Toyota's state of panic over NASCAR debut
When former NASCAR champion Bill Elliott failed to qualify a Dodge for last weekend's Bank of America 500 for new team Red Bull Racing, which is one of the three Toyota teams for the company's inaugural Nextel Cup season in 2007, it cast a harsh spotlight on the steep learning curve facing Toyota's teams as they venture into the upper echelon of left-turn-only racing.
In the words of Lee White, senior VP for Toyota Racing Development, "I see light at the end of the tunnel, but there's still a mountain to climb."
Dodge, which re-entered Cup racing in 2000 after a 23-year layoff, could tell Toyota just how high that mountain can be - despite the best efforts of superstar team managers Ray Evernham and Roger Penske, it was only this year that Evernham Motorsports' Kasey Kahne (who won this weekend) started to make regular appearances in victory lane.
The learning curve will be even steeper for Toyota's teams, as they struggle to develop both a current-spec Nextel Cup streamliner with the Camry badge, and NASCAR's "Car of Tomorrow" racer (shown above in its Camry guise), which makes its part-time debut in selected races next year. (Rumor has it that NASCAR is pushing for the COT to be used as soon as the Bud Shootout in the run-up to the season-opening Daytona 500 in February.)
[Source: Boston Herald]
- Ford Fusion Hydrogen 999 erfüllt die Voraussetzungen für Top-Speed laufen auf Bonneville Klicken Sie auf die Fusion für high-res Bilder von Bonneville Matt Zuehlk und sein Team bestehend aus Ingenieuren und Technikern von Ford, Roush und Ballard Power Systems schließlich klicken Sie auf d ...
- Die 280 MPH gestrafft Acabion GTBO HTTP/1.1 200 OK Date: Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:19:38 GMT Server: Apache/2.2.9 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.2.9 OpenSSL/0.9.8i DAV / 2 mod_auth_passthrough/2.1 mod_bwlimited/1.4 FrontPage/5.0 .2.2635 X-Powered-By: PHP/ ...
- JCB Dieselmax geehrt mit Dewar Trophy HTTP/1.1 200 OK Date: Fri, 14 Nov 2008 08:07:55 GMT Server: Apache/2.2.9 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.2.9 OpenSSL/0.9.8i DAV / 2 mod_auth_passthrough/2.1 mod_bwlimited/1.4 FrontPage/5.0 .2.2635 X-Powered-By: PHP/ ...
- 2-wheel land speed record falls in the flats If we've learned anything from the JCB Dieselmax team, it's that records are meant to be broken, and why should our four-wheeled friends have all the fun? Last weekend the International Motorcycle Spe ...
- JCB Dieselmax sets new diesel Bonneville speed record The JCB-sponsored, twin-engined Dieselmax streamliner set a new Bonneville Speed Week record for diesel-powered vehicles, with a two-run average speed of 317 mph.Under the Southern California Timing A ...
- Aussie-bred Elfin MS8 Streamliner gets price break before production In order to ensure a successful launch of its classicly-styled MS8 Streamliner sports car, Australian automaker Elfin has joined forces with Walkinshaw Performance. Owned by that Tom Walkinshaw, Walki ...
- Elfin MS8 gets green light from Aussie authorities After a year's worth of regulatory difficulty, Australia's Elfin Sports Car Company will finally start production on the stunning MS8 Streamliner. The Holden-styled roadster promises stunning performa ...
- World premiere: Audi TT Coupe With much pomp and ceremony, Audi AG unveiled the new TT Coupe in Berlin, at the site of the famous Brandenburg Gate. In keeping with Germany's "Land of Ideas" national marketing campaign to ...
- Ten cool cars we don't get here Automotive journalists love to point out the myriad of enthusiast dream machines that do not show up on American shores. Car Connection did a similar article a couple months ago, and now Motor Trend i ...
- Bar stools are for poseurs Concluding that his wife would need a wheelchair after contracting Multiple Sclerosis, Jerry Bowers, of Manteca, California, figured that he might as well give the ride some real power. Beginning with ...
0 Responses to » Toyota's state of panic over NASCAR debut
Leave your response!