Toyota warns NASCAR teams against cheating....

[NTIman]

The season hasn't even started yet, and Toyota has already warned their NASCAR teams about cheating, after a top Toyota NASCAR team gets caught...


Toyota issues warning to teams: Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president for competition, was emphatic this [the #55 infraction and penalty] was a team issue and not a Toyota issue. While embarrassed over the incident, Toyota officials insisted they would maintain a relationship with MWR. "This is not the way you want to enter NASCAR's Nextel Cup Series by any means," said Jim Aust, the president and CEO of Toyota Racing Development. "For this to happen to him is extremely disappointing and extremely disappointing to Toyota. ... He has certainly apologized to just about anybody that would be associated with his organization. He's beside himself with what's happened." Toyota isn't resting on an [Waltrip] apology. Company officials are expected to send a letter out to all Toyota teams next week stating Waltrip's organization has used two of the company's three strikes. The next team that crosses the line will face the loss of the manufacturer's support. Lee White, the senior vice president for TRD, said TRD worked with NASCAR throughout the process. "I can honestly tell you from an ethics standpoint and integrity, along with character and honesty, those things are paramount in our company," he said. "We hold ourselves to a high standard and we hold our teams to high standards. We hope we've picked the right ones."(ESPN.com)
AND: Jim Aust, vice president or Toyota Racing Development, was asked if this was his worst nightmare. "I would say that's pretty close to accurate," Aust said. "This is a week we had looked forward to for many years. To begin this way certainly takes some of the limelight and happiness out of it." It also doesn't help the Toyota guys win over some NASCAR followers who didn't want them here in the first place. That marketing campaign just got a lot tougher.(ESPN.com)(2-14-2007)

[JustinG]

yes, this is what i like to hear, the more things to piss off the close minded nascar fans the better

[NTIman]

Yeah, I guess it would piss the "closed minded" NASCAR fans off that the first race that a Toyota races in, they used illegal fuel.

[JustinG]

just saying im tired of hearing "I DONT WANT NO FOREIGNERS IN MY AMERICAN RACIN" its not like other teams dont cheat, yea sucks it was toyotas first race, but waltrip has been racing and running a team for a while, and all you will hear about is TOYOTA used illegal fuel, not Micheal Waltrip Racing used illegal fuel

[NTIman]

Actually, NASCAR made it clear that it was MWR's team that screwed up, not Toyota's fault.

I do understand your point, but there are plenty of people who don't give a shit if someone rode a Schwinn in NASCAR as long as they could have a good time watching it.

MWRs first race was last October BTW.

(edit)
The point of my post was not that a Toyota team got caught cheating, it was the point that Toyota went out of its way to make sure their teams did not do something blatantly obvious to make the manufacturer out to look like the bad guy.

[JustinG]

i know everyone isnt like that im mostly speaking of people like this...


who are ignorant to the fact that the ford they are driving was more than likely built in mexico, whereas the toyota parked next to them was built in america

And im glad toyota is getting on thier teams, last thing they need is bad PR, nothin would make me happier than to see a toyota win the daytona 500 or a toyota win the cup

[NTIman]

Yeah. I think that just proves that they are into the sport for the wrong reason.

Because honestly, every car out there uses a chevy suspension, a ford transmission, rear end, and floorpan, and Chrysler Ball joints.

Toyota's engine is a combination of Ford and SBC engine, so if you want to get really technical about it, its probably more American than any car out there.

[NTIman]

My only problem is that you cannot buy a V8 Toyota block, and my late model team wants to race with one, but they are only available NASCAR and ARCA teams currently.

[JustinG]

what makes the yota block better?

[NTIman]

Nothing in particular. We used to run 4 cylinder celicas and won a championship with one, and half of the mechanics on the team work with me at Kern toyota in winchester.
It does have 6 bolt mains I believe, the cam location is a bit higher, which makes for shorter pushrods. The heads should flow about the same, but who knows...
We have a camry nose on the car, and a Ford engine, and a lot of tracks mandate that you use a Toyota nose with a toyota engine, etc, etc...

Also, it used to be a rule that the block had to be available to the public to be used in NASCAR. So it would be nice for us to be able to get one, and really, it would only be great advertising for them.

I'm a racing fan in general, and most of my background does come from circle track stuff, which I know isn't particularly popular on this forum. I do think its perfectly fine for NASCAR to accept Toyotas into competition, and I only think its sad that one of their teams got caught so early. Stuff like that doesn't win over fans.

