Feature
Road Trip: Toyota Camry to the Daytona 500
In search of the stink of Toyota bashing
In February 2004, reporters asked NASCAR driver and TV broadcaster Jimmy Spencer what he thought of Toyota's move into the NASCAR truck series. "They bombed Pearl Harbor, don't forget," he said.
Spencer promptly apologized, but the reaction to Toyota moving up to NASCAR's premier Nextel Cup Series to battle Chevrolet, Dodge and Ford, all of which are struggling in the retail marketplace, hasn't been much more civilized. Some have predicted The End of Racing as We Know It. Many appear to be rallying behind longtime GM employee Bill Bagwell, who has started a Web site: FansAgainstRacingToyotas.com (FART), which proclaims, "We're creating a stink!"
Maybe, maybe not. Although we skipped Bagwell's latest Toyota-bashing party, we've been researching the reaction to Toyota's entry into Nextel Cup. In fact, we took a new 2007 Toyota Camry SE from the factory in Kentucky, where Camrys are built, and drove it to the 2007 Daytona 500. And we made a few stops on the way.
Let's hit the road and see if we can get a sniff of the anti-Toyota stink Bill Bagwell is talking about.
Georgetown, Kentucky
In nine of the past 10 years, the Toyota Camry has been America's best-selling car. Some 400,000 Camrys each year come from Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky (TMMK), a 7.5-million-square-foot plant that lies in Georgetown, just north of Lexington. In place since 1988, TMMK has been the template for the six other Toyota plants in the U.S. — seven, when the $1.3-billion plant is completed in Tupelo, Mississippi, the birthplace of Elvis Presley. Twenty-five states fought for that plant.
We figure this mostly anonymous factory built from beige brick is the place to find someone to defend Toyota's entry into the NASCAR Nextel Cup series, and we're right. "I think it's high time for an American-made car to compete in Nextel Cup," says Steve St. Angelo, the cheerful president of TMMK.
D'oh! St. Angelo, a 30-year General Motors employee before moving to Toyota in April 2005, is referring to one of Toyota's most popular talking points. The civilian versions of the three cars that compete in the NASCAR Nextel Cup series — the Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Dodge Charger and Ford Fusion — are built either in Canada (the Charger and the Monte Carlo) or Mexico (the Fusion). Meanwhile more than 75 percent of the parts used here by Toyota (and 98 percent of the steel) comes from U.S. suppliers.
Of course, pretty much all of the cars and engines that compete in the NASCAR Nextel Cup series are built in North Carolina, some of them by the same companies. In fact, they all look pretty much alike until you stick on headlight and taillight decals.
Here, NASCAR fans abound. Among them: Steve Riddle and Shad McCord, both team leaders on the plant's engine line. Riddle discounts those who suggest Toyota doesn't belong in an American series. "We build 'em here every day. They're creating American jobs." Also the teams have brought on some "big-time American sponsors," McCord says, such as UPS, Domino's Pizza and Caterpillar. "Caterpillar is about as American as they come," he tells us.
McCord lives more than an hour from the plant in a farming community and acknowledges that he's been the object of some anti-Toyota-in-NASCAR ribbing. It seems Toyota can build plants here, or in San Antonio, or down the street from the little house where Elvis was born. But to many, Toyota is a foreign company, preparing to compete in the largest American racing series. Twenty-five states might battle to get a Toyota plant, but that's economics. NASCAR is a lifestyle.
Owensboro, Kentucky — 176.1 miles
A few hours west of Toyota's Georgetown plant is Owensboro, Kentucky: population 55,000. For a comparatively small town, Owensboro has made a startlingly large contribution to NASCAR as the childhood home of Darrell Waltrip, little brother Michael Waltrip and NASCAR driver Jeremy Mayfield.
Darrell Waltrip has won the NASCAR championship three times, and the Daytona 500 once. He was also one of the first owners of a Toyota NASCAR truck team, and promptly became the face of Toyota in NASCAR, starring in multiple TV commercials. His acceptance of Toyota in NASCAR has been invaluable to the manufacturer. The commercials seem to suggest, "If it's OK with Darrell, it should be OK with you."
