"NASCAR racing, with its extreme limits on technology, doesn't allow us to explore that at all," says Honda racing publicist Dan Layton.
Another unlikely candidate is Nissan, which continues to compete as an engine supplier in the Indy Racing League with its Infiniti brand. A Nissan spokesperson said: "While we admire NASCAR's success, at this time Nissan has no plans to participate in NASCAR or any of its affiliated series."
Subcompact SuccessThe Dash Series has been a part of February Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway since the series' inception in 1975, when the cars were called "Baby Grands"-scaled-down versions of Grand National stock cars.
The series' origin is an example of how NASCAR has offered the racing consumer spinoff series from time to time, to keep in step with popular trends in production automobiles-a Convertible Division in the '50s; the Grand American Division in the late '60s featuring "pony cars" such as the Mustang, Camaro, Cougar, etc.; and, most recently, the Craftsman Truck Series, established in 1995 in response to the immense popularity of pickups.
"Baby Grands" came along in the years following America's first energy crisis of the early and mid-'70s. As fuel economy became more important, small cars-once considered synonymous with "foreign cars"-became a more common part of the American landscape. Mini Stock classes began to appear at some of the grass roots tracks where NASCAR stars had begun their careers, and NASCAR added a regional series for four-cylinder, subcompact cars.
From the beginning, non-traditional brands have been a part of the series. Dean Combs has been a part of the series, too, dating back to the year before NASCAR launched it.
Combs, who turns 50 in February, was champion of the new series in its first three years, and added two more titles in 1980 and 1981. He won 60 races (still tops on the list), and he won his last two titles racing Datsuns.
In the early years, Combs says an organization called North State Mini-Stock mixed with the Baby Grands. "I know they had a Saab and a Volkswagen or two," Combs says. The Beetles, he says, "ran really good." Combs also remembers the late Davey Allison competing in Dash Series events in a Toyota Celica.
Over the years, the series appeared at various major speedways. In the '90s, except for the annual race at Daytona, it was relegated to small tracks, but it retained the support of its title sponsor, Goody's Headache Powders. A few years ago NASCAR rewarded the sponsor's commitment by taking steps to upgrade the Dash Series.
The series began to take on a new luster when it returned to Winston Cup venues such as Lowe's (formerly Charlotte) Motor Speedway, Darlington Raceway and other major tracks, including the new Kentucky track where Huffman scored Toyota's landmark NASCAR victory June 16.
Not only did NASCAR officials make the series more lucrative to a manufacturer such as Toyota, they also worked with Toyota to devise a compromise that would permit Toyota's overhead-cam, multi-valve V-6 to compete with the inline four-cylinder engines and pushrod V-6s that powered American brand Dash Series cars.
TRD USA worked to develop a NASCAR-approved engine, adapting a carburetor to replace the electronic fuel injection of the production engine.
Going Truckin'?One obvious path leading from the regional Dash Series to Winston Cup would be the Craftsman Truck Series. With its V-8-powered Tundra, Toyota is a full-fledged competitor in the full-size pickup marketplace, going up against the Dodge Ram, Chevy Silverado, GMC Sierra and Ford F-150. All but the Sierra are staple performers in the Truck Series. Dodge's return to Winston Cup in 2001 followed an established factory participation effort with the Ram pickup in Truck Series racing.
Unger says there have been "very, very general discussions" regarding the possibility of the Tundra gaining approval for NASCAR competition.