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As he sat in the post-race media interview room after winning the 2003 American Le Mans Series driving championship for the LMP 675 class, Chris Dyson was both ecstatic and exhausted. In dramatic fashion, his title wasn't sealed until he and the Dyson Racing Team endured a day full of trials and tribulations in the season-ending Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.
It was that kind of season for the 25-year-old driver from Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
In only his second season of driving on the professional sports car racing series, and in his first full-season campaign, Dyson was part of the driving team in four class race wins for the #20 Dyson Lola EX257-AER/MG. Though the car competes in a class that includes smaller and less-powerful Prototypes than those in the LMP 900 class, Dyson Racing's two cars were consistently competitive with the fastest P900 cars throughout the season.
Dyson started the season with a class win in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring with co-drivers Chad Block and Didier de Radigues. Although Dyson Racing has been one of the most successful North American sports car racing teams of the past 15 years, and provided cars that Elliott Forbes-Robinson drove to the inaugural American Le Mans Series driving title in 1999, the Sebring triumph was the team's first race win in ALMS competition.
For the bulk of the rest of the season, Dyson co-drove with veteran British driver Andy Wallace and the duo took LMP 675 class wins at Mosport International Raceway near Toronto, Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis., and on the Miami Downtown street circuit. In both the Mosport and Road America events, the car finished second overall.
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