Hiro Matsushita

Hiroyuki "Hiro" Matsushita (ヒロ松下, Matsushita Hiro, full Kanji:松下弘幸) is a former driver in the Champ Car, Formula Atlantic series who won the Toyota Atlantic Championship (Pacific) in 1989 as the first and only Japanese. He is also the first Japanese driver to race at the Indianapolis 500 (Indy 500).[3] 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.

Hiro Matsushita
NationalityJapanese
Born (1961-03-14) March 14, 1961[1]
Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture
Retired2001
Related toKonosuke Matsushita(Grandfather)
Hirata Tosuke(Great-Grandfather)
Maeda Toshisada(Great-uncle)
CART, Championship Car, Indy Car, American Racing Series, Champ Car Atlantic Series, Lady Wigram Trophy
Years active1989–2001
TeamsDick Simon Racing
Paragon Racing
Walker Racing
Arciero-Wells Racing
Payton/Coyne Racing
Starts158
Wins6
Podiums5
Poles0
Fastest laps0
Championship titles
1989Champ Car Atlantic Series
Lady Wigram Trophy[2]
Awards
1998Champions Club

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.

CART Champ Car
Hiro Matsushita in 1991

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 full speed. He emerged from his destroyed car unscathed. 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

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 V8 t 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 V8 t 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 V6 t INDY
16
Chevrolet 265A V8 t LS
20
1992 Dick Simon Racing Lola T92/00 Chevrolet 265A V8 t 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 V8 t 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 V8 t 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 V8 t 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 V8 t 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 V8 t
Toyota RV8B V8 t		 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 V8 t 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 Team Panasonic Swift Cosworth 1 8 1

Toyota Atlantic Championship (pacific) results
Year Team Points Car races wins podiums pole positions Pos.
1989 Panasonic Racing 141 Swift DB4 9 4 8 3 1[8]

24 Hours of Le Mans results
Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
1999 Team Goh
David Price Racing		 Hiroki Katoh
Akihiko Nakaya		 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.[9]

Hiro Matsushita
Hiro Matsushita, the chairman & CEO of Swift Engineering
Born
Hiroyuki Matsushita

(1961-03-14) 14 March 1961
Nishinomiya, Japan
Alma materKonan University
OccupationBusinessman, business executive
Height5' 9" (1.75 m)
Title
Spouse(s)Mitsuko Matsushita
Children1
RelativesKonosuke Matsushita (Grandfather)
Hirata Tosuke（Great-Grandfather
Hirata Shodo (Grandfather)
Masaharu Matsushita(Father)
Masayuki Matsushita (Older brother)
Hirata Noboru (Great-uncle)
Toshio Iue (Great-uncle)
Signature

In 2018 Swift Engineering[10] joint ventured with Kobe Institute of Computing called Swift Xi,[11] located in Kobe, Japan.[12] providing data, logistics, and operations of autonomous and robotic technologies.[13][14]

Matsushita resides in San Clemente, California.[15]

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 KoichiroTokue MatsushitaMasakusu MatsushitaHirata TosukeMaeda Toshiaki
(前田利昭		Mitsui Takamine10th head of the Mitsui family
Tetsujiro NakaoYasueJun IueYurou IueToshio IueMumenoKonosuke MatsushitaHirata ShodoShizukoMaeda ToshisadaKeikoMitsui Takakimi11th head of the Mitsui family
Satoshi IueMatsushita SachikoMasaharu MatsushitaHirata KatsumiNobuko
Iue ToshimasaHiro MatsushitaMasayuki Matsushita
(松下正幸		Atsuko


8. Hirata Tosuke, Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan
4. Hirata Shodo
9. Hirata Keiko
2. Masaharu Matsushita- 2nd President of Panasonic
10. Maeda Toshiaki
前田利昭, 12th owner of Kōzuke Province Nanokaichi Domain
5. Shizuko Hirata
1. Hiro Matsushita
12. Masakusu Matsushita
6. Konosuke Matsushita- Founder of Panasonic
13. Tokue Matsushita
3. Matsushita Sachiko
7. Mumeno Iue

See also

References
  2. Canterbury Car Club (Organiser)
  3. https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2020-05-26/this-day-in-sports-pirates-harvey-haddixs-perfect-game-ruined-in-13th-inning/ Hiro Matsushita
  4. http://open-wheels.com/indycar-flashback-1991-indianapolis-500/ IndyCar Flashback: 1991 Indianapolis 500
  5. Oreovicz, John (August 22, 2001). "Tora Finding His Form". ChampCarWorldSeries.com. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved July 24, 2007.
  6. "Motor Sports Dictionary – K". Dictionary of Gambling. Retrieved July 24, 2007.
  7. https://racer.com/2020/05/13/retro-the-story-of-king-hiro/ The story of King Hiro
  8. https://www.driverdb.com/drivers/hiro-matsushita/ Hiro Matsushita-Driver Database
  9. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-sep-24-sp-35775-story.html/ HIRO AT LARGE
  10. http://www.swift-xi.com/news/transform-africa-summit.html/ The Minister of ICT and Innovation of Rwanda Ms. Paula Ingabire meets the Chairman & CEO – Hiro Matsushita
  11. https://japan.cnet.com/article/35122856/ Swift020 flew over Kobe for the first time
  12. Forbes Japan
  13. http://swift-xi.com/index.html
  14. https://techable.jp/archives/119009/ スウィフト・エックスアイの代表取締役会長兼CEOである松下弘幸氏は、「Swift021は米国の電波出力であれば、半径50km以上でライブビデオによる捜索が可能であるが、日本の電波出力では数kmしか電波が届かないために、せっかくの021の航続距離をいかした効率的な運用ができない。緊急時だけでも特別な許可が必要である。」という課題に言及。
  15. https://ocbj.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/static/ocbj/supplements/OCs-Wealthiest-2017.pdf/ OCs-Wealthiest
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Dean Hall		 North American Formula Atlantic
Pacific Division Champion
1989		 Succeeded by
Mark Dismore
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