Michael Waltrip is a two-time winner of the Daytona 500 and the leader of Toyota's Nextel Cup charge as owner of three teams. Mayfield, who now also drives a Toyota, has qualified twice for the season-ending "Chase for the Championship," which takes the top 10 drivers in points 10 races from the end of the season, and creates a mini-series among them.
So, just a few days before the Daytona 500, Owensboro seemed like a good place to take the temperature of Toyota enthusiasm, since the city has produced three of the manufacturer's NASCAR cast of characters.
That temperature: chilly.
Walk through Owensboro's Toyota dealer, and you'd never know there was a NASCAR connection. Aside from a handful of listings for various Waltrips and Mayfields in the Owensboro telephone directory, there's virtually no visible link.
Certainly we'd expect something at the NASCAR Pit Stop, a souvenir store located in the sprawling Town Square mall: We walk in and look for the Drivers-From-Owensboro corner.
Although this is where Darrell grew up and learned to race on the short tracks nearby, there's nothing. Not a single Waltrip or Mayfield T-shirt or die-cast model — nothing. "Owensboro really isn't a racing town," understates the proprietor, Frank Oliver. "Yes, there are drivers from here, but Owensboro doesn't really support them. They tried to name a street Darrell Waltrip Boulevard, but it didn't happen. Owensboro just doesn't really back racing."
Talladega, Alabama — 397.2 miles
Talladega Superspeedway, America's largest oval track at 2.66 miles, is known for its opinionated fans, who pack the 175,000-capacity grandstands twice a year for the Nextel Cup races. During one of these races in 2004, when favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. didn't win, many threw everything that wasn't tied down onto the track — hot dogs, beer, Jeff Gordon hats, seat cushions, even a few radio scanners and headphones. If they'll accept Toyota here, they'll accept it anyplace.
But we didn't find much relating to Toyota either at Talladega or its strictly old-school International Motorsports Hall of Fame Museum. There are no Toyotas in the museum, but there is, oddly, an Alfa-Romeo, a Mitsubishi Starion, a Volkswagen that actor Gene Hackman once raced, and a Bobby Alllison bowling trophy. But no Toyotas.
In the gift shop, again, we looked for Toyota. We discovered a $21 Dale Jarrett Toyota Camry T-shirt. We bought one.
"We just got those in," says the woman at the cash register.
Anybody been in looking for Toyota souvenirs?
"No," she says. "Nobody."
Daytona Beach, Florida — 428.6 miles
The 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup rulebook is yellow, tall and skinny, designed for back pockets. The part that covers the current NASCAR Nextel Cup cars is 100 pages long. You'll have to take our word for it, since NASCAR zealously guards the rulebook and nobody outside the immediate family is supposed to get a look at it.
We refer you to page 30, the section regarding "Use of altered fuel." The regulations regarding the use of altered fuel are straightforward: Don't. Do, and expect severe penalties.
And that little paragraph is what ruined the NASCAR Nextel Cup debut of Toyota at Daytona International Speedway.
During a routine inspection for qualifying three days before our arrival, NASCAR found a mysterious substance in the engine intake of Waltrip's Camry. Camry, a substance that we have been told since might have been either Sterno, jet fuel, rocket fuel or Holy Water. The rocket fuel theory seems pretty close, since it supposedly helps oxygenate gasoline, and theoretically would make Waltrip's car go faster.
This constitutes "Use of altered fuel," and it's illegal. Illegal not as in a misdemeanor but as in a major felony. Waltrip's crew chief and competition director were escorted from the premises, and the car was impounded.
On Wednesday NASCAR announced penalties. Fines were levied, the crew chief and competition director were banned until further notice, points were deducted, and Michael Waltrip, usually the most cheerful guy in the pits, had some explaining to do.
He never really did. "We're still digging for answers," he says, but many suspect this investigation is akin to O.J. Simpson's hunt for the real killers. It seems likely that a lone crewman was responsible. Whether that crewman was trying to help Waltrip go faster, or trying to sabotage Toyota's reputation on purpose, is a matter for those still researching the magic bullet fired from the grassy knoll in Dallas. Bottom line: It was a stupid, easily detected move.
