TOOELE, UT September 11, 2010 – Dyson Racing, one of the dominant teams in the early days of GRAND-AM racing, successfully returned to the Rolex Series in today’s Utah 250. In partnership with Godstone Ranch Motorsports, the team and drivers John McCutchen II and Davy Jones accomplished their foundational goal of the weekend – to learn the car, the series and finish the race. The #16 Heart Car ran without any mechanical problems and finished thirteenth in the Daytona Prototype class in the two-hour and forty-five minute race.
Jones, winner of both the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, started the Roush-Yates powered Lola Daytona Prototype and maintained his qualifying position through his stint, handing the car over to McCutchen on lap 23. Pro-Am driver McCutchen, winner of twelve races since his return to racing in 2008, turned consistently fast times and handed the car back to Jones on lap 47 who ran to the end thirty-nine laps latter, setting a time late in the proceedings over five seconds quicker than his practice best.
“This is exactly what we hoped for,” affirmed McCutchen. “Davy and I have never been in a Daytona Prototype before. We did some testing at Monticello Motor Club and we get the car here and it runs flawlessly all weekend long. It just goes to show how skilled Dyson’s group is to receive a car ten days ago, put it on a trailer, take it all the way out here, prepare it and compete heads-up with everybody. That is what it is all about.”
“It is good for the team to get reacquainted with the Grand-Am series and it is good for the Texas Heart Institute to be represented on a national platform,” noted Jones. “The beauty about the Dyson team is we will come away from this race with our notes and I know the next race that Dyson Racing competes in Grand-Am, they will be on it and will know exactly where they stand.”
Chris Dyson, who won five races in the Rolex Grand-Am series in 2002, commented that it was a weekend of catching up with old friends. “It was good to be back among the Grand-Am paddock again. We have great affection for the people here and thank the series for their help along with Lola, Roush-Yates Ford and Multimatic Motorsports. Everyone pulled out all the stops to help us get to this point.”
Added Rob Dyson, “I would give this weekend a solid grade– we accomplished all that we wanted to do: we got the car here, we ran it for two days and we learned an awful lot. We have work to do to get more familiar with the car, but the guys turned the car out on a very rapid time frame. We are very proud of the crew and their tireless efforts the past few weeks. Davy and John have done a terrific job and it was great having them with us.”
More information on Godstone Ranch Motorsports and their mission to fight heart disease can be found at www.godstoneranchmotorsports.com. With their cell phone giving campaign, anyone can text “car” to 50555 and donate $10 to the Texas Heart Institute. The team can be followed at www.twitter.com/godstoneranch.