KyraSage
Over the weekend the NHRA stopped in at Pacific Raceways for race two of the Western Swing, and it ended up being an unforgettable weekend for Toyota Gazoo Racing North America.
In the Top Fuel final round Steve Torrence and his Capco sponsored Top Fuel Dragster bested Kalitta Motorsports driver, Doug Kalitta and his MAC Tools sponsored Top Fuel Dragster to give Toyota their 200th event win.
The NHRA is the largest auto racing organization in the world, and one that Toyota has been part of since 2002 when the first Toyota Celica Funny Car debuted. Jerry Toliver gave Toyota their first win in 2004 at the Winternationals at Pomoma Dragway and since then, they have hundreds of victories across the nitro classes. Toyota has also been an official NHRA partner for nearly a decade, holding the title of Official Car of the NHRA since 2014.
David Wilson, President, TRD, had this to say about the milestone, “We are honored to have achieved our 200th victory in NHRA competition. Our NHRA teams constantly deliver for Toyota on and off the drag strip. Their hard work and tireless effort to succeed has allowed us to achieve this incredible milestone in our Toyota Racing history. We look forward to celebrating this achievement with them and continuing to work towards the season-long championship titles.”
Toyota has had some big names drive for them over the year. Top Fuel driver Antron Brown is a long time Toyota sponsored driver, and he has the most victories with them, with 56. Larry Dixon (19), Shawn Langdon (17), Del Worsham (17), Cruz Pedregon (13), Morgan Lucas (12), Doug Kalitta (11), JR Todd (11) and Richie Crampton (10) have all scored 10 or more wins under Toyota and Toyota drivers have earned 10 total championships. This includes Antron’s three Top Fuel championships in 2012, 2015 and 2016 and Top Fuel and Funny Car championships with Del. To make it even better, Toyota’s newest driver, Ron Capps, is the reigning Funny Car champion.
Their current driver lineup features Top Fuel drivers Justin Ashley, Doug Kalitta, Shawn Langdon and Steve Torrence and Funny Car drivers Ron Capps, Alexis DeJoria and JR Todd. All of which have scored wins with Toyota’s support.
Team Toyota will take to the track again this weekend to end out the Western Swing at the Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals in Sonoma, California.
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