In our latest collaboration with Toyota USA, we were tasked with creating a video for the new 2025 Tundra to live on our AutoGuide.com YouTube channel. To create an editorial content piece that could live on our channel while promoting the Tundra, we decided to lean heavily into the TRD Rally Package version of the model.

This special trim level was designed to pay homage to the rich history of Toyota Racing Development (TRD), so what better way to highlight that than by exploring that history? To follow-up to our successful “History of the Toyota Crown” project last year, we created a “History of TRD” video, once again starring Rutledge Wood.

But creating this video had plenty of challenges. It required a tremendous amount of research to source all of the archive footage, photos, and info to create the script and design the video outline. We dug deep into the facts and spoke to current and former employees to uncover the truest version of the history that we could, even uncovering some tidbits that haven’t been discussed anywhere else on YouTube!

When it came time to shoot, we also had to coordinate getting Toyota racing legend Ivan Stewart out for the project, and arranged to ship some of his iconic racing trucks. These vehicles are precious commodities to Toyota, so we had to be extremely careful with them.

That being said, once we fired up the trucks and started flooring them across the desert – as you’ll see in the finished video – the results were pretty spectacular.

This project was a long process to put together, but we’re very proud of the results and feel that it does the ongoing legend of TRD and its iconic figures justice!