You heard it here first. Dale Earnhardt Jr. to drive a Toyota in 2007 or 2008, driving a million fans of his to commit suicide.


http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/nascar/21678/

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/nascar/21686/

1/23/2006 7:21:21 PM

It was bound to happen. They are going to dominate, too.

1/23/2006 7:35:33 PM

nihonjin no kuruma desuka? takai desu ne!

"Rednecks" hanashimasu "yatta!" ja arimasu

1/23/2006 9:23:03 PM

as long as its budweiser, i doubt the 'necks will know the difference

1/23/2006 9:26:14 PM

where did you get that Dale Jr was going to be driving a toyota? cause I've heard otherwise

1/23/2006 9:34:38 PM

Quote :

"You heard it here first. Dale Earnhardt Jr. to drive a Toyota in 2007 or 2008, driving a million fans of his to commit suicide."

Hell, if that happens I may actually tune in for 2 minutes.

1/23/2006 9:39:59 PM

Quote :

"Dale Earnhardt Jr. to drive a Toyota in 2007 or 2008, driving a million fans of his to commit suicide. "

The only way I see this happening if Chevorlet doesn't exist. Chevy can't afford for him not driving for them, because I would assume he sells quite a few cars, that they wouldn't sell if this did happen.

1/23/2006 10:25:10 PM

I like the car...

1/23/2006 10:34:35 PM

well i mean most toyotas that are sold in the US are made in America and are more American than a lot of Fords and what not. aren't a number of F-150s made in Mexico?

1/23/2006 10:37:36 PM

The Toyota "model that will drive in the series" will be the Camry, which is built in Kentucky.

My bit on Junior driving a Toyota was merely a joke. If it happened though, I can see some of his fans burning all their merchandise and telling him his father would be ashamed.

1/23/2006 11:43:07 PM

^^^ If you like one Cup car, you like them all. That looks a hell of a lot like the Cup Grand Prix.

1/24/2006 12:21:03 AM

^Yeah, they are all the same, the competing manufacturers in NASCAR is a joke since they all drive the same car. What that car doesnt look like though, is a Toyota Camry.

1/24/2006 6:48:35 AM

I will drive the first Honda in Nascar, and be the first minority race car driver.

[Edited on January 24, 2006 at 7:08 AM. Reason : may be wrong about the second part]

1/24/2006 7:08:01 AM

Where exactly does it say Jr. will be in a Toyota? I read both articles and maybe I have tunnel vision. The rednecks will stop battling over Ford vs. Chevy, now it will be American made vs. Other......

1/24/2006 7:24:39 AM

Quote :

"and be the first minority race car driver."

I think there were a few (like one or two) black drivers in the 60s or 70s that won a few races (like one or two)

1/24/2006 9:00:56 AM

^ Wendell Scott. Won one race in his career.

And unlike blacks, Latinos love racing (especially Mexicans) and they'll be in NASCAR first.

1/24/2006 9:18:00 AM

There is a black truck driver who is pretty good, the last black guy in the cup series was willie t. ribbs in the 80s

there is also an asian guy that shows up for the big events every year...he usually gets in last place

[Edited on January 24, 2006 at 9:34 AM. Reason : .]

1/24/2006 9:29:21 AM

that's b/c asians can't drive.

1/24/2006 9:37:31 AM

Shawna robison made the daytona 500 a few years back.....she crashed on the first lap first corner

1/24/2006 9:39:43 AM

that's b/c women can't drive.

1/24/2006 9:40:11 AM

another girl made the 500 too,i can't rememb her name, she got in 42nd though

1/24/2006 9:53:17 AM

Quote :

"telling him his father would be ashamed. "

fuck that, if Sr. thought that he would have a significantly better chance of winning in a toyota then he would have jumped ship in a heartbeat... he was a competitor, and i can't see a stupid thing like brand loyalty coming between him and a championship

1/24/2006 10:26:12 AM

there is a semi-hot Nascar driver that may end up in a cup car....

