Hiro Matsushita
Hiro Matsushita | |
---|---|
![]() Hiro Matsushita during 2000 | |
Nationality | Japanese |
Born | [1] Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture | March 14, 1961
Retired | 2001 |
Related to |
|
CART, Championship Car, Indy Car, American Racing Series, Champ Car Atlantic Series, Lady Wigram Trophy | |
Years active | 1989–2001 |
Teams | Dick Simon Racing Walker Racing Arciero-Wells Racing Payton/Coyne Racing |
Starts | 158 |
Wins | 6 |
Podiums | 16 |
Poles | 3 |
Fastest laps | 0 |
Championship titles | |
1989 |
|
Awards | |
1998 | Champions Club |
Hiroyuki "Hiro" Matsushita (ヒロ松下, Matsushita Hiro, full Kanji:松下弘幸) is a former driver in the Champ Car and Formula Atlantic series who won the Toyota Atlantic Championship (Pacific) in 1989 as the first and only Japanese driver. He is also the first Japanese driver to race at the Indianapolis 500 (Indy 500). He is the grandson of Konosuke Matsushita, founder of Panasonic, and son of Masaharu Matsushita, who served as the second president of Panasonic for sixteen years beginning in 1961. His relationship has allowed him to receive financial backing from Panasonic throughout his racing career.
Racing career[]
Early career[]
Matsushita started his career racing motorcycles in his home country between 1977 and 1979, before making the switch to four wheels. With Panasonic's backing, he then moved to the United States and entered his first Formula Ford race in 1986. He finished second at the 24 Hours of Daytona and third at the Sebring 12 Hours in 1988. Matsushita began to make his name known by winning 1989 Toyota Atlantic championship (Pacific division) with the largest point margin of all time. He then tried Formula Pacific in New Zealand and became the first Japanese driver to win the prestigious Lady Wigram Trophy Race.[3]
CART Champ Car[]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/73/Hiro_Matsushita_in_1989.jpg/250px-Hiro_Matsushita_in_1989.jpg)
He graduated to Champ Car in 1990, scoring one point in his debut season. Inexplicably, he never showed the pace that took him to four Atlantic victories; instead, he quickly earned a reputation for being at the tail end of the grid, always outperformed by his teammates. Nonetheless, he became the first Japanese driver to race in the Indianapolis 500.[4] In 1991, and followed that achievement with a top ten finish at Milwaukee. Matsushita missed the 1992 Indy 500 after suffering a broken leg during a practice crash. He was sidelined for several weeks and missed the next six events as well.
At the Phoenix race in 1994, Matsushita endured a horrific crash in which his car was cut in half by Jacques Villeneuve's car traveling at nearly full speed. He emerged from his destroyed car with only minor injuries. The same year, he earned his best career finish of 6th position at the Marlboro 500 at Michigan International Speedway. This result was made possible by an extraordinarily high rate of attrition that saw only 8 cars finish the race. Matsushita was 11 laps behind the leader at the drop of the checkered flag.
By the time he retired in 1998, Matsushita had started 117 Champ Car races for Dick Simon Racing, Walker Racing, Arciero/Wells Racing and Payton/Coyne. He holds the record for most starts in American Championship Car Racing history without scoring a Top 5.
In 2001, Matsushita competed in the Baja 1000 off-road race, in a Mitsubishi Montero.