Regardless of how Toyota did in the race Sunday, the debut had been tainted. It didn't matter much. Only four of nine Camrys made the race, and Dale Jarrett's lackluster 22nd was Toyota's best finish in the 49th annual Daytona 500.
Daytona USA
Oddly, were it not for the Waltrip cheating scandal, the Daytona 500 might have been pretty much what Toyota was looking for. Conscious that its Nextel Cup program was controversial, Toyota remained as low-key as possible.
Inside Daytona International Speedway, you'd barely know Toyota was there. Outside, on property across the street from the track, Toyota had a modest exhibit highlighted by a Tundra twirling on a display high in the air.
There were several souvenir trailers, but business was, said one employee, "light."
This anonymity may explain why there was no Toyota backlash: no anti-Toyota signs, no banners, no burning Camrys in effigy, no serious booing of any Toyota driver during introductions, not even Michael Waltrip. Of several photographers who had been at Daytona all week, only one said he had seen an anti-Toyota T-shirt, but it was homemade with a Magic Marker.
Conversely, pro-Toyota messages were hard to find, too. "I did see a couple wearing shirts with the Toyota logo," said company PR man Art Garner, helpfully.
So does anybody really care? "You probably won't see much reaction until they win a race," says Richard Petty, who has won 200 of them. "Until then, they're just another team."
And when they win? "Who knows?" says the King. "I guess they'll get excited. I don't know how the fans are going to take it. It's according to how far down the road it is. If they come in and work their way into winning, it'll be OK. But if they start winning right out of the box, they'll have a problem. It takes a while to get to be one of the good ol' boys."
Is there life after Daytona?
So what's gone wrong? Toyota did not want to march in and dominate, but it certainly did not want to be the NASCAR punch line.
One reason, says Lee White, Toyota's NASCAR racing director, is that the company thought it would be able to use a version of the engine it began using in the Craftsman truck series. Instead NASCAR has required it to build a different engine with a cylinder head that more closely resembles that of the competition. Even with the Toyota V8's lightweight design and premium-alloy construction, it's going to take time to make competitive horsepower.
"It's going to take a year or so before it's as mature as the Fords, the Chevys and the Dodges. We didn't anticipate we'd have to do a new engine, which was certainly a distraction. Look at the way our trucks and Busch cars are running," White said: Toyota won the Daytona truck race, and came in 2nd in the Busch race at Las Vegas. "That engine has four years of development," White reminds us.
As for the Nextel Cup engine, "It's only been two months since we got the final versions of the cylinder heads. This thing is going to take a little while. That's pretty much what I told everybody to expect. And people still say, 'Ah, he's full of baloney. The Toyotas are sandbagging.' No, that's real life."
Rick Hendrick, owner of the 2007 championship team with driver Jimmie Johnson, and owner of Jeff Gordon's team, says that Toyota should be neither discounted nor discouraged. "I see Toyota as good for the sport. They'll spend advertising dollars on the races, they'll bring people to the racetrack. I think they'll make the other manufacturers step up. I think everybody has this feeling that all Toyota thinks about when they wake up every morning is, 'Hey, let's go dominate NASCAR.' They want to sell automobiles. That may be part of what they want to do, but that's not their mission in life."
And it may be just the start. "I think this car market is so important that if Toyota is successful, I look for Honda, Nissan and who knows who else to try and come in."
And what would constitute "successful?"
"I think if they can be competitive this year, and win a race, they'd be very happy," Hendrick said.
Right now, though, Toyota would settle for just qualifying for the races. Due to the penalty levied at Daytona and a distinct lack of success in California and Las Vegas, Michael Waltrip goes to the next race at Atlanta with minus-27 points.
Which Bill Bagwell cannot help but point out. He tells us, "Even you have more NASCAR driver's points than Michael Waltrip!"
Much ado about nuttin'
But Bagwell's biggest problem, and Toyota's for that matter, is that nobody really seems to care. If we learned anything on our road trip and the few weeks since it's that Toyota's move into the Nextel Cup Series is about as controversial as light beer at the concession.
How else do you explain this:
Before we left Talladega, we used some Sani-White shoe polish to paint "DAYTONA OR BUST! GO TOYOTA!" on the rear window of our shiny new 2007 Toyota Camry SE. We were ready for anything. Flying eggs. Tomatos. Bricks. At the very least we thought we would be run off the road a few times.
