Toyota Who?

The 49th Daytona 500 is in the books and what a way to kick off the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season. I'm not a huge NASCAR fan, but I enjoy auto racing and when you can watch in crystal clear high definition with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, it's exhilarating. Rarely do I watch an entire race but I did this afternoon because I wanted to see how the newest automaker to join the NASCAR circuit, Japan-based Toyota, would fare in its debut.


There has been a great deal talk about Toyota joining NASCAR, most of it negative. Before this season, only the U. S. domestic automakers- General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler- fielded cars on the good old boy NASCAR circuit. Now, here come the Japanese with their top-selling Camry to join Chevy's Monte Carlo, Ford's Fusion and Dodge's Charger. Die hard fans have been smoking mad, apparently wanting their favorite sport to remain all American. Were they scared that Toyota would come on the scene and start winning races the way the company has won customers in this country? Toyota is poised to become the number two automaker in the world behind General Motors this year and it could overtake GM shortly after that, but a track record of superior quality and ever improving consumer sales don't guarantee success on the race track.

Judging by the unofficial results of today's Daytona 500 race, Toyota will have to work hard to make an impression on the circuit. Daytona belonged to GM on this day. Half of the Top 10 finishers, including the first four, were driving Chevys. Dodge had three cars in the Top 10 followed by Ford with two. The top finishing Toyota, driven by Dale Jarrett, was 23rd.

Looks like Toyota wasn't the Godzilla some folks feared. But the NASCAR purists shouldn't get too full of themselves just yet. This was just the first race and I'm sure Toyota will eventually take its first checkered flag on the circuit. Since stock cars are all supposed to meet the same specs and operate to a universal standard- emphasis on the word "supposed" since several teams got caught cheating in the week leading up to Daytona- there really shouldn't be anything to worry about except performance. And on this Sunday, the good ole boys reigned supreme.

Oh, Good Evening!