Click above for high-res gallery from Kobalt Tools 500
Toyota is hoping that there is some life left in the old adage, "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday." While we can't imagine many NASCAR fans driving off the showroom floor in a brand new Camry because of Toyota's 1-2 finish at the Kobalt Tools 500, they do have a few full-size Tundra pickups that could use some help rolling out of dealer's lots. Toyota realizes this, and Les Unger, national motorsports manager of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., notes that there are upcoming NASCAR races in pickup-rich areas like the Midwest, Southeast and Southwest, and Toyota also competes in the Craftsman Truck Series. We can expect to see plenty of NASCAR-specific marketing coming out of Toyota in the near future to promote its historic win, and with industry-giant Joe Gibbs behind Toyota's future NASCAR success, expect to see more of the Camry in the winners-circle.
[Source: Automotive News]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
zamafir @ Mar 18th 2008 7:31PM
how do you measure this stuff? It's not like toyota's having any problems selling cars and increasing their marketshare in the US.
Jason @ Mar 18th 2008 7:32PM
Being this is considered a sport, shouldn't the drivers and team be Japanese? Now, that would add excitement to the sport. The way it is now the Japanese hire Americans and ultimately the Japanese get credit for American ingenuity. When it was between Ford, Chrysler and GM, I took interest in NASCAR, but now I will not watch or attend any events.
Temple @ Mar 18th 2008 7:47PM
Toyota is a global brand, they build cars everywhere, including America. Their sporting efforts in NASCAR is designed to be watched by Americans and are designed, run, and raced by Americans. Their European F1 efforts are based in Germany, run and raced by Europeans(an Italian and German) for primarily a European audience. Toyota's SuperGT racing efforts, are watched by Japanese, and are subsequently run and raced by the Japanese.
Motorsports is really an advertising medium for these manufacturers designed for a specific target audience. Not everything is about race and nationality.
All American Dude XX @ Mar 18th 2008 10:46PM
NASCAR is a sport? You mean like golf, bowling, and baseball???
Harrison @ Mar 18th 2008 11:39PM
I'm sure Toyota will be too busy counting cups and dollars to give a damn.
MS @ Mar 18th 2008 7:36PM
Paying off...yeah right...try this...
Count the number of Toyota hats at a Nascar race...
I'll give you a hint...starts with Z...ends with ERO
chad @ Mar 19th 2008 7:21AM
I'll count hats, you go in the parking lot and count Toyota cars. It's the latter they're more concerned with.
MS @ Mar 19th 2008 10:09AM
Counted!!!
February 2008
General Motors –16.7% at 270,423 (2/07: 311,763)
Ford Motor Co –10.6% at 196,681 (2/07: 211,150)
Toyota Motor Co. –6.6% at 182,169 (2/07: 187,330)
Kiiks @ Mar 18th 2008 7:41PM
NASCAR is a good marketing tool. Toyota recognizes this and come on - it doesn't matter how many cars you already sell, you can always stand to sell a few more.
And I'd love to see our domestic makes compete in some top-level motorsports that don't involve ovals. And I don't mean GT.
Scotty @ Mar 18th 2008 8:39PM
How about Chevrolet and the American LeMans Series?
Kiiks @ Mar 19th 2008 8:24AM
"And I don't mean GT"
Tourian @ Mar 18th 2008 8:04PM
@Temple
I could be wrong but I think most of the SuperGT drivers are European, maybe even a couple of Americans. In other words I think Japanese drivers aren't in the majority in that series. Not that it means anything really, but it would be interesting if NASCAR were more diverse.
caddy dave @ Mar 18th 2008 7:54PM
Cheat on Saturday,
Win on Sunday,
Sell with arrogance and sarcasm on Monday,
Deny all problems on Tuesday,
Hang up on customer complaints on Wednesday,
Deal with lawyers on Thursday,
Send crews out to pick up fallen off Tundra parts on Friday,
And Friday night thru Saturday morning celebrate getting away with it one more week.
wally @ Mar 18th 2008 7:59PM
Toyota has paid big $ to "WWE" of NASCAR for the success they are having. They "donated" millions of dollars to nascar & Joe Gibbs to jump start TRD!!!
I to will not watch or attend!!!
Thedevil @ Mar 18th 2008 8:25PM
Yea! like toyota gives a rats ass if you watch or not,to all the haters ,read this...........Among the complaints cited by the legion of NASCAR Nextel Cup fans upset with the arrival of Toyota at the top level is that it's a slap in the face of NASCAR tradition.