But in more than 400 miles, we got no reaction, not even from truckers, and truckers react to everything.
Spencer promptly apologized, but the reaction to Toyota moving up to NASCAR's premier Nextel Cup Series to battle Chevrolet, Dodge and Ford, all of which are struggling in the retail marketplace, hasn't been much more civilized. Some have predicted The End of Racing as We Know It. Many appear to be rallying behind longtime GM employee Bill Bagwell, who has started a Web site: FansAgainstRacingToyotas.com (FART), which proclaims, "We're creating a stink!"
Maybe, maybe not. Although we skipped Bagwell's latest Toyota-bashing party, we've been researching the reaction to Toyota's entry into Nextel Cup. In fact, we took a new 2007 Toyota Camry SE from the factory in Kentucky, where Camrys are built, and drove it to the 2007 Daytona 500. And we made a few stops on the way.
Let's hit the road and see if we can get a sniff of the anti-Toyota stink Bill Bagwell is talking about.
Georgetown, Kentucky
In nine of the past 10 years, the Toyota Camry has been America's best-selling car. Some 400,000 Camrys each year come from Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky (TMMK), a 7.5-million-square-foot plant that lies in Georgetown, just north of Lexington. In place since 1988, TMMK has been the template for the six other Toyota plants in the U.S. — seven, when the $1.3-billion plant is completed in Tupelo, Mississippi, the birthplace of Elvis Presley. Twenty-five states fought for that plant.
We figure this mostly anonymous factory built from beige brick is the place to find someone to defend Toyota's entry into the NASCAR Nextel Cup series, and we're right. "I think it's high time for an American-made car to compete in Nextel Cup," says Steve St. Angelo, the cheerful president of TMMK.
D'oh! St. Angelo, a 30-year General Motors employee before moving to Toyota in April 2005, is referring to one of Toyota's most popular talking points. The civilian versions of the three cars that compete in the NASCAR Nextel Cup series — the Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Dodge Charger and Ford Fusion — are built either in Canada (the Charger and the Monte Carlo) or Mexico (the Fusion). Meanwhile more than 75 percent of the parts used here by Toyota (and 98 percent of the steel) comes from U.S. suppliers.
Of course, pretty much all of the cars and engines that compete in the NASCAR Nextel Cup series are built in North Carolina, some of them by the same companies. In fact, they all look pretty much alike until you stick on headlight and taillight decals.
Here, NASCAR fans abound. Among them: Steve Riddle and Shad McCord, both team leaders on the plant's engine line. Riddle discounts those who suggest Toyota doesn't belong in an American series. "We build 'em here every day. They're creating American jobs." Also the teams have brought on some "big-time American sponsors," McCord says, such as UPS, Domino's Pizza and Caterpillar. "Caterpillar is about as American as they come," he tells us.
McCord lives more than an hour from the plant in a farming community and acknowledges that he's been the object of some anti-Toyota-in-NASCAR ribbing. It seems Toyota can build plants here, or in San Antonio, or down the street from the little house where Elvis was born. But to many, Toyota is a foreign company, preparing to compete in the largest American racing series. Twenty-five states might battle to get a Toyota plant, but that's economics. NASCAR is a lifestyle.
Owensboro, Kentucky — 176.1 miles
A few hours west of Toyota's Georgetown plant is Owensboro, Kentucky: population 55,000. For a comparatively small town, Owensboro has made a startlingly large contribution to NASCAR as the childhood home of Darrell Waltrip, little brother Michael Waltrip and NASCAR driver Jeremy Mayfield.
Darrell Waltrip has won the NASCAR championship three times, and the Daytona 500 once. He was also one of the first owners of a Toyota NASCAR truck team, and promptly became the face of Toyota in NASCAR, starring in multiple TV commercials. His acceptance of Toyota in NASCAR has been invaluable to the manufacturer. The commercials seem to suggest, "If it's OK with Darrell, it should be OK with you."
Michael Waltrip is a two-time winner of the Daytona 500 and the leader of Toyota's Nextel Cup charge as owner of three teams. Mayfield, who now also drives a Toyota, has qualified twice for the season-ending "Chase for the Championship," which takes the top 10 drivers in points 10 races from the end of the season, and creates a mini-series among them.
