POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. — Winning begets winning and over the past four seasons Chris Dyson knew plenty of that, taking three consecutive Trans Am championships in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
But losing narrowly, as Dyson did last season to Paul Menard, is a tremendous motivator. Dyson, whose 26 Trans Am wins make him the series winningest active driver, brings renewed focus to the season, which begins this weekend at Sebring (Fla.) Int’l Raceway.
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“Looking back at last year, when we unloaded the trailer at every race, we had a potential winning car,” Dyson said as the CD racing crew was putting the finishing touches on his No. 16 Gym Weed Ford Mustang. “Unlike the three previous seasons, last year we just had a lot of bad racing luck. It’s the nature of the sport that sometimes you’re smiled on by fortune and other times not.
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“But the team has done everything it can to be sure that we have the best opportunity to win races and fight once again for a title.”
Dyson said he was encouraged by the results of a preseason test at Sebring last month.
“Last year, particularly in the first half of the season, we were still working out minor bugs in our new Riley chassis,” Dyson commented. “We were really strong the second half of the year, but there were still areas that we felt the car could be improved and we worked on refining those over the winter.
“The results at the Sebring test give me confidence that we have an even stronger car to start the season with this weekend than we had at the final race last season at Circuit of the Americas.”
Dyson won the 2021 and 2022 Sebring Trans Am races, the latter from the pole (and perhaps even more impressively in 2021 from last on the grid). But his 2024 season’s string of misfortunes began at the season opener, when Dyson was collected in a racing incident at the first corner after the green flag.
“We also had a disappointing result at Sebring in 2023,” Dyson noted. “But we clawed our way back and by mid-season at Lime Rock we were on track for our third championship. Last year we had enough continuing bad luck that we just couldn’t establish the momentum we needed. But the most important thing is that we were fast everywhere we went.
“If you have the speed, usually results follow. And I think that’s why I’m confident that this weekend will be a strong one for us.”
Dyson Named to Inaugural Class of Trans Am Hall of Fame
Fifty-nine years after the running of the first Trans Am race at Sebring Int’l Raceway in March, 1966, the series has established a Hall of Fame to recognize and honor the most outstanding of the several hundred drivers, team owners and other participants who have competed in America’s longest-running road-racing series over the past six decades.
Dyson, a three-time series champion who currently stands fourth all-time amongst race winners, is one of 18 individuals who have been selected as members of the Trans Am Hall of Fame’s inaugural class.
“To say I am honored to be recognized as a member of such an esteemed group is an understatement,” Dyson said. “I am so grateful for my family and my team members who encouraged me along the way and put me in a position to succeed. My results are a living reflection of everyone who mentored me and made sure I had the opportunities to fulfill my dreams. It’s been so satisfying racing here in this incredible series and it’s one of the great chapters of a long and thrilling career.
“This is really humbling; it’s hard to put adequately into words.”
