning only one race, Dyson and Guy Smith won the LMP1 drivers' championship. In 2012, Dyson kicked off the season with a class victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring, debuting the new Lola B12/60 Mazda with Guy Smith and Steven Kane.

24 Hours of Le Mans

Dyson's first start came in the

2004 24 Hours of Le Mans The 72nd 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: ''72e 24 Heures du Mans'') was a non-championship 24 hour automobile endurance race for Le Mans Prototype and Grand Touring cars held from 12 to 13 June at the Circuit de la Sarthe close to Le Mans, Le ...

for

Jan Lammers Jan Lammers (Johannes Antonius Lammers, Zandvoort, 2 June 1956) is a racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing h ...

Racing for Holland Racing for Holland is a Dutch motor racing team started by Jan Lammers in 1999. The team is initially specialised in endurance races such as 24 hours of Le Mans and FIA sportscars series. The team also participated in the A1 Grand Prix as the A1 ...

team with Lammers and

Katsutomo Kaneishi is a Japanese racing driver. He has competed in such series as the Japanese Touring Car Championship, Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters and Formula Nippon The Japanese Super Formula Championship is a formula racing series. It is considered as ...

, finishing 7th overall and 6th in the LMP1 class. Dyson returned to La Sarthe in the Le Mans for Ray Mallock, retiring after 19 hours.

NASCAR

In August 2019, Dyson joined

DGM Racing DGM Racing (formerly King Autosport) is a Canadian professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The team is owned by Mario Gosselin. The team is now located in Lake Wales, Florida,The team formerly fie ...

to drive their No. 90 car in the NASCAR Xfinity Series'

race Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...

at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course as a

road course ringer In NASCAR, a road course ringer, also known as road course specialist, road course expert, or a road runner, is a non-NASCAR driver who is hired by a NASCAR Cup Series or NASCAR Xfinity Series team to race specifically on road courses. , current ...

. He would start 27th and finish 34th after crashing out of the race. Dyson returned to NASCAR in 2022, driving for

Emerling-Gase Motorsports Emerling-Gase Motorsports (formerly Joey Gase Racing) is an American stock car racing team that competes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The team was founded in November 2021 with NASCAR owner-driver Joey Gase, then called Joey Gase Racing. In De ...

in the Xfinity Series event at Road America.

Motorsports career results

24 Hours of Le Mans

NASCAR

( key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Xfinity Series

Ineligible for series points

References

External links

Dyson Racing bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dyson, Chris 1978 births Living people Sportspeople from Poughkeepsie, New York Rolex Sports Car Series drivers American Le Mans Series drivers Atlantic Championship drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers Racing drivers from New York (state) FIA World Endurance Championship drivers European Le Mans Series drivers NASCAR drivers SCCA National Championship Runoffs participants USAC Silver Crown Series drivers Caterham Racing drivers Greaves Motorsport drivers