So, just a few days before the Daytona 500, Owensboro seemed like a good place to take the temperature of Toyota enthusiasm, since the city has produced three of the manufacturer's NASCAR cast of characters.
That temperature: chilly.
Walk through Owensboro's Toyota dealer, and you'd never know there was a NASCAR connection. Aside from a handful of listings for various Waltrips and Mayfields in the Owensboro telephone directory, there's virtually no visible link.
Certainly we'd expect something at the NASCAR Pit Stop, a souvenir store located in the sprawling Town Square mall: We walk in and look for the Drivers-From-Owensboro corner.
Although this is where Darrell grew up and learned to race on the short tracks nearby, there's nothing. Not a single Waltrip or Mayfield T-shirt or die-cast model — nothing. "Owensboro really isn't a racing town," understates the proprietor, Frank Oliver. "Yes, there are drivers from here, but Owensboro doesn't really support them. They tried to name a street Darrell Waltrip Boulevard, but it didn't happen. Owensboro just doesn't really back racing."
Talladega, Alabama — 397.2 miles
Talladega Superspeedway, America's largest oval track at 2.66 miles, is known for its opinionated fans, who pack the 175,000-capacity grandstands twice a year for the Nextel Cup races. During one of these races in 2004, when favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. didn't win, many threw everything that wasn't tied down onto the track — hot dogs, beer, Jeff Gordon hats, seat cushions, even a few radio scanners and headphones. If they'll accept Toyota here, they'll accept it anyplace.
But we didn't find much relating to Toyota either at Talladega or its strictly old-school International Motorsports Hall of Fame Museum. There are no Toyotas in the museum, but there is, oddly, an Alfa-Romeo, a Mitsubishi Starion, a Volkswagen that actor Gene Hackman once raced, and a Bobby Alllison bowling trophy. But no Toyotas.
In the gift shop, again, we looked for Toyota. We discovered a $21 Dale Jarrett Toyota Camry T-shirt. We bought one.
"We just got those in," says the woman at the cash register.
Anybody been in looking for Toyota souvenirs?
"No," she says. "Nobody."
Daytona Beach, Florida — 428.6 miles
The 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup rulebook is yellow, tall and skinny, designed for back pockets. The part that covers the current NASCAR Nextel Cup cars is 100 pages long. You'll have to take our word for it, since NASCAR zealously guards the rulebook and nobody outside the immediate family is supposed to get a look at it.
We refer you to page 30, the section regarding "Use of altered fuel." The regulations regarding the use of altered fuel are straightforward: Don't. Do, and expect severe penalties.
And that little paragraph is what ruined the NASCAR Nextel Cup debut of Toyota at Daytona International Speedway.
During a routine inspection for qualifying three days before our arrival, NASCAR found a mysterious substance in the engine intake of Waltrip's Camry. Camry, a substance that we have been told since might have been either Sterno, jet fuel, rocket fuel or Holy Water. The rocket fuel theory seems pretty close, since it supposedly helps oxygenate gasoline, and theoretically would make Waltrip's car go faster.
This constitutes "Use of altered fuel," and it's illegal. Illegal not as in a misdemeanor but as in a major felony. Waltrip's crew chief and competition director were escorted from the premises, and the car was impounded.
On Wednesday NASCAR announced penalties. Fines were levied, the crew chief and competition director were banned until further notice, points were deducted, and Michael Waltrip, usually the most cheerful guy in the pits, had some explaining to do.
He never really did. "We're still digging for answers," he says, but many suspect this investigation is akin to O.J. Simpson's hunt for the real killers. It seems likely that a lone crewman was responsible. Whether that crewman was trying to help Waltrip go faster, or trying to sabotage Toyota's reputation on purpose, is a matter for those still researching the magic bullet fired from the grassy knoll in Dallas. Bottom line: It was a stupid, easily detected move.
Regardless of how Toyota did in the race Sunday, the debut had been tainted. It didn't matter much. Only four of nine Camrys made the race, and Dale Jarrett's lackluster 22nd was Toyota's best finish in the 49th annual Daytona 500.