Nickname[]
Matsushita earned the nickname "King Hiro" from Emerson Fittipaldi, who was complaining about Matsushita's reluctance to cede track position when getting lapped by the leaders.[5] The nickname came about as a result of the voice-activated microphone ("vox") Roger Penske's team was using. Fittipaldi's epithet was said so quickly that the circuit cut off the first syllable of the first word he used. Fittipaldi, allegedly, had intended to say "Fucking Hiro!"[6][7]
Racing record[]
American open–wheel racing results[]
(key)
Indy Lights[]
Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Rank | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1989 | Panasonic Racing | PHX | LBH | MIL | DET | POR 13 |
MEA 12 |
TOR 6 |
POC | MDO | ROA | NAZ 8 |
LAG | 18th | 14 |
CART[]
Year | Team | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | Rank | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1990 | Dick Simon Racing | Lola T89/00 | Cosworth DFS V8t | PHX | LBH 19 |
INDY DNQ |
MIL | DET 19 |
POR 12 |
CLE | MEA 16 |
TOR | MIS | DEN 15 |
VAN 23 |
MDO 17 |
ROA 18 |
NZR 21 |
LS 23 |
31st | 1 | |||
1991 | Dick Simon Racing | Lola T90/00 | Cosworth DFS V8t | SRF 21 |
PHX 14 |
MIL 10 |
DET 14 |
POR 14 |
23rd | 6 | ||||||||||||||
Lola T91/00 | LBH 13 |
CLE 14 |
MEA 12 |
TOR 15 |
MIS 19 |
DEN 14 |
VAN 16 |
MDO 14 |
ROA 12 |
NZR 12 |
||||||||||||||
Buick 3300 V6t | INDY 16 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
Chevrolet 265A V8t | LS 20 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
1992 | Dick Simon Racing | Lola T92/00 | Chevrolet 265A V8t | SRF DNS |
PHX 16 |
LBH 10 |
INDY DNS |
DET | POR | MIL | NHM | TOR | MIS | CLE 24 |
ROA 14 |
VAN 13 |
MDO 18 |
NZR 14 |
LS 15 |
27th | 3 | |||
1993 | Walker Racing | Lola T93/00 | Ford XB V8t | SRF 11 |
PHX 10 |
LBH 14 |
INDY 18 |
MIL 13 |
DET 13 |
POR 21 |
CLE 12 |
TOR 16 |
MIS 14 |
NHM 13 |
ROA 13 |
VAN 12 |
MDO 13 |
NZR 21 |
LS 19 |
26th | 7 | |||
1994 | Dick Simon Racing | Lola T94/00 | Ford XB V8t | SRF 15 |
PHX 27 |
LBH DNQ |
INDY 14 |
MIL 23 |
DET DNQ |
POR 21 |
CLE 15 |
TOR 18 |
MIS 6 |
MDO 18 |
NHM 17 |
VAN DNQ |
ROA 14 |
NZR 16 |
LS 23 |
26th | 8 | |||
1995 | Arciero-Wells Racing | Reynard 94i | Ford XB V8t | MIA 26 |
SRF 11 |
PHX 22 |
LBH 19 |
NZR DNS |
28th | 5 | ||||||||||||||
Reynard 95i | INDY 10 |
MIL 19 |
DET 14 |
POR 17 |
ROA 13 |
TOR 19 |
CLE 13 |
MIS 20 |
MDO 15 |
NHM 22 |
VAN 17 |
LS 22 |
||||||||||||
1996 | Payton/Coyne Racing | Lola T96/00 | Ford XB V8t | MIA 18 |
RIO 24 |
SRF 10 |
LBH 28 |
NZR 26 |
500 14 |
MIL 28 |
DET 19 |
POR 21 |
CLE 17 |
TOR 27 |
MIS 15 |
MDO 19 |
ROA 15 |
VAN 15 |
LS 23 |
28th | 3 | |||
1997 | Arciero-Wells Racing | Reynard 97i | Toyota RV8A V8t Toyota RV8B V8t |
MIA 21 |
SRF 25 |
LBH 20 |
NZR 25 |
RIO 23 |
STL 15 |
MIL 17 |
DET 19 |
POR 15 |
CLE 20 |
TOR 22 |
MIS 9 |
MDO 19 |
ROA 24 |
VAN 14 |
LS 28 |
FON 23 |
27th | 4 | ||
1998 | Arciero-Wells Racing | Reynard 98i | Toyota RV8C V8t | MIA 23 |
MOT 16 |
LBH 19 |
NZR | RIO 15 |
STL | MIL | DET | POR | CLE | TOR | MIS | MDO | ROA | VAN | LS | HOU | SRF | FON | 30th | 0 |
Lady Wigram Trophy results[]
Year | Team | Car | race | Laps | Pos. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1989 | ![]() |
Swift Cosworth | 1 | 8 | 1 |
Toyota Atlantic Championship (pacific) results[]
Year | Team | Points | Car | races | wins | podiums | pole positions | Pos. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1989 | ![]() |
141 | Swift DB4 | 9 | 4 | 8 | 3 | 1 |
24 Hours of Le Mans results[]
Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1999 | ![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() |
BMW V12 LM | LMP | 223 | DNF | DNF |
Personal life[]
Away from the track, Matsushita owns Swift Engineering, an American engineering firm used to known for producing racing cars for a variety of open-wheel racing series, including Formula Ford, Formula Atlantic, the Champ Car World Series and Formula Nippon. He bought Swift in 1991.[8]
In 2018 Swift Engineering[9] joint ventured with Kobe Institute of Computing called ,[10] located in Kobe, Japan.[11] providing data, logistics, and operations of autonomous and robotic technologies.[12]
Matsushita resides in San Clemente, California.[13]
Awards[]
In 1998, Nov 2, Hiro Matsushita was awarded Champion Culbs during the CART Year End Banquet at the Century Plaza in Los Angeles, California.