Really?
Allowing a variety of manufacturers into the series is certainly nothing new. With Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford and Toyota, the 2007 Nextel Cup series will have four manufacturers.
Check the entry list of the NASCAR Daytona Speed Week race on February 11, 1951, and you'll find cars from Buick, Chrysler, Ford, Hudson, Kaiser, Lincoln, Mercury, Nash, Oldsmobile, Packard, Plymouth, Pontiac, Studebaker and even a Henry J.
That's 14 brands, and it would have been 15 had a Chevrolet shown up.
All-American? Nope.
Sure, you say, but at least those were all American brands, since NASCAR has always been all-American, right?
Wrong. Check the lineup at NASCAR's first-ever road race in Linden, New Jersey, on June 13, 1954, on the grounds of the local airport. Yes, you had Lee Petty in a Dodge, Buck Baker in an Oldsmobile and Herb Thomas and Dick Rathmann in a pair of Hudsons. But the race was won by Al Keller in a Jaguar, and other brands in the 43-car field included Austin-Healey, MG, Porsche and even a Morgan. In all, 21 entries were foreign brands.
Fine, you say, but that was on a road course. NASCAR would never let foreign cars onto its oval tracks, right?
Wrong. The International 200 at Langhorne, Pennsylvania, was run on a 1-mile dirt oval track on June 21, 1953. There were six Jaguars — one was a fast qualifier — and there were a pair of Porsches, a Volkswagen and even an Aston Martin.
It was a bloody race. Driver Frank Arford was killed, Ray Duhigg suffered a broken neck and Lawrence Shultz was hospitalized with multiple injuries. They were driving, respectively, an Oldsmobile, a Dodge and a Plymouth. None of the foreign cars crashed. Dick Rathmann won in his Hudson with Lee Petty a close second in his Dodge, with Dick Allwine the top-finishing foreign car driver in his Jaguar, which came in 6th, 16 laps down.
When NASCAR returned to Langhorne the following year, none of the entries wore an import label — which meant the starting field dropped from 38 cars to 24 — though Wimpy Ervin made the race in his Henry J, which I mention because NASCAR does not have enough drivers now with names like Wimpy, Slick, Goober and another Wimpy, last name Sipple. Or Bub, Buckshot, Edsel, Elbert, Otis, Pop, Slim, Snuffy, Speedy, Tubby, and, of course, Fireball — all racers from the 1953 season.
Parnelli beats a Renault
But Linden and Langhorne weren't the last time foreigners raced at NASCAR. In the 1958 Crown America 500 NASCAR race at Riverside, California, a pair of Citroëns finished ahead of Parnelli Jones' Ford, though Parnelli did trounce a Renault.
In the now-defunct NASCAR Goody's Dash series, several foreign brands competed. That is, in fact, where Toyota started, before moving into the NASCAR Craftsman truck series, and now at the Nextel Cup level.
So if you're peeved about Toyota entering NASCAR, that's fine.
But listen, Wimpy, or Bub, or Goober, or whatever your name is: Think again about claiming tradition as your reason.
I
jsjs @ Mar 19th 2008 1:18AM
thedevil - GREAT POST!!
Tragedy @ Mar 18th 2008 8:15PM
Haha, look at all the angry, bitter, racist rednecks. God bless America!
Tagg @ Mar 18th 2008 9:24PM
Look at your own ignorant comments with slurs like "rednecks" in.
God bless America is right.
jsjs @ Mar 19th 2008 1:23AM
Technically, "rednecks" is not a slur to an entire race or even to a nationality.
One can very well say "dumb-arse hick" - and pretty much every country has a term to describe such people.
And yes - God Bless America.
PJ @ Mar 18th 2008 8:59PM
Let's review the current Detroit models "represented" (through paintjobs; the chassis underneath are identical) in NASCAR:
The Ford Fusion - Based on the Japanese-designed Mazda6 chassis, available with Mazda engines, and assembled in Hermosillo, Mexico.
The Chevrolet Impala SS - Built in Ontario, Canada.
The Dodge Avenger - Based on a Mitsubishi platform, with a four-cylinder engine joint-designed with Mitsubishi and Hyundai. Built in Michigan; Dodge's previous entry, the Charger, is built in Canada.
Um, yeah. That Camry sure is a slap in the face to NASCAR's American heritage. Automakers are globalized. Deal with it.