Toyota’s Jim Aust speaks on signing Gibbs
Quote selected text Published September 5th, 2007 in NASCAR News
Toyota statement on Gibbs signing:
“Joe Gibbs Racing is one of the most respected teams in NASCAR, a championship-caliber race team and a first-class organization,” said Jim Aust, vice president of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., and president and CEO of TRD, U.S.A. (Toyota Racing Development). “We are confident that partnering with the Gibbs team will raise the level of our entire Toyota NASCAR program, and will be beneficial to all of the current teams racing the Toyota Camry.”
“Our motorsports heritage has taught us the value of working with experienced teams and partners,” Aust said. “We have built excellent relationships with the current teams as we have developed the Toyota Camry Cup program during our first year of NASCAR competition, and we look forward to developing a similar relationship with Joe Gibbs Racing.”
“Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota want to be competitive now and for generations to come,” said J.D. Gibbs, president of Joe Gibbs Racing. “We have the same mindset in terms of performance and technology. We want to be the team to beat. They want to be the manufacturer to beat. That’s a combination that works for us, for them, and our sponsors.”
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Joe Gibbs Racing Has Turned Its Back On Its Fans. No matter how many Camrys are produced in America over Chevy, Dodge, and Ford; the money and development always goes back to Japan and China. If Tony or Kyle are respectful of their fans they will find other teams. That is my .02
This race fan thinks the more competition, the better.
Yeah, you’re right Michael… If the drivers respect their fans, they’ll leave their winning team and go where? Roush is full (has to drop a car soon, in fact)… Hendrick is full… You want them to drive for DEI? Hate to tell you, but not only are they pretty much full, but that’s a heckuva downgrade from JGR, regardless of what sticker is on the nose of the car.
None of them are going anywhere, and I can guarantee you that winning is the bottom line, not the fans and their precious feelings. As long as they win, there will ALWAYS be fans waiting to replace anyone who thinks they can’t follow Gibbs at Toyota! If you feel abandoned by JGR, Tony Stewart, or anyone else on that team, that’s a you problem.
Oh and this just in… The Ford Fusion is based on the CD3 Platform. Guess who designed it and where it was designed? That’s right… MAZDA. IN JAPAN. How’s that for money and development overseas? I wonder if you went through a Fusion or Impala how many cars would have the words “Made in China, Korea, Japan, etc…” on them?
It wont be competition. It will be slaughter.
In the next 3-5 years Toyota will be throwing so much money at its teams
that the other manufacturers wont be able to keep up.
This is just another step in the direction.
There is an article on NASCAR.com that shows the common traits
between Toyotas entrance into CART/IRL and its entrance into NASCAR
if everything continues down that path (which to date it has)
Toyota will be the dominant force in racing, and NASCAR will be ‘NASCAR’ no more.
It was fun while it lasted.
As much as I hate that JGR and Tony are going to Toyota, im biting my thumb and following along. I support Tony and always will, no matter WHERE he ends up.
….Unless he ever ended up with HMS. LOL
Let’s hope JGR knows what they are doing…I want to see Tony, Denny and Ky running up front at Daytona, or i’ll find the Toyota president and have a few ‘choice’ words with him.
Go Tony… RIP JGR&CHEVY…
LOL, funny thing today….I was in school and I knew the press conference was on at 11am.. I wasn’t able to watch it, so after 11am, I went into mourning over the loss of JGR at Chevy…lol..I was sad after 11
Guess what, Andrew? First, unlike IRL and the other abysmal American open wheel series, NASCAR has a spine, and they’re not going to let Toyota dominate the Cup series and have their way with it. They’ll change nose templates, reject engines, and do whatever they have to do to keep a reasonable amount of parity.
Second, as long as the other manufacturers continue to innovate, there will be plenty of teams and drivers lining up at their door wanting to drive their cars.
The problem here is that people have this entire gloom and doom scenario in their head, and can’t apply a little common sense. If you did, you would see that there’s no way in hell the France family is going to give up any control in their racing series to Toyota or anyone else for that matter.
Plus, the last time I checked, the Truck standings look like this:
1-Chevy
2-Toyota
3-Ford
4-Toyota
5-Toyota
6-Ford
7-Toyota
8-Toyota
9-Chevy
10-Ford
2 Chevrolets, 3 Fords, and 5 Toyotas….Not exactly domination if you ask me! In fact, look at the Cup standings. 8 of the top 10 are Chevy, and 2 are Ford. Not exactly a level playing field there, is it?
Chevy is on top right now but with owners like Gibbs and drivers like tony that will change. If you like tony or not everyone must admit he is a great driver. Toyota will not dominate for a while but they will make a strong showing.
8 of the top 10 are Chevy’s….Nascar doesn’t want that. They will suport Toyota to create parity.
If nascar wanted to give Toyota’s car program a edge they would let them run this years Truck series motor but insted there making the truck series run the cup motor next year.