For a few years now, Toyota has been part of the NASCAR circuit, becoming a bigger and bigger participant each year. Currently the Toyota Racing has been so successful, talks are in the works to take the Camry and add the TRD tags to it in order to offer a Camry that is worthy of heading out to a track for some fun and excitement. Turning your daily driver into a race-worthy vehicle is not all that TRD (Toyota Racing Development) is all about though; they offer much more in order to help Toyota have a presence in the racing world.
With the assistance of the expert driver Kyle Busch behind the wheel, Toyota experienced something it had never seen before in its TRD time. Kyle recorded first-place finishes in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Camping World Truck Series and Nationwide Series races all in the same weekend. Exhausted but exhilarated, Kyle had done something for TRD no other driver had ever done before and certainly put the Toyota presences in NASCAR on the map, where it had felt like it was an experiment of sorts prior to this clean sweep by Busch.
Toyota Racing Development is the behind the scenes force of various Toyota racing teams throughout a variety of racing circuits. With their headquarters in Costa Mesa, California and a facility in Salisbury, North Carolina, which provides the chassis engineering and at-track support for the teams, TRD has a powerful presence in racing with their highly developed and designed engines and race support. By adding an enormous amount of power to their cars, you might think TRD is just a bunch of wrench-jockeys who only think of turning a wrench and how to add more power to a car, but there is much more than that to this team.
Each year TRD hosts a Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race in order to raise money for charity. This race has the celebrities racing against the pros through the streets of downtown Long Beach, California and along the Southern California shoreline which gives the race plenty of exposure for potential donors to enjoy the spectacle and know their money is going to a good cause. In 2011, Toyota donated $5,000 per participant to Racing for Kids which benefits Miller Children’s Hospital of Long Beach and the Children’s Hospital of Orange County. In the time this race has been taking place, Toyota has donated close to $1.9 million to Racing for Kids.
With racing, adding high performance parts to the Toyota lineup, and charity all of importance to the TRD team, it’s easy to see why they have become one of the most talked about and enjoyed racing organizations in the sport of auto racing around the world. Chasing trophies and helping kids are certainly going to gain the attention of many fans and enthusiasts and Toyota has capture that attention easily and quickly, especially with the huge success they have already had in the NASCAR racing circuit.
This post may contain affiliate links. Meaning a commission is given should you decide to make a purchase through these links, at no cost to you. All products shown are researched and tested to give an accurate review for you.