Is Toyota too fast for NASCAR?

[DebWilliams-GFN]

By Deb Williams

Several years ago when Toyota was considering entering NASCAR, in a meeting with then NASCAR head Bill France Jr., representatives of the manufacturer were told they would never be allowed to dominate and if they appeared headed down that path, the direction would be altered. The person who told me this story said France then reached into his desk drawer, pulled out a restrictor plate, and threw it on his desk in front of the Toyota executives.

Even though France died slightly more than a year ago, one could say that earlier this week NASCAR stayed true to its late leader's word in the Nationwide Series where Toyota has won 14 of this year's 21 races. A technical bulletin issued this week for the Nationwide Series requires all engines with a cylinder bore spacing more than 4.470 inches to use tapered spacers with smaller holes. The change, expected to rob an engine of about 15 horsepower, goes into effect this weekend at O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis. Naturally, a manufacturer isn't named in the technical bulletin, but Toyota's engine is the only one that fits the specifications.

Anyone who has followed NASCAR for any length of time shouldn't have been surprised by the sanctioning body's decision. Throughout its history, it has been notorious for constantly changing the rules during a season in an effort to “level the playing field.” It's this policy that has drawn a tremendous amount of criticism and has resulted in many questioning NASCAR's credibility during the last decade, as it has grown in national prominence. But NASCAR just can't seem to release some of its long-time procedures. Much like a gambler can't resist placing a bet, NASCAR just can't contain itself when it comes to wanting to tinker with the rules during a season in an effort to insure intense competition on the track.

Some of the older drivers were fairly cagey in making sure there was a good race so NASCAR wouldn't remove their advantages. A few even tried to explain that philosophy to Bill Elliott in 1985, but he and his Melling Racing team ignored the suggestions. That resulted in the Elliott brothers being summoned to France's office outside Darlington Raceway's third turn in the spring of 1985. In 1998, Dan Elliott said France told them: “You will not come up here and stink up our show.” The middle Elliott brother said France told them they could win the race, but not by a lap. In other words, don't embarrass the competition and NASCAR.

The amusing thing about the current situation is that when Toyota decided to enter NASCAR, the company possessed only fuel injected engines. NASCAR ordered teams representing each manufacturer in the sport -- Ford, Chevrolet and Dodge – to turn over their engines to Toyota so they could have approved engines to study in developing their own powerplant for NASCAR use.

Directing rule changes at specific manufacturers hasn't been uncommon in NASCAR's history. In fact, they've resulted in boycotts of the sport during various seasons by Chrysler, Ford and Chevrolet. However, it has been quite some time since such a ruling has been issued.

Rule changes during a season had become infrequent, as NASCAR worked to gain credibility on the national sports level. The last such change occurred in April 2007 when NASCAR disallowed one of Toyota's four intake manifolds for use in the Nationwide and Craftsman Truck series.

Such rule changes always prove costly for the teams, as they must then devote more man hours to testing to regain the edge. However, the real disgrace is that hard work in racing is no longer rewarded, it's penalized.