Toyota Race Development and K&N Keep Performance Cutting-Edge and Winning a Tradition
- Nov 6, 2009
Toyota Race Development USA has collected many victories in 2009
Kyle Busch won several races in all three top series of NASCAR in 2009
TRD first captured the world of motorsports attention, making history in the process, when Juan Montoya recorded Toyota's first Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) victory, driving a TRD powered Indy Car at the Milwaukee Mile in June 2000. That race was a significantly sweet triumph because it was the first win for an American designed and built engine in 20 years. Since then it would be far easier to list what TRD hasn't won, than to list everything that they have.
In partnership with TMS, TRD has collected a shipload of noteworthy wins, which would have to include the monumental victory at the '03 Indianapolis 500, three Rolex 24 at Daytona victories, along with numerous Baja 500 and 1000 wins and manufacturers championships (NCTS, IRL, CART, IMSA, MTEG, Grand-Am, CORR, and the WSORR competition).
TRD engineered and built the V-8 powered Toyota Tundra engines for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
Other historical wins include five Pikes Peak International Hill Climb Championships and the Import Drag Racing Class Championships ('04, '06 and '07) plus, multiple wins at 12 Hours of Sebring.
"We've had a good season so far, we've had 12 victories in the Truck Series, victories in the Nationwide Series. And we've done that with several drivers, which shows that we have a strong program, not only strong teams," says Laerte Zatta. Zatta is the Senior Program Manager for the Truck and Nationwide Series. He has been with TRD since 2001, working with the CART series, then IRL, and now NASCAR.
TRD engineers and builds the V-8 powered Tundra engines for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) and the V-8 Camry power-plant for the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series. They also create engines for most Toyota factory-backed US racing efforts, including Championship Off-Road Racing (CORR), the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA), and recently the United States Auto Club (USAC) Sprint Car and National Midget Car Racing Series.
"This year we had Kyle Busch, who won several races in all three top series in NASCAR. Also, Brian Scott and Timothy Peters both notched their first wins. It's always good for us to see our current drivers and new drivers having success. So far we have won three Truck Manufactures Championships ('06, '07, '08), two Drivers Championship ('06, '08), and we've also won the '08 and '09 Nationwide Manufactures Championship," adds Zatta justifiably proud.
"We use K&N air and oil filters in all of our Tundra trucks and our relationship has always been great. The product is reliable, it has excellent performance, and K&N has been the perfect partner for us, not only as a supplier, but also in helping us with the development of new products. Next season we will continue to work with K&N, there are absolutely no reasons not to. It's good product, good people to work with, and excellent support to our teams," adds Zatta.
Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world.