1/24/2006 10:33:10 AM

It doesn't really matter that Toyota is building a cup car because in 2007 they are moving to the "Car of Tomorrow" and every car will be the same. That's gonna suck

1/24/2006 10:46:13 AM

Quote :

"There is a black truck driver who is pretty good, the last black guy in the cup series was willie t. ribbs in the 80s"

I wouldn't necessarily call Bill Lester (the truck driver) good. He has the best equipment and is midfield. When you're in a minor league series like Trucks and that's the case for any driver, it's usually a sign that he's not that great. Although I'm fully expecting him to get a Cup ride in the next 2-3 years as a marketing gimmick. Ribbs was a marketing gimmick as well. He made his name in sportscar racing with Jack Roush when Roush had Ford factory support and the best of everything to the point if he did not win it was news. One of Ribbs' co-drivers was Lyn St. James, whose career is very similar to Ribbs'.

For the girls, Ray Evernham is trying to rush Erin Crocker up to speed to counteract Danica Patrick. The only problem is when you rush a driver too fast, the driver is completely overwhelmed and loses all confidence and gets that reputation (see Sarah Fisher). Crocker showed signs of being rushed in the races Evernham ran her in last year in ARCA and Busch.

Quote :

"fuck that, if Sr. thought that he would have a significantly better chance of winning in a toyota then he would have jumped ship in a heartbeat... he was a competitor, and i can't see a stupid thing like brand loyalty coming between him and a championship"

You don't know any Junior fans do you? I didn't say that is what Earnhardt would've told him, I said that's what his fans would've told him. The majority of Junior's fanbase are good ole boys of the people I know, and most of them think Toyotas are s***, think Chevrolets are the greatest vehicle ever created, and think only American cars should compete. (I'm a Jeep guy myself, I think they should compete in NASCAR ).

1/24/2006 10:48:26 AM

i know you weren't saying that Sr. would have reacted like that, i was just venting because i do know Jr. fans and i know that's how they'll react anyway

1/24/2006 10:50:11 AM

those fans sound stupid.

1/24/2006 11:03:21 AM

This week's sign of the Apocalypse.

1/24/2006 11:30:30 AM

Bill Lester has performed better than any black guy in the recent history of Nascar....which is good, Im not comparing him to the cup guys. Earnhardt drove a Ford when he was in the 15 car.....so he wasn't always in a chevy...with that I semi-agree with Flyin-Ryan......however, back in the day, Earnhardt also refused to autograph anything that was not from sports image or affiliated by him. I really do not know if he would have switched...I doubt it because he had so much money invested with chevy technology at daytona. And for those of you who think that Toyotas are going to come in to this league and kill every one.....its going to take years to catch up to the competition.

1/24/2006 11:58:17 AM

^ I wouldn't say years. It's not like they entered the Truck series 2 years ago because they were enthralled with the competition there, it was R&D on the V8. Toyota Research Development (TRD) is a top-class unit, and they're going to be up to speed a lot quicker than Dodge were I believe.

Plus, Toyota, from their other racing history that can be seen in the World Rally Championship, Formula One, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, CART and then IRL, do not spare any expense when it comes to their racing programs. It is thought that in the racing community that the only reason they entered WRC and Le Mans was to test stuff for F1. I would not be surprised if that was the case for Indycar, and it's fairly obvious that was the case for Trucks.

Cool shots:







[Edited on January 24, 2006 at 12:14 PM. Reason : .]

1/24/2006 12:09:21 PM

http://www.thewolfweb.com/message_section.aspx?section=13

1/24/2006 12:22:49 PM

If one of the monopoly owners like roush or hendrick switch, I could see them catching on quickly...but it will still take time

1/24/2006 12:56:26 PM

Its been common knowledge in the motorsports realm for the last few years that Toyota was gonna enter NASCAR...yawn.

As far as women racing, there's a very good article about it in last month's Car and Driver.

