Chuck Burton / AP

The new NASCAR Nextel Cup Totoya Camry was on display during a stop in the NASCAR Media Tour in Concord, N.C., on Jan. 23.

Allen Bestwick

By allowing Toyota into Nextel Cup racing, NASCAR is not staring at its apocalypse. To the contrary, the move to welcome in the foreign car company for the start of the 2007 season is the right one. The sport’s officials, however, must be vigilant in maintaining their “level playing field” formula to ensure that the company is accepted by racing teams and fans.

The uniquely American sport of stock-car racing has always wrapped itself in the red, white and blue, as cars from U.S. manufacturers competed against each other, driven by American drivers on domestic racetracks. Obviously that will change starting next season.

American car companies going global
There will be many with qualms about allowing a “foreign” car company into NASCAR Nextel Cup racing, but the reality is that the line between foreign and domestic automakers is now a very blurry one.  Detroit’s “Big Three” — GM, Ford and Chrysler — are very much global companies, making, producing and selling cars all over the world while many “foreign” makes have plants that produce vehicles and parts here in the United States.

How much of an “American-made” car is actually manufactured here, since many of the parts that go into that car are produced outside this country’s borders?

If you want to define “American-made” as assembled, then Toyota will tell you that it has eight manufacturing facilities in the United States, producing more than half of the Toyotas sold in the United States annually.

Is Toyota technically a foreign car company?

Yes, but it is well-known throughout the United States.

Jack Roush, the two-time Nextel Cup Series champion team owner, said, “Like it or not, Toyota is a very important part of our economy today.  We’ve got a lot of dealer investment dollars out there and we’ve got a lot of our population that works in Toyota plants around the country, so they have every right to be here (in NASCAR).”

Roush also separates the racing issues from the broader economic issues.

“How we wind up dealing with the problems Ford Motor Company and General Motors are going through today and how that relates to the investment dollars that are in Japan vs. the ones that are in Detroit and Middle America I can’t say … but for the near term we’re going to race them hard”.

Manufacturer competition good
Competition is really what NASCAR is all about, and Toyota’s entry into Nextel Cup racing will get the competitive juices flowing among fans, teams and rival manufacturers.

Can’t you hear it now?  A 2007 race is winding to its finish, and a Toyota is up front dicing for the lead with a Chevy, Ford or Dodge.  Today if one of those drivers is not “yours,” you’re excited to see a good finish but not really “invested” emotionally in the outcome.

But next season, don’t you think there will be a certain segment of fans in that situation that will get emotionally invested?

Every sport needs someone wearing the black hat and I think in the eyes of some fans that will be Toyota in 2007.