Reaching New Heights: Kyle Busch accomplishing 500th NASCAR start for Toyota

No other driver has as many Toyota NASCAR starts, wins or accomplishments to his credit as driver Kyle Busch. 

Kyle Busch made his 500^th NASCAR National Series start in a Toyota when he got behind the wheel of his No. 51 ToyotaCare Tundra for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Careers for Veterans 200 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn. Busch finished fifth, leading 14 of 100 laps.

Busch's resume also includes 114 wins in a Toyota across all three major NASCAR series. He joined Toyota family in 2008.

“I’m excited about it,” said Busch.  “It’s obviously a bit of a milestone to reach 500.  There’s been a lot of success in-between those 500 starts.  It’s exciting to have as many wins as I do across all three series of NASCAR with the Sprint Cup Series, Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series.”

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“Toyota has been a huge part of my career here in the Sprint Cup Series,” 29-year-old Busch said. “I was obviously at Hendrick Motorsports with Chevrolet in the early days and won a little bit but never won as often and as much as I have in a Toyota vehicle.  That success has been awesome.”

 

In 2009, Busch didn't waste time and set the Nationwide Series on fire en route to earning the first NNS driver’s championship for Toyota while maintaining full-time driving duties in the top-tier Sprint Cup Series and winning races in the NCWTS.  The Las Vegas-native registered several NNS records that season, including 20 first or second-place finishes in 35 races, 10 straight finishes of first or second-place from June through August and leading the most laps (2,698 total) during the season. Busch has been unstoppable in the NCWTS, earning victories in all five races he’s entered this year.

“A huge part of what Toyota does is help Kyle Busch Motorsports be successful,” said Busch.  “All of the hard work has been since 2010 with its inception of being a race team in the Truck Series and being able to win two Owner’s Championships and continue to win races year in and year out.”

Kyle hoped to continue his winning when he made his 500^th Toyota NASCAR start in August. 

“I think it’s pretty neat to be as successful as we’ve been in these NASCAR series, but also behind the wheel of a Toyota” he said. “Toyota pours a lot of heart and soul into this sport and being an instrumental part of helping the sport evolve with the cars and everything else. So it’s been pretty good.”

Free Wi-Fi to be offered at 6 Los Angeles City Parks, Four State Parks in New York, and One State Park in New Jersey

Thanks to Toyota and American Park Network, free public Wi-Fi is now available at six popular Los Angeles parks and beaches. This is a pilot program, and in the pilot phase. The free service, called Oh, Ranger! Wi-Fi™ was provided and made possible through the generous support of Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid. The Oh, Ranger! network is L.A.’s latest example of a public-private partnership, an increasingly popular way for cities across the U.S. to fund projects while limiting their own investment.

This Oh, Ranger! Wi-Fi™ is now available at six of the most iconic, highly visited city parks throughout Los Angeles, the Griffith Observatory and extremely popular Venice Beach, which has an estimated 16 million visitors annually. Included in the first phase of this pilot program are: Venice Beach, Pershing Square, Griffith Observatory, Cabrillo Beach, Echo Park Lake and Reseda Park.

The equipment, which includes installation, is being provided at no cost to taxpayers as a function of this public-private partnership between the Parks Departments, Toyota and American Park Network.

American Park Network editor-in-chief Mark Saferstein, whose company built the network, stressed that the program is still in testing, meaning connection specs are still being calibrated and there are kinks that need to be worked out.

Free Wi-Fi is now available to the public in Niagara Falls, Jones Beach, Saratoga Spa and East River State Parks and New York.

“We’re thrilled to partner with American Park Network and the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks to help make Oh, Ranger! Wi-Fi™ a reality for the visitors who attend these six tremendously popular parks here in Los Angeles,” said Dionne Colvin-Lovely, National Director, Traditional and Digital Media, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. “Supporting the needs of parks and their visitors is a perfect fit for the Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid, we particularly welcome the opportunity to make a difference, here, in our own backyard, by improving the park going experience for Angelenos throughout the city.”

