Toyota Joining Nascar? Say It Ain't So Joe!
06-04-2005, 08:35 AM
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Toyota Joining Nascar? Say It Ain't So Joe!
Fearing Toyota
By Bob Margolis, Yahoo! Sports
June 2, 2005
So far in 2005, NASCAR has seen its share of high drama and intriguing storylines. There's the never-ending soap opera at DEI, Jimmie Johnson's new aggressive style and its effect on the competition, numerous rules violations that have resulted in a near-record level of fines and suspensions, and the Roush/Hendrick domination, among many other hot topics.
Despite all that has been written, talked about and speculated on with those storylines, none has had the impact on NASCAR as the one subject that week in and week out is on the minds and lips of nearly everyone in the NASCAR garage.
Toyota.
Not a week goes by when there isn't something being written or said about Toyota's future intentions in NASCAR. Much of it is pure speculation with little regard for the facts.
For some, Toyota's entry into the Craftsman Truck Series last year was a sign of the apocalypse. After all, NASCAR is American racing for Americans, according to the most diehard of fans.
(Funny though, that no one mentioned the German-owned parent company of Dodge – DaimlerChrysler – when Dodge made its return to Cup competition in 2001 ... and most agree that Dodge's return was good for racing.)
A large part of the negativity cast upon Toyota's participation in NASCAR may be caused by the manufacturer's conservative – seen by some as secretive – approach to its racing business. Toyota's standard operating procedure is to survey a situation for up to two years and then proceed with caution. That is how Toyota entered the IRL and also the way it entered the Craftsman Truck Series.
Then there is the other part. The ugly part. The part that many like to ignore. It's the stubborn and misguided – dare we say racist? – view that all Japanese are not to be trusted or accepted because of the past. That view reared its ugly head in public a while back when driver Jimmy Spencer made reference to Toyota and the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Spencer later apologized for his remarks and said that they were taken out of context – which they indeed might have been – but unfortunately, many others quietly agreed with his initial comments.
It's not just anti-Japanese sentiment, however. Falling far short of that, many simply believe it could be detrimental to support foreign manufacturers
Team owner Jack Roush could be considered an alarmist in that fashion. Roush repeatedly has expressed his concerns over the entry of a Japanese manufacturer into NASCAR and has warned that fans should be wary of whose trucks they are buying.
Of course, Roush isn't taking into account that every Toyota pickup truck sold in America is built here by the more than 30,000 Americans that Toyota employs in both its car and truck assembly plants. Toyota, in fact, employs more than 100,000 in the United States when its dealer network is taken into account.
Some in the NASCAR garage have made Toyota out to be a giant behemoth that will cut a wide swath of destruction throughout the garage, winning every race and making all other manufacturers cower in fear and spend millions just to keep up.
Rumors of Toyota paying the France family millions of dollars in order to receive special concessions have floated around the NASCAR garage for months. Those rumors are baseless. And there is the alleged promise by Toyota to spend millions more. That most likely is true, as Toyota has in the past spent millions on advertising campaigns which not only promote the Toyota brand but also the series in which it is participating.
"We're not here to outspend everyone," said Pat Wall, Toyota's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series program manager. "And we're not here to upset the economic balance of NASCAR."
Wall is a veteran auto racing consultant who brings his decades of marketing experience, sponsorship development and promotion to a job that requires a good deal of diplomacy.
"Somehow the idea in most people's mind is that Toyota is here to bully and dictate to NASCAR," he said. "We came to NASCAR to be part of its culture. That is why we are based in North Carolina and not in California with the rest of TRD [Toyota Racing Development]."
Why all the hysteria, hearsay and half-truths?
A good deal of the blame lies at the foot of Toyota officials who have chosen to remain silent about their intentions. That silence has been interpreted by some as suspicious behavior that can only mean that Toyota is up to something.
Ironically, the reality of Toyota's past and current worldwide racing programs shows a manufacturer that isn't exactly dominating the competition.
Toyota's track record in the former CART open wheel series was punctuated with years of failures and poor performance. It only started winning after competitors Ford and Honda stopped developing CART engines. Toyota's current Indy Racing League engine is considered to be the worst among the three engines – Honda, Chevrolet/Cosworth and Toyota – available to competitors (though Toyota drivers did win the Indy 500 and the IndyCar title in 2003).