Also, the Ford engine is generally quite a bit heavier than other engines.

[Jeff]

I think it is great that the company is busting balls over this. I wouldn't expect anything less though. Asian culture values honor very highly and it is not surprising that they would take a very public issue like this very seriously. But its not the end of the world. I don't watch nascar anyway... I just check to see if something with a Ram head stamped on it came in first...thats all.

[NTIman]

That is a good point, Jeff.

NASCAR does manage to keep the competition close. Toyota itself is not going to build engines that are illegal. But it is up to the teams (no matter what form of motorsport) to hold up the values of the of whatever nameplate is on the car.

[G.Irish]

Yay a racing argument!

Jason didn't 5 teams get zinged for rules infractions at the 500? I thought I heard that somewhere.

Anyway that is probably the worst way Toyota's first race could've gone. Other than Toyota themself being accused of cheating.

A lot of fans don't wanna see Toyota in NASCAR in the first place as a matter of the whole "Buy American" mentality, then there's people that think Toyota will outspend everyone and ruin the competition. Perceived cheating will definitely sour the people in both of those camps.

For my money the whole "Buy American" thing is rather spurious but I think Toyota could very well wreck NASCAR if they can eek enough advantage of the boatloads of money they can spend on the project. I get the feeling that the Frances would find a way to reign 'em in though.

I must admit that the first thing I thought was here we go with Toyota cheating again but it looks like they're on the up and up in this situation.

[G.Irish]

Asian culture values honor very highly and it is not surprising that they would take a very public issue like this very seriously.

I can't speak for all of Asia but in Japanese culture honor is very highly valued but its not quite as simple as that. Typically every attempt is made to not lose face in public but it doesn't mean that a company like Toyota won't cheat.

Toyota got in trouble with the Japanese government a few years ago over helping their dealership techs cheat on government administered exam, they got caught with Ferrari technical data in Formula 1 (stolen by former Ferrari employees), and back in the 90's they got banned from WRC for cheating. Here's an article from pitpass about the aforementioned incidents: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_feature_item.php?fes_art_id=10682">http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_ ... t_id=10682</a><!-- m -->

Pitpass editorializes a bit there so I wouldn't demonize them from that article, but it just tells a little bit about some of the stuff they've done over the years. And that's not even getting into the political controversy in CART a few years back.

So honor is a big thing, but that doesn't mean they're above cheating. Mugen's president got in trouble for embezzlement (that's why they're now called M-Tec), Mitsubishi got in trouble for covering up a recall, and I'm sure there are plenty of other examples of Japanese manufacturers pulling shady stuff. I wouldn't say they're particularly dishonest, they're probably more honest than most, but they're not perfect.

[ViPER1313]

For my money the whole "Buy American" thing is rather spurious

I really couldn't care less if Toyota enters Nascar, but the whole "buy American" argument is not without merit.

[Mike]

on the whole "buy american" thing... didn't chrysler cut 13k jobs yesterday?

[NTIman]

3 Dodge teams had illegal aerodynamic aids as well as a
ford team.
All were penalized.

I don't think toyota itself will cheat, however, the teams will try to get any advantage possible.

[white_2kgt]

I don't think toyota itself will cheat, however, the teams will try to get any advantage possible.

Especially considering he's only the 24th fastest and isn't guarenteed a spot in the 500,

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.nbcsports.com/nascar/1036555/detail.html">http://www.nbcsports.com/nascar/1036555/detail.html</a><!-- m -->

I use to like Waltrip, but now that he's driving a Yota, he's dead to me.

[HAULN-SS]

heh, so no shit they dont even have to use a toyota block? I thought you had to have your own block and roofline? Man, this aint nascar of the 80's =\

I thought for sure there were a couple hundred V8 yota cars out there somewhere that were made so they could be in nascar. That's how come there are a few hundred angle-window Aero Monte carlos and pontiac 2 + 2's out there.

[Jeff]

on the whole "buy American" thing... didn't Chrysler cut 13k jobs yesterday?

No, they submitted a PLAN for dropping 11k factory jobs and 2k white collar positions. This plan still needs to be approved by the board of directors at DCX. It needs to be done. People are not buying the cars and there is a 400,000 unit production surplus. The problem is not that people don't want to buy the products, its that the market is so diverse now everyone's market share is reduced.