Matsushita family tree[]
Matsushita Uemon | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Yasuda Koichiro | Tokue Matsushita | Masakusu Matsushita | Hirata Tosuke | Maeda Toshiaki (前田利昭 | Mitsui Takamine10th head of the Mitsui family | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tetsujiro Nakao | Yasue | Jun Iue | Yurou Iue | Toshio Iue | Mumeno | Konosuke Matsushita | Hirata Shodo | Shizuko | Maeda Toshisada | Keiko | Mitsui Takakimi11th head of the Mitsui family | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Satoshi Iue | Matsushita Sachiko | Masaharu Matsushita | Hirata Katsumi | Nobuko | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Iue Toshimasa | Hiro Matsushita | (松下正幸 | Atsuko | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
8. Hirata Tosuke, Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan | |||||||||||||||
4. Hirata Shodo | |||||||||||||||
9. | |||||||||||||||
2. Masaharu Matsushita- 2nd President of Panasonic | |||||||||||||||
10. Maeda Toshiaki 前田利昭, 12th owner of Kōzuke Province Nanokaichi Domain | |||||||||||||||
5. | |||||||||||||||
1. Hiro Matsushita | |||||||||||||||
12. Masakusu Matsushita | |||||||||||||||
6. Konosuke Matsushita- Founder of Panasonic | |||||||||||||||
13. Tokue Matsushita | |||||||||||||||
3. | |||||||||||||||
7. | |||||||||||||||
See also[]
- Konosuke Matsushita
- Panasonic
- Masaharu Matsushita
- Swift Engineering
References[]
- ^ "Hiro Matsushita". DriverDatabase.
- ^ "Canterbury Car Club (Organiser)".
- ^ "Hiroyuki Matsushita". historicracing.com. Retrieved September 7, 2021.
- ^ "JAPANESE FIND HIRO AT INDY LIKE MOST 500 ROOKIES, HE KEEPS A LOW PROFILE". sun-sentinel. Retrieved September 7, 2021.
- ^ Oreovicz, John (August 22, 2001). "Tora Finding His Form". ChampCarWorldSeries.com. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved July 24, 2007.
- ^ "Motor Sports Dictionary – K". Dictionary of Gambling. Retrieved July 24, 2007.
- ^ "The story of King Hiro".
- ^ "HIRO AT LARGE". LA Times.
- ^ "The Minister of ICT and Innovation of Rwanda Ms. Paula Ingabire meets the Chairman & CEO – Hiro Matsushita". Swift Xi.
- ^ "Swift020 flew over Kobe for the first time". Japan CNET.
- ^ "安全性も性能も 一歩先行く兵庫県と神戸市の「ドローン導入」" (in Japanese). Forbes Japan.
- ^ "VTOL型固定翼ドローンSwift021、遭難者捜索実験などの実証実験を実施" (in Japanese). TECHABLE.
- ^ "OCs-Wealthiest".
External links[]
- DriverDatabase(in English)
- MOTORSPORT STATS(in English)
- NASCAR(in English)
- RacingSportsCars(in English)
- Hiro Matsushita on Twitter
- Hiro Matsushita at IMDb
- Hiro Matsushita on Facebook
![]() |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hiro Matsushita. |
- 1961 births
- Japanese racing drivers
- Living people
- Champ Car drivers
- Indianapolis 500 drivers
- Indy Lights drivers
- Atlantic Championship drivers
- Panasonic
- Sportspeople from Kobe
- 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
- Japanese IndyCar Series drivers
- Japanese businesspeople