And despite spending more than $2 billion (yes, that's with a 'B') on its Formula One program, Toyota has yet to win a race in that series.
It is estimated that Toyota has spent several million dollars to develop its Craftsman Truck Series program, but to date Toyota has just four wins.
The approach
What Toyota has done since it entered NASCAR competition is bring a new direction and fresh ideas to a culture of racing that has for decades been mired in old-school methodology.
Toyota's approach is to control the entire process completely. All trucks, including frames, bodies and engines, are built by Toyota and either provided, sold or leased to teams. Toyota is the only manufacturer currently in NASCAR that has an in-house group whose sole job is to develop high-performance vehicles, engines and parts.
All the trucks are built in the same shop in High Point, N.C., so any repairs or modifications can easily be done across the board. Building the engines and trucks also removes a huge financial burden from a team – especially a team in the Truck series, where sponsorship dollars are difficult to obtain.
But this is not completely a turnkey effort. Each team is responsible for the daily upkeep of their truck and race setups. But Toyota shares technical, developmental and engineering information across the board with its teams.
This unique approach has its critics, while others see it as a peek at tomorrow – including Ford director of racing Dan Davis, who has said, "We're not going to dismiss anything until we see whether it is successful or not. Maybe it is the way of the future."
With only four wins since its entry into NASCAR competition, perhaps Toyota's biggest success so far has been in its marketing efforts in NASCAR, which have earned high praise. Toyota secured the services of veteran NASCAR driver and certified good ol' boy Darrell Waltrip for its television commercials. The move proved so popular that Waltrip was enlisted to produce a second set of commercials after the first set paid huge dividends for Toyota.
The experience gained by Toyota in the Craftsman Truck Series will open the door for its eventual involvement in the Nextel Cup Series. Bill Davis Racing, which already has close ties with the Japanese manufacturer, is expected to join Penske Racing and at least four other teams when Toyota enters the Nextel Cup Series within three years.
Whispers in the garage have Toyota currently testing a car – possibly the two-door Solara – for entry into the Busch Series field for the Daytona season opener in 2006. Toyota denies this, indicating that it is waiting for NASCAR to finalize its plans for the "car and engine of the future" before moving forward with its NASCAR plans.
For now, Toyota officials will publicly say only that they remain committed to a future in NASCAR and would like to see more race wins by the Tundra in the Craftsman Truck Series.
Veteran motorsports writer Bob Margolis is a Yahoo! Sports NASCAR analyst. Send Bob a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.
By Bob Margolis, Yahoo! Sports
June 2, 2005
So far in 2005, NASCAR has seen its share of high drama and intriguing storylines. There's the never-ending soap opera at DEI, Jimmie Johnson's new aggressive style and its effect on the competition, numerous rules violations that have resulted in a near-record level of fines and suspensions, and the Roush/Hendrick domination, among many other hot topics.
Despite all that has been written, talked about and speculated on with those storylines, none has had the impact on NASCAR as the one subject that week in and week out is on the minds and lips of nearly everyone in the NASCAR garage.
Toyota.
Not a week goes by when there isn't something being written or said about Toyota's future intentions in NASCAR. Much of it is pure speculation with little regard for the facts.
For some, Toyota's entry into the Craftsman Truck Series last year was a sign of the apocalypse. After all, NASCAR is American racing for Americans, according to the most diehard of fans.
(Funny though, that no one mentioned the German-owned parent company of Dodge – DaimlerChrysler – when Dodge made its return to Cup competition in 2001 ... and most agree that Dodge's return was good for racing.)
A large part of the negativity cast upon Toyota's participation in NASCAR may be caused by the manufacturer's conservative – seen by some as secretive – approach to its racing business. Toyota's standard operating procedure is to survey a situation for up to two years and then proceed with caution. That is how Toyota entered the IRL and also the way it entered the Craftsman Truck Series.
Then there is the other part. The ugly part. The part that many like to ignore. It's the stubborn and misguided – dare we say racist? – view that all Japanese are not to be trusted or accepted because of the past. That view reared its ugly head in public a while back when driver Jimmy Spencer made reference to Toyota and the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Spencer later apologized for his remarks and said that they were taken out of context – which they indeed might have been – but unfortunately, many others quietly agreed with his initial comments.
