Hiro Matsushita
| Hiro Matsushita | |
|---|---|
| Nationality |
 Japan
|
| Born |
March 14, 1961 Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture |
| Retired | 2001 |
| CART Championship Car | |
| Years active | 1990-1998 |
| Teams |
Dick Simon Racing Paragon Racing Walker Racing Arciero-Wells Racing Payton/Coyne Racing |
| Starts | 117 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Poles | 0 |
| Best finish | 23rd in 1991 |
| Previous series | |
| 1989 1989 1986 |
American Racing Series North American Formula Atlantic (West) United States Formula Ford |
| Championship titles | |
| 1989 | North American Formula Atlantic West Division champion |
Hiroyuki "Hiro" Matsushita (ヒロ松下 Hiro Matsushita?, born March 14, 1961, Kobe, Japan) (full Kanji:松下弘幸), is a former driver in the Champ Car series. He is the grandson of Konosuke Matsushita, founder of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.. The family relationship has allowed him to receive financial backing from Panasonic throughout his racing career.
Matsushita started his career racing motorcycles in his home country between 1977 and 1979, before making the switch to four wheels. With Panasonic backing, he then moved to the United States and entered his first Formula Ford race in 1986. He came 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 the 1989 Toyota Atlantic championship (Pacific division) with the largest point margin of all time.
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 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.
...
Wikipedia