Park visitors will be capable to access WI-Fi in two steps. Users simply select “Oh, Ranger! Wi-Fi™” under available Wi-Fi networks on their smart device, then accept the standard terms and conditions, and they’ll be on their way to free Internet access.  

“It’s really rewarding to work with such collaborative partners as Toyota and LA Parks,” said Mark Saferstein, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief at American Park Network.  “It’s rare to have a chance to positively impact the lives of so many people. We feel great about providing a new service that will make our parks even more accessible to the next generation of custodians who will care for these special places.” 

Toyota Again Sponsoring National Veterans Wheelchair Games

For the 15^th successive Year Toyota Supports Wheelchair Games, and fourth successive year as an assisting Host Sponsor 

The Department of Veterans (VA) and Paralyzed Veterans of America announced with pride that Toyota will again serve as a Successive Host Sponsor for the 34^th National Veterans Wheelchair Games, held in Philadelphia from 17th August. The vehicles will be provided as well for national Veterans Wheelchair Games officials to drive throughout the week.
 

“The support of our sponsors is vital to putting on an event as large as the National Veterans Wheelchair Games. We thank Toyota for their continued support of this important rehabilitative event for our disabled veterans and for their commitment to our veteran wheelchair athletes,” said Al Kovach, national president of Paralyzed Veterans of America.

The National Veterans Wheelchair Games are an annual event in which U.S. military veterans who use wheelchairs participate. They use them for sports competitions due to a serious injury such as certain neurological conditions, amputations or other mobility impairments or spinal cord injury.  The purpose of these games is to bring these veterans holistic and therapeutic treatments through sports activity. This will be the 15th time that Toyota has sponsored this important event. “These Games are empowering veterans with disabilities to improve their lives through sports and recreation,” said Dave Tostenrude, Director of the National Veterans Wheelchair Games. “The athletes return home with the attitude and information of what they can do, versus, what they cannot.”

There are a total of 18 events that take place during the games. These events include softball, quad rugby, hand-cycling, air guns, weightlifting, field, nine ball, basketball, power soccer, archery, trapshooting, a motorized wheelchair rally, track, bowling, table tennis, slalom, boccie and swimming.

“Toyota is very proud of our 15-year relationship with the Paralyzed Veterans of America,” said Mark Oldenburg, Toyota National Fleet Marketing, Mobility and Strategic Planning Manager.  “Toyota is honored to once again be the sustaining sponsor of the 34th annual National Veterans Wheelchair Games and support the brave men and women who serve our country and defend our freedom.”

Toyota Donates $ 1 million to save Detroit Institute of Arts

Toyota donates $1 million toward the Detroit Institute of Arts’ commitment to raise $100 million as part of a “grand bargain” that will help the city of Detroit emerge from bankruptcy. 

“Detroit and the surrounding areas are vitally important to the automotive community. They deserve our support,” said Simon Nagata, president of Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing, Inc.

“Together we can find solutions to help Detroit become the healthy and vibrant community that reflects the spirit of its people. This commitment is a way to demonstrate our gratitude to the people who have built this industry and support us every day,” he said.

“Toyota has demonstrated its commitment to Detroit and Michigan by doing its part to secure the DIA’s future while helping Detroit’s retirees,” said Eugene A. Gargaro Jr., DIA board chairman. "We are extremely grateful for Toyota’s generous support and know that it will motivate other donors and help pave the way for a bright future, both for the City of Detroit and the DIA.”

As part of the grand bargain, the City of Detroit will transfer any and all claims of ownership of the DIA’s collection, building and related assets to the private nonprofit corporation that currently operates the museum, Detroit Institute of Arts, Inc., which will own the art works.

The Detroit Institute of Arts is considered one of the top museums in the United States and is home to more than 60,000 works ranging from the first Van Gogh painting to enter a U.S. museum, Self-Portrait, 1887, to Diego Rivera’s world-renowned Detroit Industry murals, which were created in the museum in the 1930s.

