Toyota Enters Nascar !

[Scott]

I guess I could say I saw this coming when Toyota stated building V8's..

Now it is only a matter of time before they will go into the regular Nascar circuit.

Man the good-ole' boys will hate this for sure.



It was only a matter of time until an import brand made its way into NASCAR, and who better than Toyota? Using a 650-horsepower Tundra race truck, Toyota will make its debut at Daytona International Speedway in February 2004. "Toyota is pleased to be making this exciting step into the professional ranks of NASCAR," said Dave Illingworth, senior vice president at Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. "We look forward to the Tundra's first race at Daytona. It will be a great opportunity to showcase our American-assembled full-size truck to the stock-car racing world." Toyota will enter as many as six Tundra race trucks into competition, with team affiliations announced this summer. Toyota Racing Development (TRD) will design, develop, and build the Craftsman Truck Tundra V-8 in its Costa Mesa, Calif., facility.

[craig_302]

Mark my words, they'll run carbed small blocks...OHV at that.

[Scott]

Originally posted by solo_mata_me
Mark my words, they'll run carbed small blocks...OHV at that.

No words to be marked, the rules are already in place.

[John]

duh!

[BigBird]

They have a strong V8....so it should be interesting to see what they do!!!!! I have a buddy that's a NASCAR truck mechanic for the Dokken racing team, and he mentioned it to me a few weeks ago. I think they will give the domestics hell on the track!!!!

Bruce

[99TL]

something tells me their strong v8 is going to have a little too much technology for the ole nascar/truck circuit. i dont even see why toyota is going to bother. nascar is about as american as it comes and it is tradition that only american cars/trucks run. should stay that way IMO

[Seriously?]

Seriously?

[Tom]

the Chevys dont even have Chevy motors, likewise w/ the Toyota

[deez92]

a new toyota with push rods

[dan]

they ran a celica in some of the smaller nascar races long ago i dont know if they still do but like 3 years ago they had the st205 body style. i dont know if it ever ran any races or not.

[TurboJZA70]

There was also a Nascar Accord a wile ago. my dad said he watched a few winston cup races with it in it. or some series like that. im sure some Honda guru knows more on that.
Toyota Trucks are as good ol' boy as Chevy, it seems its the only type of import the 'get 'er Dun' types like.

[Scott]

There has never been a import car in the Winston Cup series. A few have been in Winston West and other small series but nothing with the big boys.

There will not be much under the hood that looks like a Toyota when all is said and done. The rules are very tight and Toyota will have to mass produce a fuel injected equivalant soon so that they will obide by the rules.

[TurboJZA70]

Originally posted by FordMan
There has never been a import car in the Winston Cup series. A few have been in Winston West and other small series but nothing with the big boys.

I dont watch nascar so i dont even know what series is the big boys or not.

[Bill]

Originally posted by 99TL
something tells me their strong v8 is going to have a little too much technology for the ole nascar/truck circuit. i dont even see why toyota is going to bother. nascar is about as american as it comes and it is tradition that only american cars/trucks run. should stay that way IMO

I disagree. I'm not a huge fan of Nascar (or a fan at all for that matter) due to the lack of inovation in the sport. It has been regulated to hell and technology advances seem to have slowed to a crawl. I wish it would go back to the days when you could actually watch a Nascar event and then run off to the dealership and purchase an almost exact replica of what you just saw. Stock car racing should be just that, the best the manufacturers (regardless of nationality) have to offer being raced around a track.

[Scott]

Lack of innovation ?

Are you kidding me.

They use motors with almost 100 less cubic inches than the original Nascar's that you are referring to and they run 50-60 miles per hour faster with huge regulations unlike the old days.

Unrestricted they have had these cars over 240 m.p.h. ! :o

For those of you that do not follow closely the current lap record for Nascar was set in 1985 at 212 m.p.h.. That was in one of those ugly ass 1985 T-Birds. After that they put huge regulations on them to slow them down.

The innovation goes into the smaller things now.