Designer, race engineer, technical director

Dykstra designed and engineered some of the most successful cars across IMSA, Trans-Am, IndyCar and more. After graduating from General Motors Institute, Dykstra designed four race cars, including the Wolverine, which competed against McLarens and Chaparrals. In 1968-70, he served as chief project engineer on Ford's Trans-Am program, including the 1970 series-champion Mustangs. In 1976 he started DeKon with Horst Kwech and designed the Chevrolet Monza that won consecutive IMSA titles (1976-77) for inductee Al Holbert, considered the first full tube-frame “silhouette” road race car. In the ‘80s, Dykstra designed successful single-seat Can-Am cars, the JLP-4 Porsche 935 variant, the ground effect Group 44 IMSA Jaguar XJR-5 and -7 GTP prototypes and the 1991 GTO champion Mazda RX-7s. Pikes Peak victories included 1989 in Open Wheel and Rod Millen’s ‘94 Toyota Celica. From 2002-05 Dykstra served as IndyCar Director of Competition and Technology. Overall, he designed 19 complete race cars and engineered many winning drivers, including Al Holbert, Bobby Rahal, Emerson Fittipaldi, Bob Tullius, Bryan Herta, Allan Moffat, Raphael Matos, and James Hinchcliffe.