It's not just anti-Japanese sentiment, however. Falling far short of that, many simply believe it could be detrimental to support foreign manufacturers
Team owner Jack Roush could be considered an alarmist in that fashion. Roush repeatedly has expressed his concerns over the entry of a Japanese manufacturer into NASCAR and has warned that fans should be wary of whose trucks they are buying.
Of course, Roush isn't taking into account that every Toyota pickup truck sold in America is built here by the more than 30,000 Americans that Toyota employs in both its car and truck assembly plants. Toyota, in fact, employs more than 100,000 in the United States when its dealer network is taken into account.
Some in the NASCAR garage have made Toyota out to be a giant behemoth that will cut a wide swath of destruction throughout the garage, winning every race and making all other manufacturers cower in fear and spend millions just to keep up.
Rumors of Toyota paying the France family millions of dollars in order to receive special concessions have floated around the NASCAR garage for months. Those rumors are baseless. And there is the alleged promise by Toyota to spend millions more. That most likely is true, as Toyota has in the past spent millions on advertising campaigns which not only promote the Toyota brand but also the series in which it is participating.
"We're not here to outspend everyone," said Pat Wall, Toyota's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series program manager. "And we're not here to upset the economic balance of NASCAR."
Wall is a veteran auto racing consultant who brings his decades of marketing experience, sponsorship development and promotion to a job that requires a good deal of diplomacy.
"Somehow the idea in most people's mind is that Toyota is here to bully and dictate to NASCAR," he said. "We came to NASCAR to be part of its culture. That is why we are based in North Carolina and not in California with the rest of TRD [Toyota Racing Development]."
Why all the hysteria, hearsay and half-truths?
A good deal of the blame lies at the foot of Toyota officials who have chosen to remain silent about their intentions. That silence has been interpreted by some as suspicious behavior that can only mean that Toyota is up to something.
Ironically, the reality of Toyota's past and current worldwide racing programs shows a manufacturer that isn't exactly dominating the competition.
Toyota's track record in the former CART open wheel series was punctuated with years of failures and poor performance. It only started winning after competitors Ford and Honda stopped developing CART engines. Toyota's current Indy Racing League engine is considered to be the worst among the three engines – Honda, Chevrolet/Cosworth and Toyota – available to competitors (though Toyota drivers did win the Indy 500 and the IndyCar title in 2003).
And despite spending more than $2 billion (yes, that's with a 'B') on its Formula One program, Toyota has yet to win a race in that series.
It is estimated that Toyota has spent several million dollars to develop its Craftsman Truck Series program, but to date Toyota has just four wins.
The approach
What Toyota has done since it entered NASCAR competition is bring a new direction and fresh ideas to a culture of racing that has for decades been mired in old-school methodology.
Toyota's approach is to control the entire process completely. All trucks, including frames, bodies and engines, are built by Toyota and either provided, sold or leased to teams. Toyota is the only manufacturer currently in NASCAR that has an in-house group whose sole job is to develop high-performance vehicles, engines and parts.
All the trucks are built in the same shop in High Point, N.C., so any repairs or modifications can easily be done across the board. Building the engines and trucks also removes a huge financial burden from a team – especially a team in the Truck series, where sponsorship dollars are difficult to obtain.
But this is not completely a turnkey effort. Each team is responsible for the daily upkeep of their truck and race setups. But Toyota shares technical, developmental and engineering information across the board with its teams.
This unique approach has its critics, while others see it as a peek at tomorrow – including Ford director of racing Dan Davis, who has said, "We're not going to dismiss anything until we see whether it is successful or not. Maybe it is the way of the future."
With only four wins since its entry into NASCAR competition, perhaps Toyota's biggest success so far has been in its marketing efforts in NASCAR, which have earned high praise. Toyota secured the services of veteran NASCAR driver and certified good ol' boy Darrell Waltrip for its television commercials. The move proved so popular that Waltrip was enlisted to produce a second set of commercials after the first set paid huge dividends for Toyota.
The experience gained by Toyota in the Craftsman Truck Series will open the door for its eventual involvement in the Nextel Cup Series. Bill Davis Racing, which already has close ties with the Japanese manufacturer, is expected to join Penske Racing and at least four other teams when Toyota enters the Nextel Cup Series within three years.
Whispers in the garage have Toyota currently testing a car – possibly the two-door Solara – for entry into the Busch Series field for the Daytona season opener in 2006. Toyota denies this, indicating that it is waiting for NASCAR to finalize its plans for the "car and engine of the future" before moving forward with its NASCAR plans.
