Toyota’s respectable showing in its first year racing the Craftsman
Truck series comes as no surprise to seasoned observers of either motorsports
or Toyota’s culture. Toyota trucks won four races in the 25-race
schedule and Tundra drivers recorded 25 top-5 finishes. In the manufacturer’s
championship, Toyota placed third ahead of Ford. Dodge won the title for
its first time with 162 points followed by Chevy—which has eight
of the 10 trophies—at 149, Toyota 123 and Ford—the winner
in 2000—with 116.
As the first foreign-based manufacturer to compete in one of NASCAR’s
elite series, Toyota had more to overcome than just building a pushrod
engine from scratch and setting up its teams. Considerable skepticism
and resistance to Toyota’s participation came from fans and within
the racing community. The NASCAR rulebook clearly states that its series
are reserved for American vehicles. Dissention rose high enough that Nextel
Cup driver Jimmy Spencer was quoted as saying, “Those (SOBs) bombed
Pearl Harbor, don’t forget. As long as it’s good for the economy,
I guess it’s OK. But I hope Ford, Chevrolet and Dodge kick their
(butt).”
Longtime
car owner Jack Roush echoed the feelings of many stock car fans when he
was quoted in USA Today: “I really don’t want to be seen as
a guy that has laid himself down on the tracks and said we shouldn’t
have Japanese cars in stock-car racing. I don’t want to be that
guy. But I do hope that NASCAR and that the fans and everybody that’s
involved will take stock of what’s good for our economy in the purchases
of consumer goods.”
Racers worried about Toyota’s ability to throw huge amounts of
cash at the project and leverage technology learned in other motorsports.
Observers noted Toyota was spending hundreds of millions of dollars in
the hyper-technology driven Formula 1 and matches Honda on the IRL circuit
where Chevy announced it will leave next year following a season in which
its engine was barely competitive.
So Toyota had political as well as technical concerns when the company
began to develop its NASCAR strategy at the turn of the century. The point
man for Toyota was Pat Wall, a motor racing consultant with plenty of
experience in marketing, sponsorship development and promotion. He convinced
NASCAR that Toyota was indeed an American company with more than 30,000
direct jobs and over 100,000 employed under Toyota umbrella when all dealerships
were counted. He stressed that all Toyota pickups are manufactured in
the United States, and a third truck plant will be built in
Texas.
In January 2002, NASCAR invited Toyota Motor Sales USA to compete in
the Craftsman Truck Series. Design work on the body started in March followed
by engine development in May. Toyota Racing Development (TRD) was in charge
of both. Toyota took a very structured approach to the development process.
All trucks, including frames and bodies, and the engines would be built
by TRD and either provided, sold or leased to the teams. The engine program
was especially stressful as Toyota had never built a 358-cubic-inch pushrod
V8 with a carburetor. Throw in NASCAR’s Byzantine rule book and
it’s easy to see why components had to be redesigned on a regular
basis to earn approval.
