According to garage sources Toyota has placed at least one call to a third party engine casting company. The engine manufacurer is looking for support information and specifications for the V8 engine theyll need if they want to go NASCAR racing in the future.( Ford Racing ) AND Toyota is expected to join NASCAR next season with some factory-backed trucks on the Craftsman’s Truck tour, with the obvious aim of stepping up to the Winston Cup tour, probably by 2007. Toyota officials are working hard to recruit racing engineers from Detroit rivals for their NASCAR effort, and Toyota is seeking all sorts of proprietary engine information from Winston Cup engine manufacturers, according to Dodge sources. Toyota must submit a 358 c.i. V-8 to NASCAR for approval by Sept. 1, so the company should be quite far along in its development process. It is unclear which NASCAR operations might be helping Toyota with the project, although one unconfirmed report is that Robert Yates has an engine for testing.( Lap by Lap )(1-15-2003) UPDATE: folks at Robert Yates Racing IS NOT working with Toyota on engines or anything else in any way, shape or form and that RYR is very committed to Ford.(1-16-2003)
