Toyota Camry Hybrid Will Serve as Pace Car for Upcoming NASCAR Races
By Greg Johnson April 28, 2009
A 2010 Toyota Camry Hybrid will serve as pace car for NASCAR's upcoming Coca-Cola 600.
On May 24, the 2010 Toyota Camry Hybrid will become the first hybrid vehicle to serve as the pace car for an entire NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.
But it's also true that the first hybrid vehicle to serve as pace car for a NASCAR Cup race was a Ford Fusion Hybrid.
The distinction?
After serving as the pace car during the start of last November's Ford 400 NASCAR race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Ford's hybrid pulled off of the track and was replaced by a gas-powered Fusion vehicle. Toyota's hybrid will stick around to serve as the pace, or safety car, for the duration of the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowes Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina.
So both hybrids can claim a bit of history.
(Not surprisingly, Ford Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. have squared off in the past on green vehicle marketing issues.)
The Camry Hybrids (there will be two of them) serving as pace and safety cars during several upcoming NASCAR Cup races are described by company officials stock vehicles.
The Camry Hybrids were built at the Toyota manufacturing facility in Georgetown, Kentucky, and incorporate a 2.4-liter, four-cylinder engine that produces 187 horsepower (and 138 pound-feet of torque) and a 45-hp electric motor.
An Edmunds.com test-drive of the 2010 Camry Hybrid noted that "acceleration betters most four-cylinder sedans and is not far behind many six-cylinder ones." It also suggested that careful drivers could enjoy combined city/highway mileage in the mid-30s -- but didn't estimate mileage on a NASCAR oval.
Toyota approached NASCAR after the Ford Fusion Hybrid made its debut late in the 2009 NASCAR season.
NASCAR had two basic questions, according to Les Unger, Toyota Motor Sales' national motor sports manager: Could the Camry Hybrid reach speeds of about 100 miles per hour between turns one and two (about a quarter of a mile depending upon the track), and would its suspension and steering allow for safe handling at speed?
Two stock Camry Hybrids passed the NASCAR tests this past winter at the North Carolina racetrack, Unger said.
The traditional pre-race pace car duties differ noticeably from the in-race role as safety car, Unger said. Prior to the start of races, pace cars bring NASCAR vehicles up to the starting speed and then exit the track. During races, pace cars (serving as safety vehicles) are called upon after accidents or during bad weather. They must be able to accelerate quickly and handle safely at speed.
Why have the Camry Hybrid do the honors instead of Toyota's top-selling Prius? From the start, Unger said, Toyota wanted to pair the retail version of the Camry Hybrid with the Camry vehicles driven by some NASCAR teams.
"We're competing in NASCAR with Camrys," Unger said. "And the fact is that we happen to have a hybrid version of that nameplate. We never looked at proposing, if you will, another nameplate."
The car won kudos last week from NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin, who took media types for a spin (at about 102 miles per hour) on the Charlotte track.
"I don't believe that Denny had any prior experience in driving a hybrid," Unger said. "He was extremely impressed, so much so that he voiced his enthusiasm to the media.... And that was a really incredible endorsement."
Unger maintains that the only alteration to the stock Camry Hybrid is the go-fast paint job that promotes Toyota and the Coca-Cola 600.
Greg Johnson, Contributor
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I look forward to argument five years down the road about who was the first hybrid pace car. :)
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