brillo

Ok, forget $100 oil, this truely is the world coming to an end.

Let me get this straight, we are going to take a FWD, japanese couch and shove a carburated V8 pushrod with a RWD drivetrain?

if this isn't a insult to the to American land barges everywhere, I don't know what is.

zoom44

Mazda should run the 6. Ford alrady runs the Fusion

zoom44

Reaction to Toyota's NASCAR Entry by Ford, Team Owners, and Drivers

http://www.paddocktalk.com/news/html...icle&sid=26427

Steakboy42

i believe ford is running the fusion next year

-Steakboy

Steakboy42

oh and i forgot, NASCAR is good for naps and thats about it

-Steakboy

BlueEyes

Uh, it's not like the cars the american companies are running are rwd v8 powered on the street anyhow. Are they? Monte Carlo - FWD V6. That's the only one I know of. Dodge stratus maybe which is also FWD V6 and whatever ford has.

expo1

The Camry is assembled in America and the Fusion is assembled in Mexico, what is an American car these days anyway?

alnielsen

iTrader: (4)

Does this really make a difference. NASCAR "trys" to make all the different cars equal. A top driver could move from a top Chevy to a top Ford to a top Dodge and not really know the difference, if he didn't see the body. If a Toyota gets too fast, it will get slowed with rules changes real fast.

mpt_yellowRX8

It's close for sure but there are different tracks that suit the different makes better. Chevrolet has been dominant on the superspeedways for the past ten or so years because their body naturally creates less downforce than the other makes. Ford and Dodge are better on the 1.5 mile tracks because they have more downforce than the Chevy's.

The new cars are always faster than the one that it replaces but NASCAR doesn't like to make the rest of the makes change their cars in order to perform with the newly engineered model. If they just urned the guys loose for one season it would be much more interesting.

I never thought I'd see NASCAR bring in a foreign manufacturer, but then Bill France died and in they went. It will be good for the sport to bring in another manufacturer. Just hope they can make it through the growing pains and get a few good owners to run Yota's.

moRotorMotor

Toyota trucks have already been in the Craftsman Truck Series for a while now, I don't get what the big deal is.

delrmx01

iTrader: (1)

I had an '02 Superchrged Tundra for a couple of years and when they announced they were going to be in the Craftsman Truck Series I was pretty impressed. So, I agree, what's the big deal . I mean not to hate or anything--and I'm not really a big NASCAR fan either.

playdoh43

toyota is changing its image with the new 2007 268hp v6 camry and all. this is pretty natural.

rotarygod

Toyota has been dominating in the Craftsman truck series. They came in, dominated, and everyone complained. Now there are more Toyotas in that series than any other brand. The same thing will happen with NASCAR as well. Toyota takes a different approach to engine building. They obviously have to conform to the same set of rules but they do things differently internally with their engines and then they win with it. If they do good this season, the others are going to cry foul.

BlueEyes

I'll watch NASCAR just to see people cry foul.

expo1

delrmx01

iTrader: (1)

^^^ That's pretty sick.

JRichter

Now that's just too much...

NomisR

You mean like how Toyota got caught in WRC and was banned from it for 10 years?

rotarygod

They may have messed up there but they have stayed in the rules pretty nicely in the Craftsman truck series. NASCAR guys are actually respected if they find ways to "cheat" with unique interpretation of rules.

I forgot what they got in trouble for in WRC. Wasn't it something to do with their interpretation of the restrictor plate rule?

EDIT: Went and looked it up. They were banned for 1 year, not 10. They had variable sized restrictor plates on the turbos that opened up larger at higher speeds. They were the proper size at inspection but not the whole time of the race. It seems like every time they've gotten in trouble, it has been due to being a little too creative with their rules interpretations and trying to take it a little too far.

rotarygod

That's going to itch when it grows back!

GotBass

Dodge runs a charger RWD V8.

SHOWOFF

I could care less if Toyota entered NASCAR.

NASCAR=BORING

BlueEyes

So then how much do you care?

Wolverine

Seems no one has posted these pics yet. [On a side note, the link that zoom44 provided says that Michael Andretti is getting back in the race car for the Indy 500...cool!]

mpt_yellowRX8

It's not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things, just never thought it would happen. The truck series is small beans and toyota hasn't dominated that series contrary to other posts. They didn't have the most wins nor did they win the championship. I think that will come this year though.

Toyota coming into the nextel cup series is like an american winning their seventh straight tour de france. Nobody ever expected it, and when it happened nobody knew what to do.