, is a former driver in the Champ Car

Champ Car

Champ Car was the name for a class and specification of open wheel cars used in American Championship Car Racing for many decades, primarily for use in the Indianapolis 500 auto race...

 series. He is the grandson of Konosuke Matsushita

Konosuke Matsushita

was a Japanese industrialist, the founder of Panasonic, a company based in the suburb of Kadoma , Osaka in Japan. For many Japanese, he is known as "the god of management"...

, founder of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.

, formerly known as , is a Japanese multinational consumer electronics corporation headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Japan. Its main business is in electronics manufacturing....

. The family relationship has allowed him to receive financial backing from Panasonic throughout his 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 backing, he then moved to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and entered his first Formula Ford

Formula Ford

Formula Ford is a single seater, open wheel class in motorsport which exists in some form in many countries around the world. It is an entry-level series to motor racing....

 race in 1986. He came second at the 24 Hours of Daytona

24 Hours of Daytona

The 24 Hours of Daytona, currently known as the Rolex 24 Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on a combined road course, utilizing portions of the NASCAR tri-oval and an infield...

 and third at the Sebring 12 Hours in 1988. Matsushita began to make his name known by winning the 1989 Toyota Atlantic

Champ Car Atlantic Championship

The Cooper Tires presents the Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda was a formula race car series with races throughout North America. It is often colloquially referred to as the Atlantic Championship, Champ Car Atlantics , Toyota Atlantics , or just Atlantics or Formula...

 championship (Pacific division) with the largest point margin of all time.

CART Champ Car

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

Indianapolis 500

The Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, also known as the Indianapolis 500, the 500 Miles at Indianapolis, the Indy 500 or The 500, is an American automobile race, held annually, typically on the last weekend in May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana...

 in 1991

1991 Indianapolis 500

The 75th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, May 26, 1991. Rick Mears won from the pole position, becoming the third four-time winner of the Indy 500, joining A. J. Foyt and Al Unser....

, and followed that achievement with a top ten finish at Milwaukee

Milwaukee Mile

The Milwaukee Mile is a -long oval race track in West Allis, Wisconsin that seats about 40,000 spectators. It operated as a dirt track until 1953. The track was paved in 1954....

.

At the Phoenix

Phoenix International Raceway

Phoenix International Raceway, also known as PIR, is a one-mile, low-banked tri-oval race track located in Avondale, Arizona. The track opened in 1964 and currently hosts two NASCAR race weekends annually. PIR has also hosted the Indycar Series, CART, USAC and the Rolex Sports Car Series...

 race in 1994, Matsushita endured a horrific crash in which his car was cut in half by Jacques Villeneuve

Jacques Villeneuve

Jacques Joseph Charles Villeneuve, , is a Canadian musician and automobile racing driver. He is the son of the late Formula One driver Gilles Villeneuve, and is the namesake of his uncle...

's car travelling at full speed. Miraculously, 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

Michigan International Speedway

Michigan International Speedway is a two-mile moderate-banked D-shaped superspeedway located off U.S. Highway 12 on more than in Brooklyn, in the scenic Irish Hills area of southeastern Michigan. The track is used primarily for NASCAR events. It is sometimes known as a "sister track" to Texas...

.

By the time he retired in 1998, Matsushita had started 117 Champ Car races for Dick Simon Racing

Dick Simon Racing

Dick Simon Racing was a race team owned by racer Dick Simon that competed in the CART Championship Car series from 1983 to 1995 and the Indy Racing League from 1999 to 2001.-CART:...

, Walker Racing

Walker Racing

Walker Racing is a racing team founded by Derrick Walker in 1991 racing originally in the CART Championship Car series. Presently the team competes in the Firestone Indy Lights series.-Early success:...

, Arciero/Wells Racing and Payton/Coyne

Dale Coyne Racing

Dale Coyne Racing is a motorsports team in the IndyCar Series owned by former driver Dale Coyne. It was founded in 1986 with Chicago Bears great Walter Payton as Payton/Coyne Racing. The team fields the No. 18 Acorn Stairlifts and No...

. He holds the record for most starts in American Championship Car Racing

American Championship Car Racing

Since 1916 there has been a recognized United States national automobile racing National Championship for drivers of professional-level, single-seat open wheel race cars. The championship has been under the auspices of several different sanctioning bodies since 1909. Since 1911, the Indianapolis...

 history without scoring a Top 5.