1/24/2006 1:07:07 PM

As far as Bill Lester, if youve seen the guy in an interview or whatnot, you know hes not very black at all....probably the reason hes in NASCAR in the first place.

Quote :

"It doesn't really matter that Toyota is building a cup car because in 2007 they are moving to the "Car of Tomorrow" and every car will be the same. That's gonna suck "

So how is that different than the cars they have now again?

1/25/2006 6:08:03 PM

http://www.jayski.com/teams/car-future.htm

COT is designed to slow cars down and make them safer. But it will also make them uglier and all the same.

1/25/2006 6:09:54 PM

there are only slight differences now between cars (chevy, ford, and dodge). They are in the shapes of the nose, hood, quarter windows, and tail.

The rest of the car is built off of common templates that NASCAR uses at the track to make sure that the car is built within the rules.

Any other questions?

yeaaaaaaaaaaaah

1/25/2006 10:11:35 PM

i'm `on' slap me a jap

1/25/2006 10:26:21 PM

Shooting for absolute parity is stupid.

They should open up the rules and see what people come up with. The big teams have money to throw around in R&D, but the little guys often have the really innovative thinkers who can build winning cars under a set of creative restrictions (hello Smokey Yunick).

Similarly, I think instead of tinkering with the aero packages and engine configurations/displacements in F1, they should leave everything the same and take the wings off the cars. Then we'd see who's got the best ideas AND the best drivers.

1/25/2006 10:40:49 PM

Flyin Ryan, although your friends' opinion is that Chevy is better than Toyota, it is a known FACT that Toyota makes superior, more dependable, quality vehicles.

1/26/2006 7:57:33 AM

Kmrodden is also correct; there will be templates that NASCAR forces everyone to use. This is to keep the competition within range of each other and make it exciting...Toyota will not blow away anyone.

1/26/2006 8:18:18 AM

Quote :

"Shooting for absolute parity is stupid. They should open up the rules and see what people come up with. The big teams have money to throw around in R&D, but the little guys often have the really innovative thinkers who can build winning cars under a set of creative restrictions (hello Smokey Yunick). Similarly, I think instead of tinkering with the aero packages and engine configurations/displacements in F1, they should leave everything the same and take the wings off the cars. Then we'd see who's got the best ideas AND the best drivers."

I agree. I've been helping some others work on an LMP2 to Le Mans series rules for the last year. You have to meet certain safety requirements and the car must weigh a minimum of 775 kg and can only have so large an engine (there's an LMP1 class with any engine size you want), but other than that, you can design and build whatever you want. Now, in the past year, Porsche and Roger Penske have gotten involved and have built this great car.



Obviously the combined resources of the Porsche factory and Roger Penske are far beyond the resources I have, a home computer with a CAD program. But, my playing field in my eyes is far more level than if I was part of an effort in NASCAR lets say. Why? Because I am allowed to come up with stuff based on ingenuity and innovation. In NASCAR, innovation is frowned upon and disallowed. What this does is that although the people with money always have the advantage, it occurs even more in NASCAR because people without money don't have an avenue to make up for their shortcoming. Regardless of what rules anyone puts in place, people with money will always have the advantage. And the more rules there are to inhibit everything that comes along, the more the rich will be at an advantage, because they have the money to research the new rule and either find a way around it or be able to maximize it for their benefit.

Quote :

"Flyin Ryan, although your friends' opinion is that Chevy is better than Toyota, it is a known FACT that Toyota makes superior, more dependable, quality vehicles."

Yes. But you'd have an easier time convincing them Japan is a better country than the United States or the United Nations has a place in our country than you would Toyota is better than Chevrolet. It's not because they think Chevy is better than Toyota. It's because they think the United States is better than anything that does not come from the United States. And that, by and large, is the typical NASCAR fan, which is why I am very interested to see how Toyota's foray turns out.

[Edited on January 26, 2006 at 9:09 AM. Reason : .]

