It's Time To Tell NASCAR How We Feel About Toyota

http://insiderracingnews.com/dt060403.html ^

[Provost-Marshal]

It's Time To Tell NASCAR How We Feel About Toyota

By Denise Thompson

June 4, 2003

I cannot believe what I have been hearing, and reading.

Much to the dismay of some fans, it looks like Toyota is going to get the chance to compete in the American sport of NASCAR.

I belong to several NASCAR fans private groups online and can honestly say that the majority of these fans are not just in shock at this news, but are as mad as Tony Stewart and his crew chief, Greg Zippadeli, were when NASCAR confiscated Stewart's Home Depot Chevrolet at Texas Motor Speedway earlier in April. Now it's come to light that NASCAR has given that car to the Japanese to help them produce a Toyota race car.

However, NASCAR has denied that Stewart's car was ever given to anyone and stated that the car is still in the R & D shop. If what NASCAR says is true, then why is Stewart and Zippadeli upset with NASCAR?

There are two reasons why most of the fans don't want to see Toyota in NASCAR.

The first reason: During World War II, not only did some of these fans lose a grandfather, husband, dad, uncle, brother, cousin and or a dear friend, while other fans may have a loved one that is or was permanently injured, as losing their eye sight or even a limb if not two, during the sneak attack on our American troops, that fateful day on December 7, 1941 known as "The Attack at Pearl Harbor." The Japanese brutally killed our boys on the march to Bataan, on Mount Suribachi in Iwo Jima, as well as the P.O.W. camps, our American soldiers were brutally murdered and dismembered. It's not that we Americans hold a grudge, it's just the Japanese have never apologized to the United States for any of these cowardly acts.

Don't get me wrong, we realize that the Dodge's are now a German vehicle (Daimler owns 51% while Chrysler owns 49%), and we don't mind having foreign cars in NASCAR such as the Dodge, but it was first an American manufactured vehicle. The fans just don't want to see any foreign made cars in NASCAR.

Secondly: Traditionally this sport was based in the south and has traveled throughout the United States. Drivers like Ned Jarrett, Lee Petty, Ralph Earnhardt and Curtis Turner, just to mention a few, began this sport on the beaches of Florida and North Carolina, as well as dirt tracks in North Carolina. This sport has been passed from generation to generations of American families. What happened to the tradition of this sport? This is what the fans are asking. Why does Mike Helton or even Bill France have the right to change that? Looking at the whole picture, if Toyota is allowed to race in NASCAR, what's next? Are we going to open the door to Italy, France, Russia, China, or the rest of the world. Where does it end? Does this sport go International? Will we be actively looking for foreign drivers? Will NASCAR be building tracks in other countries?

No longer will NASCAR be an American sport. Like so many other things we have lost, it's time for the fans to stand up and fight for this by letting NASCAR know how we feel about it.

I am speaking on behalf of the majority of the NASCAR fans, We do not want Toyota or any other foreign made car in the sport of NASCAR. We want to keep the tradition and we want to keep NASCAR the way it is right now, today.

Many fans have fallen in love with the sport. Don't let NASCAR or anyone else take it away from us. You can contact NASCAR at the following address:

NASCAR 1801 W. International Speedway Blvd. Daytona Beach, Florida 32114

[billbears]

F1 isn't racing. I don't know what the heck it is but I wouldn't get in one of those plastic kit cars if you paid me. Bonneville? How many rocket cars are there out there in the real world? Pomona? A bit closer but the big boys practically running jets on them are the only ones halfway worth watching and it's over in the blink of an eye

Besides that, NASCAR does last a bit longer and actually takes more strategy than any of the ones you listed. NASCAR makes this mistake and brings in a rice burner, I will won't be watching anymore. God help the poor fool they con into driving this piece of junk the first year

[mercy]

The redneck attitude of this article is distinctly unamerican. Not to mention ignorant, racist and unchristian.

[IowaHawk]

Anybody who equates Bonneville with "rocket cars" is ignorant of car culture and racing history. To real hotrodders, the Pure Highest Holy Place of all auto racing ain't Indianapolis, and it ain't Daytona, it is a desolate dry salt lakebed located 30 miles east of Wendover, Nevada.

http://www.scta-bni.org/

[Ben Hecks]

"NASCAR? Boring technology (pushrod carbureted V8s), mediocre drivers."

You bring up an interesting issue. I think Winston Cup cars now must use a pushrod engine with one carb. Toyota's V-8 is a DOHC design.
Ford's V-8s have been OHC for some years so I assume Ford teams scrounge old blocks from the junkyard to run NASCAR. If OHC engines are allowed, the teams with the obsolete pushrod stuff will be in trouble.

[billbears]

Anybody who equates Bonneville with "rocket cars" is ignorant of car culture and racing history

And the same could be said of anyone who equates NASCAR to donkey basketball. I know the history and respect Bonneville just as much as I do Pomona. But I also respect and understand racing that is theoretically something that could be done by many such as NASCAR (i.e. Friday/Saturday night dirt track racing, building engines on the weekend, moonshine runners) and has just as a storied history as many other racing cliques, moreso than $500,000 plastic kit car racing such as F1

[IowaHawk]

Ford/Chevy/Dodge have legacy pushrod heads for their V8 blocks. The goofy thing is that Toyota will supposedly have to cast 'special' pushrod heads for their Lexus V8 blocks; plus 'special' 4bbl intake manifolds. Cripes, why not make them run 6 volt generators?

