Toyota will be joining NASCAR's Nextel Cup and Busch series in 2007. If you want to be perceived as "America's" Car Company, racing in NASCAR events is a given. Welcome to automotive technology gone backwards.

Toyota will supply an engine so old-fashioned it doesn't even make one for its road cars. Real Toyotas feature overhead-cams, multi-valves, and fuel-injection. Its pseudo-race engine will have pushrods and carburetors. ("What's a carburetor?" asks the younger generation.) The body will be a shadow Camry, the only thing in-or-on the car even marginally related to Toyota. It will be forced to watch pit crews fuelling the cars in much the same way that good samaritans help when we're out of gas. And be entertained by the same crew running around like worker ants when tire changes are required, dragging ancient jacks from side-to-side.

The good news is that in 2007 NASCAR is introducing what it calls the "Car of Tomorrow." Quite a jump from a group that still races the car of yesterday. It claims the car is bigger, boxier and safer. The driver will sit 3" further back and 4" further toward the center of the car, reducing the possibility of injury from side impacts. The car is 4" wider and 2" taller than the current car, and more "crushability" is built into the sides, offering further protection. It is designed to be less aerodynamic than the current model, with a more-upright windshield to increase drag and a larger and boxier front bumper that catches rather than deflects air.

The intent is to minimize "aero push" and hopefully bring back the door-to-door racing and slingshot passing maneuvers that were popular in the 1970s. And as NASCAR moves closer to a "spec" series, it will cut costs. Sure, and a Toyota is just a Chevy with a Japanese name.