More Pro Sports

• Tennis: Roddick hammers Japanese star
• MLB: Phillies' Howard wins big in arbitration
• NFL: Lewis takes Browns' contract deal

MOST RECENT TRIB STORIES

• ABQTrib.com to remain available
  08:48 a.m., February 25, 2008
• Congressman is indicted
  08:37 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Series of attacks target Green Zone
  08:36 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Iran is defying U.N., agency says
  08:35 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Waterboarding approval probed
  08:34 a.m., February 23, 2008

TRIB IN THE BLOGOSPHERE*

• Ty Murray Invitational thrills fans in Albuquerque
• Is Rome Burning?
• Ominous Skies
• The Road to Invalidation
• Albuquerque company participates in “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”

*Note: The Tribune does not create and is not responsible for the blogosphere's headlines and stories. These links to blogs talking about ABQTrib.com are automatically generated. Use them at your own risk.

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Comments
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

SHARE THIS STORY [?]

But it doesn't always work that way.

Toyota has spent gobs of money in Formula One and has little to show for it.

A few years ago, the Japanese company made Mike Gascoyne the highest-paid technical director in F1.

After all, he had turned around the Jordan and Renault programs and made them competitive.

But after 2 years together, Gascoyne and Toyota are splitting.

No wins.

One pole position.

A few podiums.

That's it.

I'm a Toyota fan. Have been since I bought one in 2000.

I rooted for them in Indy cars. I've rooted for them in Formula One. And I'll root for them next year in NASCAR.

And I'm a huge Formula One fan. I watch every practice, qualifying and race.

And I can tell one thing: The Toyota F1 team has regressed.

Gascoyne did make Toyota competitive, coming from the bottom of the grid and occasionally challenging for a top-three finish.

And he insisted the cars should have been higher up the grid than the drivers had them. He said the cars were perfect - it was the drivers who were to blame.

Typical.

Rather than working harder to find more speed, Gascoyne blamed the one thing he had no control over: the drivers.

Overall, the Gascoyne era at Toyota will be considered a failure because success in Formula One, like everything else, is based on wins.

There was some strong talk from Toyota headquarters last year that if they didn't show signs of improving, the whole F1 program would be shut down.

Then, voil , they were running near the front of the pack.

But things have fallen.

Many pundits were predicting Toyota to win races this year.

I don't see it.

In three races, the team has one podium from Ralf Schumacher in Australia. And that was lucky.

So, I'm sure Toyota will spend all that yen they've acquired and try to win in F1.

Just remember one thing, Toyota: It's not that you spend the money, it's how you spend it.

Googe's auto racing column appears on Saturday, You can reach him at cgooge@abqtrib.com or 823-3634.