Today, White is group vice president and general manager of TRD, U.S.A. Inc., where he oversees all day-to-day operations for TRD's engine-related responsibilities for the Indy Racing League, Toyota Atlantic Championship, and off-road racing, and is the point man for Toyota's debut in the Truck Series.
The California shops build the engines for the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, the off-road trucks driven by stars such as Rod Millen and Ivan Stewart, and the engines for six cars in the NASCAR Goody's Dash Series. It also supplies the engines for entries in the Indy Racing League.
The first action White did to correct its CART catastrophe was to get TRD to stop fixing engines and begin fixing problems. "We kept breaking engines and fixing them, without going back to figuring out what we were doing wrong to make them break," White says.
Working with engineers from TRD and Japan, they concentrated on building reliability into the 2.65-liter, turbocharged engines. To better control the product, White moved complete manufacture and assembly of the engines to America.
Once they had an engine that would go the distance, they began working on power. And more power. And more power.
Deep PocketsLast November, White was on the stage when Toyota picked up its 2002 CART championship trophy. "It's a beautiful trophy, and it took seven years and a gazillion yen to win it," White said at the CART awards banquet.
No one knows the exact exchange rate for "a gazillion yen," but sources within the series estimate the true cost of the championship-from entry to the end of CART's 2002 season-was about $1 billion. And that was for a title in a series that gets about the same television audience as the Truck Series.
Toyota isn't hesitant to spend the money or devote the manpower or effort required to win championships. "That's the only reason to race," says White.
This year, Toyota left CART and moved to the Indy Racing League. It meant designing and building an entirely different engine for the all-oval series. During pre-season testing, Toyotas powered the fastest cars on the ovals. Lesson learned.
When the 2003 IRL season opened at Homestead-Miami, Toyotas were four of the top-five finishing cars, including a sweep of the first three positions.
It isn't just engines Toyota is willing to spend its money on. After Target/Chip Ganassi won an unprecedented four CART championships in a row with Honda power, Ganassi switched to Toyota when Honda refused to match its rival's level of financial support. This year, Ganassi is running the IRL with Toyota. So will many of the IRL's most recognizable names, including cars fielded by Roger Penske and A.J. Foyt; the latter has long been critical of foreign involvement in American racing.
Coming Out StrongToyota officials say they won't announce the 2004 Truck Series teams until the fall of 2003. Expect the company to lure a couple of front-running teams to its brand, if for no other reason then to begin 2004 with owner provisional points to guarantee starting spots early next year.
Although NASCAR's rules allow it, there are no plans for a Toyota "factory team," Aust says. "The teams will be owned by individuals and the drivers contracted to them."
Toyota already has a relationship with Foyt, Penske, and Ganassi through their open-wheel operations, but that doesn't mean it will translate into them fielding Toyota-powered trucks next year. Those car owners already have ties in NASCAR with domestic manufacturers, and running one brand in Winston Cup and another in the Truck Series could present some marketing problems.
Eddie Wood, for instance, has been involved with Ford ever since he (and his father before him) began racing. He can't imagine approaching Ford about running a different brand against Ford in the Truck Series. "I think they'd tell me to be sure to pick up my tools before I left," Wood says.