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Toyota hopes to get approvals early
By Bob Pockrass
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
CONCORD, N.C. - Toyota hopes to have its Camrys for next year submitted to NASCAR in the next week or two as it tries to get a jump on the approval process.
The deadline for submissions is July 1, but Toyota's NASCAR program Manager, Pat Wall, said Tuesday that he would like to have a Toyota "car of today" in NASCAR's hand in the next two or three weeks and is making arrangements for NASCAR to take the car to the wind tunnel for testing.
NASCAR will have four submissions of cars of tomorrow, four new trucks (all manufacturers are making changes to the trucks) and Toyota's Cup car and a Toyota Busch car to approve for next season, Wall said.
"We understand if we get too far back, the template approval and cutting process will be a time burden on our teams, so we're trying to be as expeditious on our vehicles as possible," Wall said.
Toyota also has a new cylinder head for its engine that it is trying to get approved and will submit a revised engine block soon as well.
Attending the "car of tomorrow" test Tuesday at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Wall said he hopes that each of Toyota's teams will have a car ready to test at Michigan in August. Toyota is still working on the exact style of its nosepiece.
"We're making a styling change based on the direction that came from the wind tunnel," he said. "The numbers were fine. What the wind tunnel did is showed that the area in the front where the manufacturers can style, it's going to be hard for somebody to get a big advantage there."
Wall also said he expects that if Germain Racing or Wyler Racing attempt Nextel Cup races next season, that it likely would be in the car of tomorrow races. Toyota already has announced that Bill Davis Racing, Red Bull Racing and Michael Waltrip Motorsports will be its three main teams to lead its jump to Nextel Cup racing in 2007.
"Our obligations are currently to make good on the commitment to get them [the three teams] up and going, but the business isn't about limiting anybody," Wall said. "The COT is a great opportunity for a team to come along and start in the Cup business.
"The car of today is very difficult, very developed, and you need a lot of expertise. The car of tomorrow is so uniquely different, you won't need nearly the amount of technical infrastructure."
Mentioned Drivers: Michael Waltrip
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