1/26/2006 9:07:24 AM

shooting for parity is dumb, but also not having rules to enforce spending would be even dumber.

You say that the smaller guys are the innovators that can win races, when was the last time a small single car team won a race? tell me that one please, i'm dyin to hear

1/26/2006 10:39:53 AM

man this might actually get me to watch some NASCAR
and it will be interesting to see what rules come from this cuz those
japs will work to perfect there cars and i know there going to have to do
something to "even the playing field"

1/26/2006 10:45:16 AM

^I don't think it will be like that. Toyota dominated the truck series because TRD took care of the R&D for each of the Toyota teams. The Nextel cup is different. Each team has to take care of testing and funding without the assistance of the manufacturer.

1/26/2006 12:43:26 PM

Quote :

"You say that the smaller guys are the innovators that can win races, when was the last time a small single car team won a race? tell me that one please, i'm dyin to hear"

I'm not going to bother looking it up because I know it was long ago, but it's also been a long time since the NASCAR rules allowed anyone to do anything that requires thinking and problem-solving instead of tweaking a template car. For example, we had an SCCA car (a Toyota, I think) that would've greatly benefit by an extra inch of flow right off the flange of the header. However, we were at the maximum length allowed by the rules. The definition of "gasket" in the book made no reference to thickness or material, so we put an inch-thick aluminum gasket between the head and the pipes. The rule was changed the next year...but it worked.

Don't be surprised if the Toyota guys try to sneak some kind of box on the car where the engineers in Japan can tweak the engine during the race...it worked in F1!

[Edited on January 26, 2006 at 2:40 PM. Reason : s]

1/26/2006 2:38:48 PM

Quote :

"shooting for parity is dumb, but also not having rules to enforce spending would be even dumber. You say that the smaller guys are the innovators that can win races, when was the last time a small single car team won a race? tell me that one please, i'm dyin to hear"

A spending rule would never work, there's ways to disguise expenses.

Quote :

"The Nextel cup is different. Each team has to take care of testing and funding without the assistance of the manufacturer."

Hendrick's operation is 90% subsidized by Chevrolet. Ray Evernham is the Dodge factory team and fully paid for by them. Roush and Yates were forced by Ford to combine their engine building, and Roush get "help" from Ford.

1/26/2006 2:54:30 PM

Quote :

"For example, we had an SCCA car (a Toyota, I think) that would've greatly benefit by an extra inch of flow right off the flange of the header. However, we were at the maximum length allowed by the rules. The definition of "gasket" in the book made no reference to thickness or material, so we put an inch-thick aluminum gasket between the head and the pipes. The rule was changed the next year...but it worked."

That must've felt great to know you forced a rules change. It's the sign you've made it as an engineer in racing when you find a loophole in the rulebook and exploit it.

1/26/2006 3:06:25 PM

Technically, it was my dad's idea (I'm an English major, bwahahahah)...but I helped do the work.

1/26/2006 3:19:00 PM

Quote :

"Flyin Ryan, although your friends' opinion is that Chevy is better than Toyota, it is a known FACT that Toyota makes superior, more dependable, quality vehicles. "

hardly a fact, more a common opinion, well, except during the eighties. you could say its a fact that between '78ish and '92ish toyota's cars are superior, more dependable, quality vehicles.

after working in a shop for a couple years you would notice that the biggest difference is between those who take care of their cars, and those who don't.

go work in a shop that takes anything people bring in and you know what i'm talking about.

probably 75% of car problems are from the owner being a dumbfuck, either by not doing recommended maintenance, or trying to do shit with it that shouldn't be attempted.

1/26/2006 3:27:29 PM

to answer erice85 question of sigle car teams winning....2004, Ricky Craven....he actually won two with that team. Although your point is noted....the last team to be a single team car and when a championship was..........Dale Earnhardt........1994. Before that, Alan Kulwicki won as a single car driver and owner....he had a degree in engineering too......

1/26/2006 3:31:16 PM