A Short History of TRD

After his victory over the Pharnaces in 47 BC, Julius Caesar addressed his Senate and spoke the famous lines, "Veni, vidi, vici" - "I came, I saw, I conquered." Today, over 2000 years later, Toyota Racing Development (TRD) might say the same of every racing venue it has entered.

The TRD story first started in 1979 in Costa Mesa, California, as a Toyota Motor Sales subsidiary in charge of distributing and designing after market performance parts for TRD Japan. Through assembly operation, the company slowly developed into a complete engine development, and their success sped up in the early 2000s. Cutting-edge technology from TRD was in every high-speed arena there was, racking up victories and establishing the company's powerful presence as a competitor. TRD engineers today design and build the B-8 Tundra and V-8 Camry engines for their respective Nascar entries. They are also responsible for the engines in factory-backed entries in Championship Off-Road Racing (CORR), National Hot Rod Association (NHRA), the U.S. Auto Club Sprint Car and National Midget Car Racing Series, and the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series.

By 1983, TRD joined forces with All American Racers (AAR), rolling out a Celica in the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) road racing competition. Within six years, TRD-powered cars moved up to the GTP Class, the elite level of American road racing. Also in '83, Precision Preparation, Inc. partnered with TRD to build trucks for both real-world off-road and stadium competitions. Toyota trucks developed a taste for the dirt, taking multiple wins in the premier Baja 500 and 1000 events, as well as manufacturer's championship in the Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group SCORE and CORR series.

In 1996, TRD began its climb up the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) ladder, recording its first win in Indy-car competition at the Milwaukee Mile in June 2000 with Juan Montoya behind the wheel. In 2003, a TRD-powered Indy car driven by Gil DeFerran won the mother of all American races-the Indianapolis 500.

Once that American milestone was reached, the next logical step was entry in NASCAR with the V-6 Celica Goody's Dash Program. By 2007, the V-8 Camry made its debut at the NASCAR Nextel Cup and Busch Series. The same year, Jason Leffler recorded the first TRD NASCAR win in the Busch Series at O'Reilly Raceway Park ending the series with a third place in points. David Reutimann's win at the Sam's Town 250 in Memphis helped land him in second place point finish in the series. Dave Blaney scored the Nextel Cup season best with a third place finish at Talladega.

TRD's success in the NASCAR series wasn't limited to stock cars. With a 2004 debut in the Craftsman Truck Series, TRD took the manufacturer's championship two years in a row (2006-07) and Todd Bodine took the driver's championship in '06.

TRD USA's repertoire of victories include the NHRA's Funny Car seriers with Jerry Toliver at the Pomona Winternationals; wins in 11 out of 16 races at the 2003 Indy car series; four Daytona Prototype Driver's Championships since 2004, when the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series debuted; USAC Sprint Car and Midget Car Racing Series wins; and a clean sweep of the 67th Annual Turkey Night Grand Prix at Irwindale Speeday, where Dave Darland won the Midget event, and Bobby Santos took the Sprint Car title.

TRD doesn't only mean Toyota Racing Development, although that is its official meaning. It also stands for "Top Results and Design.

Article by: JasonLancaster | Total views: 14 | Word Count: 569

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Author Jason Lancaster operates TundraHeadquarters.com, a website with info, news, and reviews of Toyota Tundra parts and Tundra accessories.