Walter Dyer, longtime owner of the famed “Brickmobile” sprint car made famous by numerous sprint car drivers on the famed Central Pennsylvania circuit has died.
Dyer, who was inducted to the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 2020 at the age of 86, fielded sprint cars with the triple digit No. 461 for more than 30 years.
Dyer was a mason by trade and his race cars were always supported by Walter Dyer Masonry. Thus, the well-known “bricks on the wing.” Always a car guy, Dyer’s first foray into racing came in 1966 when he began helping late model driver John Ebersole. Dyer became hooked on racing and bought a sprint car the following year.
Dyer initially numbered his car with Ebersole’s No. 46, but when the team showed up at Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway, there was another car with that number. They ran that night as No. 146, but by the following weekend the car was officially No. 461, which it carried for decades.
Ebersole was followed by Donnie Hill and Bob Elbin until Jimmy Edwards found his way to the seat in 1973.
Edwards won the first race for the team that season and Dyer was on his way to a Hall of Fame career.
Van May, Jimmy Sheaffer, Garry Howsare and Joey Allen were among other drivers of the No. 461, but in 1991 Dyer moved to youthful driver Lance Dewease.
Together, Dyer and Dewease won more than 100 features together, along with four Port Royal Speedway championships and a pair of Williams Grove Speedway titles.
By the late 1990s, Dewease moved on and Dyer’s final victory came with Curt Michael at the wheel on April 6, 2001. Dyer retired as a car owner at the end of the season.
Dewease, who has also been inducted in the Sprint Car Hall of Fame, was among those paying tribute to Dyer on social media on Friday.
“We lost a great man this morning,” Dewease said on X. “A lot of people don’t understand what this person meant to me. He took a chance on a young, shy kid and let me chase my dream. Please keep the Dyer family in your thoughts and prayers.
He returned for the 2007 season with his granddaughter’s husband Tommy Beavers driving.
In addition to the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame, Dyer has been inducted to numerous other regional Halls of Fame.
Over his years in racing, Walter Dyer had 15 full-time drivers and 36 different drivers piloted his car.