POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (May 23, 2019) — A small error with eight laps to go in Thursday evening’s USAC Silver Crown race at the Indiana State Fairgrounds one-mile dirt track led to a wild ride for Chris Dyson, flipping down the backstretch. Cleared to drive this weekend by the medical team at Indianapolis’s Methodist Hospital, Dyson flew home Friday morning to nurse his injuries and then this afternoon gingerly climbed into his Plaid Mustang and dominated the time charts in both timed practice sessions for Monday’s Memorial Day Trans Am 100-mile feature race at Connecticut’s classic Lime Rock Park road circuit.
“A fast race car is the best pain reliever,” said Dyson, following today’s afternoon session where he was almost a full half-second clear of the rest of the TA field. “I had to dig deep today, but this result gives me a lot of confidence going into Monday‘s qualifying and race.“
Lime Rock Park is Dyson‘s home track. He has been coming here with his family since he was a small boy and more than 20 years ago drove in his first SCCA race at the deceptively challenging 1.53-mile Connecticut road circuit.
“Lime Rock is one of the highest average speed road racing circuits in North America,“ Dyson said. “The turns are fast, but most of the straightaways are short. Going really quickly here is harder than it looks, and it takes most drivers, even professionals, more than one visit to master this track.”
Fifty years ago this weekend another hometown hero, Sam Posey from nearby Sharon, Connecticut, won the Lime Rock Park Trans Am race driving a Camaro for Roger Penske.
Dyson won the 2011 American Le Mans Series race at Lime Rock Park aboard a Lola LMP car, but hasn’t raced at the track since 2013. According to Dyson that six year hiatus is not a problem.
“I have so many laps around this race track that I could almost drive it in my sleep” he said. “I know every inch of it. The team gave me a great car and we showed it was fast right off the trailer. I’m really looking forward to the race on Monday. There will be so many of my friends and family here, who haven’t had a chance to see a Dyson car racing at Lime Rock for several years. I’ll do my best to send them home with some happy memories of a great day at this beautiful race track.”
Plaid
Headquartered in Atlanta, Plaid Enterprises, Inc. is one of the world’s largest, most diverse manufacturers of creative do-it-yourself products. Plaid’s product innovation and dedication to the ever-changing needs of consumers have made the Plaid family of products among the most recognized and desired brands worldwide.
Founded in 1976, Plaid began as a publisher of how-to craft books. The company soon expanded into manufacturing, with paint becoming the primary focus. Today, Plaid is the industry’s leading small batch paint manufacturer, proudly producing paint in its facilities located outside of Atlanta, GA.
Notable brands in Plaid’s portfolio include FolkArt, Apple Barrel, Delta, Bucilla, Martha Stewart Crafts, and one of the industry’s best known, Mod Podge, a favorite since 1967.