In 2001, Matsushita competed in the Baja 1000

Baja 1000

SCORE Baja 1000 is an off-road race that takes place on Mexico's Baja California Peninsula in November. The Baja 1000 is part of the SCORE Championship Desert Racing Series that include the Baja 500, San Felipe 250 and the new San Felipe Challenge of Champions in place of the Primm 300 which had...

 off road race in a Mitsubishi Montero.

Personal life

Away from the track, Hiro owns Swift Engineering

Swift Engineering

Swift Engineering is an American engineering firm, most notable for producing racing cars for a variety of open-wheel racing series, including Champ Car World Series, Formula Atlantic, and Formula Nippon.-History:...

, an aerospace firm and race car constructor which he bought in 1991. He also owns Pacific Marketing, which oversees sponsorship arrangements for Panasonic. Matsushita resides in San Clemente, California

San Clemente, California

San Clemente is a city in Orange County, California. The population was 63,522 at the 2010 census. Located on the California Coast, midway between Los Angeles and San Diego at the southern tip of the county, it is known for its ocean, hill, and mountain views, a pleasant climate and its Spanish...

.

Nickname

Matsushita earned the nickname "King Hiro" from Emerson Fittipaldi

Emerson Fittipaldi

Emerson Fittipaldi |São Paulo]], Brazil) is a Brazilian automobile racing driver who throughout a long and successful career won the Indianapolis 500 twice and championships in both Formula One and CART.-Early and personal life:...

, who was complaining about Hiro's reluctance to cede track position when getting lapped by the leaders. The nickname came about as a result of the voice-activated microphone ("vox") Roger Penske's team was using. Emerson'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!"

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	MWL 12	TOR 6	POC	MDO	ROA	NAZ 8	LAG	18th	14