Daytona USA
Oddly, were it not for the Waltrip cheating scandal, the Daytona 500 might have been pretty much what Toyota was looking for. Conscious that its Nextel Cup program was controversial, Toyota remained as low-key as possible.
Inside Daytona International Speedway, you'd barely know Toyota was there. Outside, on property across the street from the track, Toyota had a modest exhibit highlighted by a Tundra twirling on a display high in the air.
There were several souvenir trailers, but business was, said one employee, "light."
This anonymity may explain why there was no Toyota backlash: no anti-Toyota signs, no banners, no burning Camrys in effigy, no serious booing of any Toyota driver during introductions, not even Michael Waltrip. Of several photographers who had been at Daytona all week, only one said he had seen an anti-Toyota T-shirt, but it was homemade with a Magic Marker.
Conversely, pro-Toyota messages were hard to find, too. "I did see a couple wearing shirts with the Toyota logo," said company PR man Art Garner, helpfully.
So does anybody really care? "You probably won't see much reaction until they win a race," says Richard Petty, who has won 200 of them. "Until then, they're just another team."
And when they win? "Who knows?" says the King. "I guess they'll get excited. I don't know how the fans are going to take it. It's according to how far down the road it is. If they come in and work their way into winning, it'll be OK. But if they start winning right out of the box, they'll have a problem. It takes a while to get to be one of the good ol' boys."
Is there life after Daytona?
So what's gone wrong? Toyota did not want to march in and dominate, but it certainly did not want to be the NASCAR punch line.
One reason, says Lee White, Toyota's NASCAR racing director, is that the company thought it would be able to use a version of the engine it began using in the Craftsman truck series. Instead NASCAR has required it to build a different engine with a cylinder head that more closely resembles that of the competition. Even with the Toyota V8's lightweight design and premium-alloy construction, it's going to take time to make competitive horsepower.
"It's going to take a year or so before it's as mature as the Fords, the Chevys and the Dodges. We didn't anticipate we'd have to do a new engine, which was certainly a distraction. Look at the way our trucks and Busch cars are running," White said: Toyota won the Daytona truck race, and came in 2nd in the Busch race at Las Vegas. "That engine has four years of development," White reminds us.
As for the Nextel Cup engine, "It's only been two months since we got the final versions of the cylinder heads. This thing is going to take a little while. That's pretty much what I told everybody to expect. And people still say, 'Ah, he's full of baloney. The Toyotas are sandbagging.' No, that's real life."
Rick Hendrick, owner of the 2007 championship team with driver Jimmie Johnson, and owner of Jeff Gordon's team, says that Toyota should be neither discounted nor discouraged. "I see Toyota as good for the sport. They'll spend advertising dollars on the races, they'll bring people to the racetrack. I think they'll make the other manufacturers step up. I think everybody has this feeling that all Toyota thinks about when they wake up every morning is, 'Hey, let's go dominate NASCAR.' They want to sell automobiles. That may be part of what they want to do, but that's not their mission in life."
And it may be just the start. "I think this car market is so important that if Toyota is successful, I look for Honda, Nissan and who knows who else to try and come in."
And what would constitute "successful?"
"I think if they can be competitive this year, and win a race, they'd be very happy," Hendrick said.
Right now, though, Toyota would settle for just qualifying for the races. Due to the penalty levied at Daytona and a distinct lack of success in California and Las Vegas, Michael Waltrip goes to the next race at Atlanta with minus-27 points.
Which Bill Bagwell cannot help but point out. He tells us, "Even you have more NASCAR driver's points than Michael Waltrip!"
Much ado about nuttin'
But Bagwell's biggest problem, and Toyota's for that matter, is that nobody really seems to care. If we learned anything on our road trip and the few weeks since it's that Toyota's move into the Nextel Cup Series is about as controversial as light beer at the concession.
How else do you explain this:
Before we left Talladega, we used some Sani-White shoe polish to paint "DAYTONA OR BUST! GO TOYOTA!" on the rear window of our shiny new 2007 Toyota Camry SE. We were ready for anything. Flying eggs. Tomatos. Bricks. At the very least we thought we would be run off the road a few times.
But in more than 400 miles, we got no reaction, not even from truckers, and truckers react to everything.
Add A Comment »