Main Street News

In retrospect, it was a fairly straightforward love story. The young man was 14, just coming of age. The object of his affection? A 1931 Model A Ford offered for sale by a local farmer. The price? The princely sum of $50, which in 1959 was real money to a 14-year-old. It didn’t run … but that was part of the mystique.

Rob Dyson was both inventive and imaginative, and the newly acquired Ford was the first of many, many automotive challenges … many, many automotive acquisitions. 

Over the course of an illustrious career that has been highlighted by legendary wins as a racecar owner and driver, international recognition as a car collector, and high reverence as a philanthropist, Rob has never shied away from a challenge. 

The available farm tractor was required to pull that Model A from point of sale to point of overhaul, the family farm in Millbrook, NY. Rob’s mechanical career was born through hours poring through every available automobile magazine and reading an impressive stack of books on automobile mechanics. Rebuilding the Model A was the manifestation of all that learning. It was just the beginning.

Road … and track

Once bitten by the “racing bug,” few find it easy to ignore. In 1974, Rob brought his freshly minted Datsun 510 to Lakeville, CT’s Lime Rock Park to compete in Sports Car Club of America’s regional races. His win in “Class B Sedans” was the first of five that season, and a career took shape. 

Dyson Racing was born and Rob and his wife, Emilie, linked together as their “team” evolved. Their son, Chris has continued the family tradition, becoming a winning driver in international competitions and serving as sporting director for Dyson Racing.

Developing a successful racing team requires more than dedication and talent. It requires building a team of “wrenches,” skilled mechanics who prepare cars, keep them running during grueling races, and rebuild them when the unexpected (and unwanted) happens on the course. 

While successful racing teams have built teams by attracting talented team members to their headquarters in Charlotte, NC, or Indianapolis, IN, Dyson Racing was built with homegrown talent from Poughkeepsie, NY, including Rob’s longtime friend and crew chief, Pat Smith. 

Winning and collecting

Rob Dyson’s record as a driver was punctuated by wins on the greatest stages of sports car racing. As an owner and driver, Rob has won SCCA championships, was part of the winning driving team for the 24 hours of Daytona, and competed at Le Mans.

Early on in his career, he decided to retain the cars he raced even as he kept adding newer and faster machines to his stable. With a team of talented mechanics on board, why not maintain the cars that had serviced them so well? A collection was born.

The notion of owning, refreshing, and showing classic racing machines soon extended well beyond the cars Rob himself had raced. Auctions, conversations, and discoveries led to widening the circle of finds. A blown engine in one race meant a car would be retired. To Rob and his team, that only served as a challenge to recover, rebuild, and restore it.

With a long-standing fascination with the legends of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the history of the “Indy 500,” Rob became a frequent visitor, able to watch and participate in historic events hosted by the legendary two and one-half mile oval. Deeply engaged in the history of the track, Rob became chairman of the board that managed the track museum … and was building the museum’s collection.

Introducing … the grand marshal

Labor Day weekend has long been the setting for major annual events at Lime Rock Park. Beginning Thursday, August 28, with a majestic parade of classic sports and racing cars starting from the track, winding through back roads through Lakeville and Salisbury, and ending up in Falls Village with a joyful community festival; continuing through practice and qualifying day on Friday; and concluding with two full days of racing on Saturday and Monday, the 43rd historic festival weekend is filled with engaging spectator events.

At the heart of the weekend is “Sunday in the Park,” a grand car show that fills the racetrack with classic and exotic cars brought in from around the country. Each year the day is built around the presentation of a singular collection of beautifully restored cars and recognition of racing giants who have contributed to the sport.

It is fitting that the grand marshal for this year’s Sunday in the Park is Rob Dyson, who will be bringing some of the most stunning cars in his collection to be on view. The “crown jewel” of that collection may be his Porsche 962 with the chassis number 101. It was the first of the legendary 962 series, capable of hitting 215 miles per hour on the long straights of Le Mans and Daytona. Dyson Racing drove the car to a number of impressive wins including Rob’s win at the first GTP race at Lime Rock Park.

Also included in the collection to be shared at Sunday in the Park will be three 100+ year old cars that were raced at the Indianapolis 500, including a 1904 Napier and a 1913 Isotta Fraschini Tipo M.

As Skip Barber noted when announcing Rob’s role in this year’s classic, “As grand marshal, Rob Dyson represents everything this event stands for. He’s a racer, a championship team owner, a mentor, and a lifelong advocate for the sport. He also brought a business-minded approach to motorsports, raising the bar for everyone.”

Not by coincidence, the honored guest for this year will be another towering figure in racing history, David Hobbs. The two will intersect as Rob presents the Number 73 McLaren that Hobbs drove to a fifth-place finish in the 1974 Indianapolis 500.

The lion in winter

Rob Dyson continues to be fully engaged in the daily workings of Dyson Racing. His intimate knowledge of each of the engineering marvels that make up the collection is most evident when he carries on detailed conversations with the dedicated team who gather each day in Poughkeepsie to perform the painstaking work of disassembling race cars – some over 100 years old – and rebuilding them with care and precision. The fruit of their labors will be most evident at Lime Rock Park on August 31 as thousands of eager fans will get to experience over a century of legendary race cars.

For his contributions as a driver and an owner, Rob was recently awarded a position in the International Motorsports Association Hall of Fame. He joins other pillars of the sport including Dan Gurney, Phil Hill, Stirling Moss, Hurley Haywood, and Parnelli Jones.

A documentary film celebrating 50 years of Dyson Racing achievements and heritage is in production, so the full story will live on. In the meantime, the invitation stands: Visit Sunday in the Park on August 31, bask in the deluge of incredible racing machines, see the “exotic sculptures on wheels” of his collection, and meet Rob Dyson in person. Quite the trifecta for a Labor Day Weekend.