CART

Year	Team	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 Dick Simon Racing Dick Simon Racing was a race team owned by racer Dick Simon that competed in the CART Championship Car series from 1983 to 1995 and the Indy Racing League from 1999 to 2001.-CART:...	PHX	LBH 19	INDY 1990 Indianapolis 500 The 74th Indianapolis 500 was held at Indianapolis on Sunday, May 27, 1990. Arie Luyendyk took the lead with 32 laps to go, and earned his first-ever victory in championship-level competition... DNQ	MIL	DET Ret	POR 12	CLE	MEA Ret	TOR	MIS	DEN 15	VAN Ret	MDO 17	ROA Ret	NZR Ret	LS Ret				31st	1
1991	Dick Simon Racing Dick Simon Racing Dick Simon Racing was a race team owned by racer Dick Simon that competed in the CART Championship Car series from 1983 to 1995 and the Indy Racing League from 1999 to 2001.-CART:...	SRF 1991 Gold Coast IndyCar Grand Prix The 1991 Gold Coast IndyCar Grand Prix was the opening round of the 1991 IndyCar season, held on 17 March 1991 on the Streets of Surfers Paradise, Australia.-Qualifying results:- Race :-External links:... Ret	LBH 13	PHX 14	INDY 1991 Indianapolis 500 The 75th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, May 26, 1991. Rick Mears won from the pole position, becoming the third four-time winner of the Indy 500, joining A. J. Foyt and Al Unser.... 16	MIL 10	DET 14	POR 14	CLE 14	MEA 12	TOR Ret	MIS Ret	DEN 14	VAN 16	MDO 14	ROA 12	NZR 12	LS 20			23rd	6
1992 1992 CART World Series season The 1992 IndyCar season, the fourteenth in the CART era of U.S. open-wheel racing, consisted of 17 races, beginning in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia on March 22 and concluding in Monterey, California on October 18, in which it was marred by the death of Jovy Marcelo. There was one...	Dick Simon Racing Dick Simon Racing Dick Simon Racing was a race team owned by racer Dick Simon that competed in the CART Championship Car series from 1983 to 1995 and the Indy Racing League from 1999 to 2001.-CART:...	SRF DNS	PHX 16	LBH 10	INDY 1992 Indianapolis 500 The 76th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, May 24, 1992. The race is famous for the fierce battle in the closing laps, as race winner Al Unser, Jr... DNS	DET	POR	MIL	NHM	TOR	MIS	CLE Ret	ROA 14	VAN 13	MDO Ret	NZR 14	LS 15				27th	3
1993 1993 CART World Series season The 1993 IndyCar season, the fifteenth in the CART era of U.S. open-wheel racing, consisted of 16 races, beginning in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia on March 21 and concluding in Monterey, California on October 3. The PPG Indy Car World Series Drivers' Champion and Rookie of the Year was...	Walker Racing Walker Racing Walker Racing is a racing team founded by Derrick Walker in 1991 racing originally in the CART Championship Car series. Presently the team competes in the Firestone Indy Lights series.-Early success:...	SRF 1993 Australian FAI IndyCar Grand Prix The 1993 Australian FAI IndyCar Grand Prix was the opening round of the 1993 CART World Series season, held on 21 March 1993 on the Streets of Surfers Paradise, Australia. The race was won by series débutant Nigel Mansell, the first person to win his first race in the series.-Qualifying results:-... 11	PHX 10	LBH 14	INDY 1993 Indianapolis 500 The 77th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, May 30, 1993. Emerson Fittipaldi took the lead with 16 laps to go, and won his second career Indy 500 victory... 18	MIL 13	DET 13	POR Ret	CLE 12	TOR 16	MIS 14	NHM 13	ROA 13	VAN 12	MDO 13	NZR 21	LS 19				26th	7
1994	Dick Simon Racing Dick Simon Racing Dick Simon Racing was a race team owned by racer Dick Simon that competed in the CART Championship Car series from 1983 to 1995 and the Indy Racing League from 1999 to 2001.-CART:...	SRF 1994 Australian FAI Indycar Grand Prix The 1994 Australian FAI Indycar Grand Prix was the opening round of the 1994 CART World Series season, held on 20 March 1994 on the streets of Surfers Paradise, Australia.... 15	PHX Ret	LBH DNQ	INDY 1994 Indianapolis 500 The 78th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, May 29, 1994. Al Unser, Jr. won from the pole position, his second Indy 500 victory. Much to the surprise of competitors, media, and fans, Marlboro Team Penske arrived at the Speedway with a brand new, secretly-built... 14	MIL 23	DET DNQ	POR 21	CLE 15	TOR 18	MIS 6	MDO 18	NHM Ret	VAN DNQ	ROA 14	NZR 16	LS Ret				26th	8
1995	Arciero-Wells Racing	MIA Ret	SRF 1995 Indycar Australia The 1995 Indycar Australia was the second round of the 1995 CART World Series season, held on 19 March 1995 on the streets of Surfers Paradise, Surfers Paradise, Australia.-Qualifying results:- Race :- Notes :* Average Speed 92.335 mph... 11	PHX Ret	LBH 19	NZR DNS	INDY 1995 Indianapolis 500 The 79th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, May 28, 1995. Sanctioned by USAC, it was part of the 1995 CART Indycar season. Jacques Villenueve won in his second start. After dominating the 1994 race and the 1994 IndyCar season, Marlboro Team Penske failed to... 10	MIL 19	DET 14	POR 17	ROA 13	TOR Ret	CLE 13	MIS Ret	MDO 15	NHM 22	VAN 17	LS 22			28th	5
