Toyota pledges to stay… in NASCAR
November 7, 2009 by SJ Skid
Filed under Prime & Option, SJ Skid
I know everyone has been worrying about this.
Now that Toyota has announced its withdrawal from Formula 1, surely the company would follow suit and quit competing in NASCAR.
We all can rest easy. Toyota will stay in American stock car racing.
Lee White, Toyota Racing Development president, confirmed the news on Saturday.
He had a few other things to say about F1 that makes this story worth reading, beyond just the snark potential. He mentions F1 mistakes and says that Toyota has no plans to return to IndyCar. Apologies: Izod IndyCars.
[If those cars don't all get little alligators, I shall be very disappointed.]
FORT WORTH, Texas — Lee White, president of Toyota Racing Development, said Toyota’s departure from Formula One has no bearing on its NASCAR program, but he also said NASCAR should learn from F1’s mistakes.
“Leaving Formula One was not an easy decision to make,” White said Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway. “Obviously, it affects a lot of people, and a lot of those people are friends of ours, so we feel for them.
“But it should have no effect whatsoever on our NASCAR program, our NASCAR plans and our NASCAR future. We remain completely committed to NASCAR and NASCAR is completely committed to us.”
Toyota announced Wednesday that it was leaving F1. Reports estimated Toyota was spending in excess of $400 million a year to race in the series.
White was asked if some of those funds would move to the NASCAR program.
“The answer to that is no,” White said. “The economy remains very challenging for the automotive industry. So we don’t expect one penny of that reduction in cost would come here to benefit our NASCAR program.”
Honda left F1 last year and Renault is considering whether it will stay in the series. White says everyone in racing, including NASCAR, can learn from F1’s troubles.
“We saw NASCAR have a phenomenal period of growth,” White said. “Now we’re suffering through times where the fans in the stands are down. NASCAR is trying to finds a way to become relevant again. We are shoulder-to-shoulder with them to try to make it all work.”
White’s biggest concern at the moment is finding a way to compete with Hendrick Motorsports and its Chevrolets. Jimmie Johnson probably is headed for an unprecedented fourth consecutive Sprint Cup title and Hendrick drivers hold down the top three spots in the standings.
“The Hendrick organization is a tier higher than everyone, including other teams from that manufacturer [Chevrolet],” White said. “So give Hendrick credit. They’ve done a fantastic job. We don’t begrudge them that. We just want to work hard and find ways to beat them.”
White understands the Hendrick domination has left a perception of a lack of competition, but he doesn’t blame NASCAR.
“It’s very hard to legislate competition,” White said. “How can you legislate against Hendrick other than making their life miserable by checking their cars every week and taking them apart?
“Oh, wait. They did that and it didn’t work. I give NASCAR credit for trying. They are doing the best they can. Some of these things just take time until someone figures out how to get as good as they are.”
White also doesn’t think the racing in NASCAR is as bad as some people believe.
“I’m not sure the races 10 years ago were better,” he said. “You didn’t have leader changes every lap. The difference is in the access the population has and the ability to comment on it with the Internet.
“People never had that before. They came to the race, they left and they were done. They didn’t hear anything else until they read about it in a newspaper the next day.”
So what would White do to improve competition?
“They probably just need to invert wherever Jimmie Johnson is and put him in the back,” White said with a smirk. “He’s that good.”
White also said Toyota has no interest in returning to the IndyCar Series. Honda is the exclusive engine supplier of IndyCar, but White wouldn’t mind seeing Honda make the move to NASCAR.
“The door’s wide open,” he said. “Bring it on. We welcome the competition if they decide to come. Maybe a little more competition would bring the Hendrick guys in line. We need all the help we can get.”
I also would suggest White’s comments confirm what we all know: Toyota’s main interest about F1 was competing with Honda. And, until there’s a US GP — not to mention any North American F1 race — it is hard to argue with either company seeing NASCAR as the better entry into their main markets.
Sad, but true.
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The chances of a USGP disappear with the manufacturers. Toyota has been very succesful in Nascar particularly the trucks and they have exciting young drivers as well (Busch, Logano, Hamlin, Vickers etc..) not too mention the fact is alll they really supply is engines and boxes of Toyota stickers so the cost of competing is no where near the cost of F1
translation: NASCAR doesn’t cost anywhere close to F1 and actually has tangible gains of us being there.
But now I think Toyota has understood the fact that if they want to be popular in market F1 is not the place for them because their road cars are not comparable to them, unlike Ferrari, Mclaren, Mercedes, BMW etc coz they have a different market, a different approach and a different culture in their company.
For the most part you are correct…BUT Toyota is about to release a $400,000 V10 supercar…I’m not sure there’s going to be a whole lot of “the-car-of-tomorrow” built into that beast. I’ll give you one guess where they got the basics of that V10 from… I don’t think you’re going to see any LF-A advertisments at Talledaga. Many industry insiders are also saying that a hi-tech replacement for the Supra is on its way, F1 is the perfect marketing vehicle for both those cars…
The US is rumored to only be getting around 200 of the 500 units planned for production … I think you’re spot on that F1 has made a major influence on the design of this car. And yes, no car of tomorrow technology could be found under that sleek, carbon fiber bonnet. :)
They Toyota budget is roughly $10,000,000 per car in Cup. So two F1 team budgets could fund the ENTIRE Cup field.
Toyota doesn’t think F1 is garbage. Their operations in NASCAR is kind of a separate gig. If they were making enough money worldwide in todays car market they’d still be in F1 – but the reality is that Toyota isn’t going to take government bailouts or tax incentives from the US government. Toyota is scaling its operations to match what they can afford. I’m not happy with the decision, but I know that it is the thing to do to ensure Toyota survives.
Toyota is still in the growing phase in NASCAR, and I think Toyota does realize a greater return in their major market per dollar spent in NASCAR vs F1. Simple as that, but don’t be confused. Toyota has a different corporate structure, and a couple of different racing divisions. Let me explain:
To my understanding, TTE – Toyota Team Europe headed up our WRC and F1 efforts over the years, and NASCAR is run by TRD, a US version of TRD Technocraft in Japan. I can’t remember if TRD reports back to TMC (Corporate Japan) or if they report to TMS (US Corporate). Additionally, they have Toyota Motorsports. Fact is that our F1 and NASCAR efforts are not really related, which is why F1 being cut doesn’t mean more money for NASCAR.