21 Facts About Hiro Matsushita

Hiroyuki Matsushita, known by Hiro Matsushita, is a Japanese businessman and former racing driver.

Hiro Matsushita is the grandson of Konosuke Matsushita, the founder of Panasonic.

In 1989, Matsushita won the Toyota Atlantic Championship, becoming the first and only Japanese driver to do so.

Hiro Matsushita was the first Japanese driver to race in the Indy 500.

Hiro Matsushita was born in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture as the youngest son of Masaharu Hiro Matsushita, who was the second president of Panasonic for sixteen years from 1961.

Hiro Matsushita instead worked his way up from the bottom, starting his career racing motorcycles in his home country between 1977 and 1980, before switching to four wheels.

Hiro Matsushita retired from Motocross racing by becoming Champion in Kansai region in 1980 at the age of 19.

In 1987, Hiro Matsushita started racing Formula Fords - the Class A of auto racing - In the following year, he teamed up with Jim Downing in a Camel Lights car and secured a second-place finish in class at the 24 Hours of Daytona and a third-place finish at the 12 Hours of Sebring.

In 1989, Hiro Matsushita fearlessly entered the Formula Atlantic series and, by the end of that year, he had claimed four victories and the Toyota Atlantic championship with the largest point margin of all time.

Hiro Matsushita then tried Formula Pacific in New Zealand and became the first Japanese driver to win the prestigious Lady Wigram Trophy Race.

Hiro Matsushita graduated to Champ Car in 1990, scoring one point in his debut season.

Hiro Matsushita became the first Japanese driver to race in the Indianapolis 500.

Hiro Matsushita missed the 1992 Indy 500 after suffering a broken leg during a practice crash.

Hiro Matsushita was sidelined for several weeks and missed the next six events.

At the Phoenix race in 1994, Hiro Matsushita endured a horrific crash in which his car was cut in half by Jacques Villeneuve's car travelling at nearly full speed.

Hiro Matsushita emerged from his destroyed car with only minor injuries.

Hiro Matsushita was 11 laps behind the leader at the drop of the checkered flag.

Hiro Matsushita holds the record for most starts in American Championship Car Racing history without scoring a Top 5.

In 2001, Hiro Matsushita competed in the Baja 1000 off-road race, in a Mitsubishi Montero.

In 1998, Nov 2, Hiro Matsushita was awarded Champion Culbs during the CART Year End Banquet at the Century Plaza in Los Angeles, California.

Hiro Matsushita has a son called Takayuki Matsushita who is a lawyer resides in the USA.