Rumors & Lies
* It's no surprise Mark Fields, the 41-year-old American sent to Japan by Ford to run Mazda, has been called back to the States to run Ford's restructured Premier Automotive Group (Aston Martin, Jaguar, Range Rover), replacing the ousted Wolfgang Reitzle.
* Toyota is supposedly working on a new, larger displacement version of the i-Force V8 it installs in the Tundra pickup and Sequoia, Land Cruiser and LX470 SUVs. Expect a 5.4-liter i-Force to join the current 4.7-liter unit next year. And this may mean a boost for racers using the Toyota powerplant.
* Something called the eAuto World Conference has named brother Bonneville racers Don and Rick Vesco "Car Guy of the Year." Scott Oldham has once again been totally gypped.
* A grand jury in San Antonio indicted three area young men on charges stemming from separate street racing incidents (two of which resulted in deaths) in April, according to a report in the "San Antonio Express-News." David Rangel, 17, was indicted on a charge of manslaughter in the death of Jessica Santos, also 17, who was riding in his car when it hit a tree. Twenty-year-old Jacob Mena was also charged with manslaughter for an incident where his car allegedly struck a truck driven by Jesse Castro, 53, killing him instantly. Ernest Lira, 19, was charged with aggravated assault for allegedly hitting 20-year-old pedestrian Phillip Elizondo during a street race. Street racing has been linked to four deaths in the San Antonio area during the first three months of 2002.
* GM Performance Parts has added four new parts to its line of performance pieces for the Ecotec four. Those parts are intake and exhaust camshaft blanks, an adjustable cam gear set, a new head gasket and O-ring kit and a balance shaft set. More at www.goodwrench.com.
Paisley Goes Truckin'
Craig Paisley showed up at April's NHRA Sport Compact race in Gainesville, Fla. with Christian Rado driving his familiar Supra, and Craig himself behind the wheel of a Tundra pickup. Well, not really a Tundra, but a tube-frame racecar with Tacoma-replica fiberglass body panels (close enough to a Tundra) and a 5.7-liter (347-cubic inch) version of the stock Tundra's DOHC, 32-valve V8 making 925 hp in its nose, thanks to a nitrous addiction. It's not "sport" and it's not "compact," but it found a home in the NHRA Pro class.
"I received some hate mail at my Web site (www.paisleyautomotive.com)," says Paisley in a phone interview from his Hempstead, N.Y. shop. "They were mad because I'd shown up with a truck running a Chevy big-block. But in fact, it's a real Toyota engine; it just sounds like a Chevy."
The engine development work is being done by TRD and Paisley believes the current 925-hp will soon swell to about 1,000. "Those are the stock Tundra heads," he said and not special castings or some sort of conversion to a domestic-like overhead valve configuration. And unlike domestic pro stocks, his Tundra engine is fuel injected.
With the frame itself built by C&F Racecars and using a G-Force five-speed transmission, Paisley's best time at Gainesville was an 8.20 at 169 mph. Not bad for a "truck" that had never been tested before showing up for competition.
Just because Paisley moved to a new vehicle doesn't mean that his high-drama Supra is retiring from competition-only that other people will be driving it.
The question is, can a series that calls itself "sport compact" really be the right place for a truck like Paisley's to race?