Scotsman Ryan Dalziel is one of American motorsport community’s favourite adopted sons. Having called Orlando home since his arrival in the States to race Toyota Atlantics as a 20-year old in 2002, the ESM driver has risen through the ranks and become one of the best-respected drivers of his generation, living proof that the American Dream is still alive and well in the 21st Century.
His appetite whetted by attending a Champ Car meeting as a guest of family friend Dario Franchitti, Dalziel took the plunge after a disappointing season in British F3 and never looked back.
“In all honestly was pretty much out of options, I couldn’t afford to stay in the UK and I couldn’t afford another year in F3,” he said. “I remember Dario invited me over to see a race, it was the Houston Grand Prix and I was blown away by it. I loved the atmosphere, I obviously liked the cars but I also liked the style of racing, so the focus for me was to get over there and since I’ve never really come back other than for my couple of seasons in WEC. The US is home for me now.”
Dalziel quickly embraced the little quirks that differentiate racing in the US from Europe and believes that there is much that the sport at-large can learn from its fan-friendly ethos, which he welcomes in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
“The style of racing was quite easy [to adapt to] actually because I wasn’t too set on my ways,” he said. “I’d only done a few years in cars at the time and I loved it. I particularly liked the entertainment side of things – it’s all about the fans over there and making it a good show. Having access to the teams and the drivers makes it a more special experience and I think that’s something we’ve somewhat lost sight of in Europe.
“Sportscars have learned a lot from what they’ve done in the United States. I think the WEC model of what happens in the paddock is solely based on what we’ve done there for the past 15-20 years, particularly in the Grand-Am days, which is really great to see.”
Dalziel is one of several drivers set to tackle both the Lone Star Le Mans and 6 Hours of COTA during the course of the weekend and is looking forward to welcoming endurance racing fans from all across North America for the biggest weekend on the calendar.
“Ultimately people come to see racing as entertainment – they want to see cool cars going fast and making a lot of noise and in the end they want to see a worthy winner, so it will be cool to see two very different paddocks all merged into one,” he added. “It will be hard for me though because the rules are quite different, especially the restart rules and the pitlane rules, so I think I’ll get the guys to remind me on the radio!”
Photos by Adrenal Media
