Following the NHRA Mopar Mile-High Nationals, Jerry Toliver claims to have left a damaged Toyota body (complete with titanium bracing) for a trucking company to pick up and transport for repair.

Members of Warren Johnson’s crew reportedly mistook the body for abandoned and began to dissect parts of the body, removing the titanium and cutting off the nose and roof sections.

When notified of the incident, Toliver immediately contacted local law enforcement authorities. He was then informed that members of Warren Johnson’s crew had done the damage to the Toyota Solara body.

Toliver said he intends to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law

Following the NHRA Mopar Mile-High Nationals, Jerry Toliver claims to have left a damaged Toyota body (complete with titanium bracing) for a trucking company to pick up and transport for repair.

Members of Warren Johnson’s crew reportedly mistook the body for abandoned and began to dissect parts of the body, removing the titanium and cutting off the nose and roof sections.

When notified of the incident, Toliver immediately contacted local law enforcement authorities. He was then informed that members of Warren Johnson’s crew had done the damage to the Toyota Solara body.

Toliver said that he contacted Johnson, who reportedly said he would make good on the now non-reparable body. The only problem between the two was the interpretation of “make good.”

Johnson reportedly refused to pay full price for the previously damaged yet rare body. He reportedly offered $9,000 and Toliver is determined to take no less than $38,000.

Toliver said he finds it hard to speak about the situation without getting angry. That’s why he’s turned the issue over to his insurance agency, who he says will likely pursue reimbursement of damages either in civil or criminal court.  

“This is still an open case,” Toliver said. “They haven’t made their minds up if this is going to be criminal or civil. The bottom line is they took a piece of my equipment and destroyed it.”

Toliver said the body was only left alone for 90 minutes and had no sign or notation for the trucking company. He said he didn’t have to leave a note affixed to his property.

“Warren is not a stupid man,” Toliver said. “Warren knows good and well that I’m not going to leave a body with $10,000 worth of titanium, all the cables, and the window for junk. It had everything in there. No racer in their right mind would think that. Does he really think I am so rich that I don’t need that stuff and would throw it away? That’s $#@&^%$ stupid.”

Toliver said he couldn’t discuss the issue with the media initially because it was part of an ongoing criminal case. He’s since been cleared by legal counsel to discuss the matter.

“I’m going to tell my side of the story,” Toliver said. “I got a call after the Denver race telling me the body had been torn up. I immediately told my guys to contact the track officials and have them close the gates. I started asking questions about how it happened.

“We have truck drivers, bus drivers, and guys who do the chase vehicles. One of my crew guys got up at 6 AM and drove the truck drivers and bus drivers down to the pits so they could get their luggage and head to Seattle. He drove back to the hotel to get the crew guys and then drove back to the track to meet the trucking company we had hired to take the body to Roush.”

Toliver said several thousand dollars worth of damage had been done to the car when it ran into the sandtrap.

“He got there and the body was all cut up,” Toliver said. “That’s when he called me. They had called the police and the police were there. I told him to close the gates and get help searching the trailers. I knew someone had to have seen something.”

Toliver said his team member called back with news someone had identified Johnson’s team as the culprits.

“One of the teams told my guy that he saw Warren’s crew pulling it over into their pit area,” Toliver said.

Toliver said that he spoke with the attending police officer who informed him he was preparing a felony arrest warrant. At that point Toliver said he was told by the officer that Johnson’s transporter would be pulled over and whoever was inside would be arrested.

“They were going to impound the truck because there was stolen property inside,” Toliver said. “Because of the value of it, it was a felony. I just wanted to be a gentleman so I asked the police officer to let me try and talk to Warren first. It was just crazy to me that they would have done this.

Toliver said he made the call to Johnson to resolve the situation. This is how he described the conversation.

“Warren, I am calling you out of respect from one owner to another,” Toliver said. “This is a courtesy call. Your guys did something that is going to get them in a lot of trouble. What they are going to do is pull your truck over, impound it and arrest your guys. Chances are that you won’t make Seattle.”

Toliver said Johnson responded, “Oh my God, we can’t let that happen.”

That’s when Toliver said he sought a remedy for the situation from Johnson.

He continued with the explanation of the call, “You need to tell me, Warren, that you are going to take care of this. If it was me or my guys and I had done something like that to your equipment, I’d feel responsible and take care of it. This is a courtesy call for you to take care of it.”

Toliver said that Johnson then agreed to cover the damage despite his insistence this was not an inexpensive endeavor. He said the cost could exceed $40,000. 

Toliver said he demanded Johnson’s word as a man that he would make good on the deal. That’s when he said Johnson answered, “Absolutely.”

Toliver said that he intervened on Johnson’s behalf even though he feared the criminal actions could not be averted. He said he was able to stop the police from going forward.

“I knew that if I let them off of the hook I had lost my hammer,” Toliver said. “I knew I was taking his word at face value for what it was worth.”

Toliver said the officer explained that he would leave the case open in case the promises were left unfulfilled. He said Johnson’s crew returned most of the equipment taken following his phone call.

Toliver said one member Johnson’s crew was friends with a member of the team and had previously worked for John Force racing.

“I got to Seattle and had gathered all of the bills and took them to Warren,” Toliver said. “He told me that he wasn’t through investigating it. He told me that he felt like we had abandoned it and it wasn’t their fault. I reminded him that he’d given me his word and that he was trying to weasel out of it. He told me that he wasn’t through investigating it.”

Toliver said he confronted Johnson again and was told that he would pay $9,000 for the body.

“I said, ‘really?’ Toliver said. “I told him to stuff it where the sun don’t shine.”

Toliver said that was the last exchange before he turned it into the insurance company and told the police to take their prosecution to the fullest extent of the law.

“At this point, it really doesn’t matter to me,” Toliver said. “They paid for the body and they’ll decide whether to go after it in a civil or criminal court.

“Warren tried to tell me they thought I had abandoned it and I said, ‘BS,” said Toliver. “I asked if he was telling me, that when he goes to the hotel tonight, that I was going to cut his $#@ $#@^ trailer in half and take everything out of it because they weren’t here and I thought it was abandoned.

“He told me that I had abandoned my pit. I told him, ‘If that’s what you really thought why wouldn’t you give me a courtesy call?’

“He could have done that rather than assume we left it there and then destroy it. They cut the %^*(&^% roof off of the car. They cut the nose off and pulled everything out of it. They basically destroyed a good race car. That was just %^&*$(#^ stupid.”

There is the issue that no signs were left on the car.

“Why would I even think that something like this was going to happen?” Toliver said. “I didn’t realize that we had such morons in this sport of that stature that he needs a note to tell him to leave it alone that it is not his. So I crash my car on the street and pull it over and he sees it and says, ‘That’s abandoned, ‘let’s go steal everything out of it.”

Toliver continued, “What gives him the right to take something that is not his? I gotta leave him a %^&*$%^& note to tell him to not steal my stuff? As far as I am concerned there should be some kind of camaraderie within the pits between teams and team owners that we protect one another. This tells me that it is open season. If you leave your stuff there and it is unguarded then it is open season, is what that tells me.”