Off-road racing is arguably one of the most addicting sports known. There must be something in the dirt because it seems that once people get into it, they can't seem to get enough of it. Jim Wimmer of Cerritos, California, is the perfect example of this. The proud owner of this '01 Toyota Tacoma mulled ideas in his head for years before embarking on this journey.
As an employee of Toyota for the past 15 years, Jim is on the same payroll as one of off-road racing's most legendary race teams. Of course, we are speaking of none other than Ivan "Ironman" Stewart. Taking advantage of the perks of his profession since 1985, Jim fueled his passion for off-road racing by hanging out with Ivan and the crew at PPI as often as possible. Over the past decade, Jim has spent numerous summer days sitting shotgun to the Stewart, prerunning for an upcoming race. On race day, Jim was always a part of the Toyota army - off-road racing's largest pit crew with more than 100 soldiers strong - ensuring that the Ironman finished on the top of the podium every weekend.
During the last couple of years as Ivan Stewart began his retirement tour, Jim found his lifestyle with a key ingredient to happiness missing. It was this void that prompted Jim to pull together all of his resources and take his love for off-road racing to the next level. As a manager at TRD, he has some pull in the automotive industry. Jim went to work on his campaign to build a race-winning Class 7s Tacoma.
The '01 Toyota Tacoma was sponsored by Toyota motor sales. The brand-new Toyota was stripped to the bare metal. Mike Parsons took up the reconstruction project. The project began with a full chrome-moly rollcage. The handcrafted 4,130 chrome-moly cage is tucked neatly into the Tacoma cab. It supports the front and rear suspension system, providing upper shock mounts for both.
In order to keep the cost of these trucks from getting too high, the rules for Class 7s limit the suspension to the stock configuration. This basically means the fabricator is limited to stock pivot locations for the springs and arms and travel limits. These rules help the trucks remain equal between brands. The rear suspension of this Toyota uses a Deaver spring pack combined with a Sway-A-Way Race-Runner shock on each wheel to produce the rulebook-limited 16 inches of travel.
The Toyota Tacoma has an A-arm front suspension system using beefed-up A-arms. The upper shock mounts share the upper coil's spring mount. Together they both mount at the top of the spring retainer. The stock spring location usually limits Toyota owners to reaching the legal 12 inches of travel. Without moving the actual stock spring bucket, Jim extended it through the top of the stock mount, thus giving him more spring to work with. Longer springs mean more travel up front for Jim. In fact, with the combination of the dual Sway-A-Way Race-Runner shocks, the front suspension produces the rulebook limit of 12 inches of wheel travel.