1996	Payton/Coyne Racing Dale Coyne Racing Dale Coyne Racing is a motorsports team in the IndyCar Series owned by former driver Dale Coyne. It was founded in 1986 with Chicago Bears great Walter Payton as Payton/Coyne Racing. The team fields the No. 18 Acorn Stairlifts and No...	MIA 1996 Grand Prix of Miami The 1996 Toyota Grand Prix of Miami was a CART race at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. It was the first round of the 1996 IndyCar season, and occurred on March 3, 1996.-Race:... 18	RIO 1996 IndyCar Rio 400 The 1996 Rio 400 was a CART race which happened at the Emerson Fittipaldi Speedway. It happened on March 17, 1996. It was the 2nd round of the 1996 IndyCar season.-Starting grid:# Alex Zanardi# Jimmy Vasser# André Ribeiro# Greg Moore# Parker Johnstone... Ret	SRF 1996 Bartercard Indycar Australia The 1996 Bartercard Indycar Australia was the third round of the 1996 CART World Series season, held on 31 March 1996 on the streets of Surfers Paradise, Surfers Paradise, Australia.-Qualifying results:- Race :-External links:*... 10	LBH 1996 Grand Prix of Long Beach The 1996 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach was the 4th round of the 1996 IndyCar season. It happened on April 14, 1996 on the streets of Long Beach, California.-Lap 4-Lap 39:... Ret	NZR 1996 Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix The 1996 Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix was a CART race which happened at the Nazareth Speedway on April 28, 1996. It was the 5th round of the 1996 IndyCar season.-Qualifying:Penske Racing driver Paul Tracy set the a mph speed of 190.737 mph, and also, the pole... Ret	500 1996 U.S. 500 The 1996 U.S. 500 was a CART race which happened at the Michigan International Speedway. It happened on May 26, 1996. It was the 6th round of the 1996 IndyCar season, and ran on the same day as the 1996 Indianapolis 500, which was the premier event on the 1996 Indy Racing League calendar.On... 14	MIL 1996 Miller Genuine Draft 200 The 1996 Miller Genuine Draft 200 was a CART race which happened at the Milwaukee Mile. It happened on June 2, 1996. It was the 7th round of the 1996 IndyCar season.-Lap 1:At the start of the race, Parker Johnstone spun at turn 2... Ret	DET 1996 Detroit Grand Prix The 1996 ITT Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit was a CART race which happened at the Belle Isle Park. It happened on June 9, 1996. It was the 8th round of the 1996 IndyCar season.-Lap 4:... 19	POR Ret	CLE 17	TOR Ret	MIS 15	MDO Ret	ROA Ret	VAN 15	LS Ret				28th	3
1997 1997 CART World Series season The 1997 CART season, the nineteenth in the CART era of U.S. open-wheel racing, consisted of 17 races, beginning in Homestead, Florida on March 2 and concluding in Fontana, California on September 28. The PPG CART World Series Drivers' Champion was Alex Zanardi. Rookie of the Year was Patrick...	Arciero-Wells Racing	MIA Ret	SRF 1997 Sunbelt IndyCarnival The 1997 Sunbelt IndyCarnival was the second round of the 1997 CART World Series Season, held on 6 April 1997 on the Streets of Surfers Paradise, Surfers Paradise, Australia.-Qualifying results:- Race :-External links:*... Ret	LBH 20	NZR Ret	RIO Ret	STL 15	MIL 17	DET 19	POR 15	CLE 20	TOR 22	MIS 9	MDO 19	ROA Ret	VAN 1997 Molson Indy Vancouver The 1997 Molson Indy Vancouver was the 15th round of the 1997 CART season. At that time, the Italian driver Alex Zanardi was the leader of the standings with 39 points in front of the French-Brazilian driver Gil de Ferran.-Starting Grid:... 14	LS Ret	FON 1997 Marlboro 500 The 1997 Marlboro 500 was the 17th and last round of the 1997 CART season. It happened on September 28, 1997 at the then brand-new California Speedway.-Qualifying:... Ret			27th	4
1998 1998 CART World Series Season The 1998 CART season, the twentieth in the CART era of U.S. open-wheel racing, consisted of 19 races, beginning in Homestead, Florida on March 15 and concluding in Fontana, California on November 1. The FedEx Championship Series Drivers' Champion was Alex Zanardi. Rookie of the Year was Tony...	Arciero-Wells Racing	MIA 1998 Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami The 1998 Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami was a CART race which happened at the Homestead Motorsports Complex. It happened on March 15, 1998. It was the 1st round of the 1998 CART season.-Starting grid:... Ret	MOT 1998 Budweiser 500 The 1998 Budweiser 500K was a CART race which happened at the Twin Ring Motegi. It happened on March 28, 1998. It was the 2nd round of the 1998 CART season.-Starting grid:# Jimmy Vasser# Adrian Fernandez# Gil de Ferran# Alex Zanardi# Greg Moore... 16	LBH 19	NZR	RIO 1998 Rio 400 The 1998 Rio 400 was the fifth round of the 1998 CART World Series Season, held on May 10, 1998 on the Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.-Qualifying:The Scottish driver Dario Franchitti, from Team Green set the pole.-Race:... 15	STL	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR 1998 Molson Indy Toronto The 1998 Molson Indy Toronto was the eleventh round of the 1998 CART FedEx Champ Car World Series season, held on July 19, 1998 on the streets of Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.-Starting Grid:...	MIS	MDO	ROA	VAN	LS	HOU	SRF 1998 Honda Indy 300 The 1998 Honda Indy 300 was the eighteenth and penultimate round of the 1998 CART World Series Season, held on 18 October 1998 on the streets of Surfers Paradise, Surfers Paradise, Australia.-Qualifying results:- Race :-External links:*...	FON 1998 Marlboro 500 Presented by Toyota The 1998 Marlboro 500 presented by Toyota was the 19th and final round of the 1998 CART FedEx Championship Series season. The race was held November 1, 1998, and was the 2nd running of the Marlboro 500 at California Speedway.-Qualifying results:- Race :...	30th	0

External links

• Profile Page
• A biography