For now, Toyota officials will publicly say only that they remain committed to a future in NASCAR and would like to see more race wins by the Tundra in the Craftsman Truck Series.
Veteran motorsports writer Bob Margolis is a Yahoo! Sports NASCAR analyst. Send Bob a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.
06-05-2005, 12:56 AM
#4
Race Director
The whole thing is a just a marketing ploy. I'd venture to guess that virtually nothing they develop for NASCAR can be used in production vehicles - there's no trickle down benefit.
05-05-2021, 08:56 PM
#5
Race Director
^ I may have been a bit premature with that comment 16 years ago - maybe Toyota's eventual hybrid NASCAR model tech will trickle down to the Prius?
Next Gen 2022 NASCAR Cup Cars Feature IRS, Sequential Transmission - autoevolution
Bill France Sr. started the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing in 1948, and over the years, no fewer than six generations of cars have been fielded. “Next Gen” is how the seventh-generation cars are called, and they’re very different from their predecessors under the skin.
26 photos
First of all, the standardized chassis means that NASCAR Cup Series teams will no longer need to fabricate their own cars from a blank sheet of paper. Next Gen cars feature 15-inch wheels instead of 18s, and they’re forged aluminum rather than steel for better durability and lower weight. Even the rubber has grown wider, up from 10 to 12 inches, with a smaller sidewall.
The forged-aluminum wheels are rocking a center-locking nut instead of five lugs, a change that should help the pit crew a lot. The Mustang, Camaro, and Camry all feature specific hood louvers that channel air out of the radiator. This element decouples engine performance from aerodynamic performance, offsetting the unsporting practice of taping off the air intakes.
Seventh-generation NASCAR cup cars also happen to feature a lower roofline, which decreases rear visibility. As a result of this change, a rear-mounted camera is mandatory from the 2022 season onward. Larger brakes, rack-and-pinion steering, a 20-gallon fuel cell, the symmetrical body shell, rectangular reinforced tubing for the chassis, and energy-absorbing foam bumpers also need to be mentioned, but these aren’t the biggest changes.
As the headline implies, Next Gen regulations include a sequential transmission. A five-speed transaxle replaces the four-speed manual transmission of sixth-gen cars, and the reason NASCAR switched to the sequential setup is to accommodate an upcoming hybrid engine. No timetable has been offered for the hybrid engine at the time of writing.
And finally, the good ol’ track bar and solid axle are gone in favor of five-way adjustable dampers and independent rear suspension. All teams will be kept in check by a suspension travel limiter that will retain the higher ride height, thus eliminating any chances of gaining an aero advantage.
26 photosFirst of all, the standardized chassis means that NASCAR Cup Series teams will no longer need to fabricate their own cars from a blank sheet of paper. Next Gen cars feature 15-inch wheels instead of 18s, and they’re forged aluminum rather than steel for better durability and lower weight. Even the rubber has grown wider, up from 10 to 12 inches, with a smaller sidewall.
The forged-aluminum wheels are rocking a center-locking nut instead of five lugs, a change that should help the pit crew a lot. The Mustang, Camaro, and Camry all feature specific hood louvers that channel air out of the radiator. This element decouples engine performance from aerodynamic performance, offsetting the unsporting practice of taping off the air intakes.
Seventh-generation NASCAR cup cars also happen to feature a lower roofline, which decreases rear visibility. As a result of this change, a rear-mounted camera is mandatory from the 2022 season onward. Larger brakes, rack-and-pinion steering, a 20-gallon fuel cell, the symmetrical body shell, rectangular reinforced tubing for the chassis, and energy-absorbing foam bumpers also need to be mentioned, but these aren’t the biggest changes.
As the headline implies, Next Gen regulations include a sequential transmission. A five-speed transaxle replaces the four-speed manual transmission of sixth-gen cars, and the reason NASCAR switched to the sequential setup is to accommodate an upcoming hybrid engine. No timetable has been offered for the hybrid engine at the time of writing.
And finally, the good ol’ track bar and solid axle are gone in favor of five-way adjustable dampers and independent rear suspension. All teams will be kept in check by a suspension travel limiter that will retain the higher ride height, thus eliminating any chances of gaining an aero advantage.
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