Toyota funding Hispanic journalists’ National Convention in San Antonio, Home of Toyota Tacoma and Tundra Vehicles

Toyota was pleased to welcome the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) to San Antonio, where the Toyota Tundra and Tacoma vehicles are manufactured. Toyota is the title sponsor of the NAHJ 2014 Convention. This Convention was held from August 7 through August 9, at the Henry B.Gonzalez Convention Center. 

This year's convention celebrates the 30th anniversary of NAHJ, an organization dedicated to increasing the visibility of Latinos in the news industry.

“At Toyota, we support NAHJ’s efforts to create a national voice for Hispanic journalists,” said Patricia Salas Pineda, group vice president of Hispanic Business Strategy Group at Toyota.  “Toyota is honored to be the number one auto company among Latinos, and we can’t think of a better way to celebrate our connection with the Hispanic community than to support NAHJ, the country's largest and most influential group of Latino journalists. We are especially happy that we can join NAHJ in San Antonio where Toyota manufactures two of its popular vehicles.”

 

“Toyota has supported NAHJ for years, so we’re particularly happy to have them be the NAHJ 2014 Convention’s title sponsor,” said Hugo Balta, NAHJ president. “We are proud to celebrate our 30^thanniversary of being the leading Hispanic journalism association in the country. Our members are not only top journalists, but they are also the storytellers of our community.”

NAHJ has approximately 1,500 members, including working journalists, journalism students, other media-related professionals and journalism educators. More than 1,000 journalists, public officials and other Hispanic members of the news community are expected to attend the NAHJ’s San Antonio convention.

“Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas welcomes NAHJ and applauds its selection of San Antonio as its host city to celebrate 30 years of breaking barriers in the newsroom,” said Joe Da Rosa, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas President.

T – Connect smart phones application from Toyota in 8 Middle Eastern countries

Toyota has launched a range of interactive telematics services called T-Connect for its Middle East customers which will be available through a smartphone application for all drivers and will offer access to useful information as well as services while on the move through navigational and operator led services. T-Connect is based off the navigation / operator service called the Smart G-BOOK service. Customers can also benefit from the service through an interactive touch screen that is implemented in all Toyota cars. 

After Japan in 2011 and Thailand in 2012, the UAE is the third country in the world to receive the system where Toyota is popular among car owners.

The service connects to an operator via telephone, at which point the user requests a destination. Via voice recognition, that destination is forwarded to smartphone navigation, and audio guidance is provided to the user via navigator. It should be noted that the service will be available in Arabic and English which will be suitable for all customers. 

“The Middle East is an indispensable market for Toyota and I believe this smartphone-based telematics will be a key differentiator for automotive brands to meet customer expectations. It has tremendous potential given the high smartphone penetration in this region,” said Shigeki Tomoyama, Toyota Motor Corporation managing officer. 

The T-Connect service, which will be available for all new Toyota vehicles, will be incorporated throughout the brand’s extensive portfolio of automobiles. It will be available to all new Toyota vehicle buyers free of charge for the first year. Customers of Toyota vehicles prior to 2014 can also access the service through an iOS or Android phone with an applicable service fee.

Managing officer Tomoyama explained, “The Mideast makes up of 8% of Toyota’s global sales, and Toyota cars account for 40% of the market share in the region. Moving towards the realized growth of a smart mobility society and sustainable world, Toyota has been working hard to revolutionize the automotive business into one that makes complete use of ICT.” 

With that in the background, Toyota’s managing officer clarified, “We are putting energy into expanding smartphone compatible services, represented by the T-Connect service, for which we feel we should increase the number of contact points with our end users.”

Toyota, which has been in the Gulf region for several years and thus has become a brand preferred by those looking to buy cars for sale in UAE, has established a call centre in Dubai to communicate closely with customers in the Middle East for all T-Connect related operations in addition to providing a customer database component to ensure the successful operation of this service.