[billbears]

mediocre drivers

Running 4-5 wide at 190 mph, inches away from each other is not mediocrity. Unless you think you've got the nerves of steel to do it

[Palmetto]

Ford's V-8s have been OHC for some years so I assume Ford teams scrounge old blocks from the junkyard to run

You are correct, Ford no longer offers any pushrod V8 engines. However, for all the NASCAR teams, the blocks are customed made anyway. Since they all have the same dimensions (bore, stroke, and bore centers), I wouldn't be shocked if the castings all came from the same foundry.

If OHC engines are allowed, the teams with the obsolete pushrod stuff will be in trouble.

If the rules were changed to allow OHC engines AND pushrod engines, the teams would have to weigh any potential penalties assessed to the OHC crowd - displacement limits, weight, restrictors, etc. and decide accordingly. If the OHC engines had an advantage, then Ford and GM could compete quite well - they both make several outstanding examples of DOHC V8 engines in production, and both have extensive DOHC V8 racing experience (Ford in F1, GM in IRL, both in CART).

[samuel_adams_us]

Not even close to right, the drivers in F1 have more technical driving ability than NASCAR drivers, they don't just turn left, they turn both ways as well as they are doing it at much higher G's and at much higher speed. A F1 car will leave a NASCAR car in the dust on any track at any time.

[tacticalogic]

A top fuel race is like an orgasm.

Nah. Orgasms are way better. Trust me.

[Palmetto]

I think Yugos would more fun.

My college sports-car club had a Yugo we raced in SCCA autocrosses. We modified the suspension a bit, took out some weight, and added a two-barrel Fiat carburetor (the Yugo design is by Fiat).

We embarassed a lot of Mustang, Camaro, and RX7 drivers with that thing. Turns out autocrosses require a bit of driver skill.

[samuel_adams_us]

More strategy? F1 takes more from the driver, pulling more G's at much higher speeds. The times on the road track when NASCAR is running at the Glen are so much slower than the times from CART and CART is so much slower than F1.

[tacticalogic]

A F1 car will leave a NASCAR car in the dust on any track at any time.

A NASCAR car, yes. Put it on the track at Bristol with 43 of 'em for an afternoon, and the results may vary.

[Palmetto]

While I think Schumacher is probably the best driver in the world at the moment, and perhaps the best EVER, modern F1 cars have far too many driver aides to allow for skill comparisons to drivers in other series. Automatic transmissions, electronic throttles, traction-control, and launch-assist allow the F1 driver to focus on cornering lines and braking techniques. Heaven knows they don't spend a great deal of time worrying about overtaking, which is about as rare in F1 as a Dixie Chicks concert on the White House lawn.

[eBelasco]

Wasn't the avg speed at Monaco about 100mph? Aren't most NASCAR ovals won at averages over 150mph? Most f1 drivers only see other cars for 5 seconds at the start (where half of them seem to crash out because they can't handle being that close to other drivers) then they are on their own, or else they tailgate somebody around the track hoping the other guy blows a traction control chip or something.

[N. Theknow]

Well I guess it is Hummer for you.

Yes.

But I am having trouble deciding on the .30 or .50 caliber option and desert or jungle camo.

[MineralMan]

"My college sports-car club had a Yugo we raced in SCCA autocrosses. We modified the suspension a bit, took out some weight, and added a two-barrel Fiat carburetor (the Yugo design is by Fiat)."

Yup, autocross is a fun thing, and takes lots of practice and skill. I used to run the Sprite in those, too, but it was just a slice under-powered. This was between 1963 and 1965.

But I remember one big autocross sponsored by my college sports car club. There was this guy who pulled up in the very first Mini I'd seen. It wasn't a Cooper, but he had a 1275 engine in it anyhow, tuned to the limit.

A bunch of folks were standing around this little box on skate wheels, laughing and joking about it being this little toy car.

But, then the guy took the course in his Mini. Best time of the day on his first run, and he bettered that on his second. Lots of wide eyes.

I had a Mini Cooper later on, and was always amazed by it. It just sort of squatted down there and went wherever you pointed it without much ado. What a blast!

[samuel_adams_us]

A NASCAR cannot compete on any track with a formula one car unless the driver of the F1 car is drunk. There is no way. The HP to weight ratio isn't even close nor is the technology. A good NASCAR might hit 2 to 3 G's in the corners and a F1 car hit's 5 g's in the corner all day long.

[RipSawyer]

"They are both AWD and that won't make it up my driveway in the winter and the road to my house during MUD week."

Either you live on a truly awful road or you don't know how to drive. I used to drive a solid mile of red clay to get from home to the paved road and I drove it in a 57 chevy car among others. This was pure red clay mud when it rained with ruts so deep the whole bottom of the car would bang and so slick that it was almost impossible to walk on. Most people have no idea how to drive on slick surfaces.

[biblewonk]

Some people are just afraid to lose to a non American whether it's a car race, a motorcycle drag race, a job, anything.