Nissan’s competition roots go back almost as far as the company
itself. Since a 1937 win at Japan’s Tamagawa Speedway, Nissan has
set records, won championships, and made history around the
globe. Here are just some of the company’s motorsports milestones.
1937: A team backed by the Nissan
Motor Co., Ltd., recorded a race win at
Tamagawa Speedway. Nissan was formed
only three years earlier.
1962: Datsun 1500 driver Paul Jaremko
gave Nissan their first SCCA race win.
1964: Nissan first advertised the
development of factory competition parts
for the American market.
1964: Bob Sharp and Tommy Allen
both drove Datsun roadsters at the
SCCA’s first American Road Race of
Champions. (Both would score DNFs.)
1964: The Prince Skyline GT made its
competition debut at the Second Japan
Grand Prix at Suzuka. A Porsche 904
Carrera GTS took the overall win, but
the Skyline sedans swept second through
sixth place.
1966: Just before it became part of
Nissan, the Prince Motor Co. unveiled
its R380 prototype racer. Yoshikazu
Sunako drove one to that year’s Japan
Grand Prix championship.
1966: A Datsun Bluebird 1300SS
finished first in the East African Safari.
1967: Brock Racing Enterprises, then
a brand-new race team, entered a Datsun
pickup in the very first Baja 1000. They
finished the race.
1967: Bob Sharp claimed Nissan’s
first SCCA Club Racing championship,
winning the F Production race in a
1600 roadster.
1967: Datsun officially set up a U.S.
competition department.
1968: World Champion Bob Bondurant
opened his driving school. His initial fleet
featured a Lola Can-Am racer, a Formula
Vee single-seater and three Datsuns.
1968: Frank Monise claimed the
SCCA’s D Production Pacific Coast
championship in a Datsun 2000 prepared
by Brock Racing Enterprises.
1968: The Can-Am-like Nissan R381
won the Japan Grand Prix while also
claiming five of the top six positions.
1969: The Nissan R382, an evolution of
the R381, held off a Porsche 917 to finish
first and second at the Japan Grand Prix.
1969: John Morton put his Brock
Racing Enterprises Datsun 2000 on
the D Production pole at the SCCA
American Road Race of Champions.
1969: The Nissan Skyline GT-R won
in its competition debut, the JAF Grand
Prix at Fuji Speedway.
1970: The Z-car won its first race,
with a Fairlady 432Z winning Suzuka’s
1000-kilometer contest.
1970: Red Farmer won an IMSA RS
race in a Datsun 510, giving the brand
their first win in that series.
1970-’71: John Morton won back-to-back
SCCA C Production titles in the
Brock Racing Enterprises Datsun 240Z.
1971: Before becoming a
professional driver, Gene Felton
put his ex-Brock Racing Enterprises
Datsun roadster on the D Production
pole at the SCCA Runoffs.
1971-’72: John Morton drove the
Brock Racing Enterprises Datsun 510 to
back-to-back SCCA Trans-Am titles.
1971-’79: Datsun drivers claimed eight
of nine SCCA B Sedan titles thanks to
Bob Sharp, Dave Frellsen, Elliott Forbes-
Robinson and Bill Coykendall.
1972: Nissan celebrated the Skyline
GT-R’s 50th win as Kunimitsu
Takahashi finished first at the Fuji
300km Speed Race.
1972: Bob McQueen held off the factory
Triumph GT6 entries to win the SCCA
D Production championship at Road
Atlanta in his ex-Brock Racing Enterprises
Datsun 2000 roadster. Jack Scoville and
Jim Fitzgerald gave Datsun the class
championships going back to 1969.
1972-’79: Datsun Z-car drivers
Bob Sharp, Walt Maas, Elliott Forbes-
Robinson, Logan Blackburn, Frank Leary
and Paul Newman captured the SCCA
C Production titles at Road Atlanta.
1973: Legendary actor Paul Newman
made his SCCA Runoffs debut, finishing
ninth in a Datsun 510 that was wrecked
and rebuilt just days before the race.
1973-’79: Don Devendorf, Damon
Pleasant and Dick Davenport gave
Datsun seven consecutive SCCA C Sedan
national titles. Devendorf won the 1973
championship in a Datsun 1200; after
that, the B210 became the dominant car.
1974-’76: Datsun Z-car drivers Walt
Maas, Bob Sharp and Brad Frisselle won three
consecutive IMSA GTU driver championships.
1976: A group of Datsun employees
established a new F/GT land speed record
at Bonneville in a 240Z. That record
would stand until 1985.
1979: Paul Newman won his first of four
SCCA Club Racing national titles, taking
the C Production win in a Datsun 280ZX.
1980: Haruhito Yanagida won his first
Japan’s Super Silhouette championship in
a Nissan Bluebird. He’d drive the car to
another title in 1982.
1983: Masao Kamioka and Yoshimasa
Nakahara drove a Nissan 300ZX to the
All Japan Rally Championship series.
1984: The first issue of Auto-X
magazine, predecessor to today’s
Grassroots Motorsports, hit the stands. On
the cover: a Datsun 240Z.
1984: Jim Fitzgerald won the SCCA
GT1 title in a Nissan 300ZX Turbo.
His 350-plus wins would make him
the SCCA’s winningest driver.
1987: Elliott Harvey took the SCCA
C Street Prepared autocross national
championship in a Datsun 2000. Elliott
and his brother Bill would eventually
add eight more SCCA national titles to
the tally.
1988-’91: Geoff Brabham claimed
four straight IMSA GTP driver
championships for Nissan in the GTP
ZX-T, RC90C, NPT30 and NPT91.
1989: Bob Leitzinger drove a Nissan
240SX to the IMSA GTU drivers
championship. His team would win four
championships through 1994.
1990: The Nissan R90CK Group C
prototype racer sat on the pole for 24
Hours of Le Mans.
1990-’93: The R32-chassis Nissan
Skyline GT-R won every single Japanese
Touring Car Championship contest.
1992: The Nissan R91CP won the
Rolex 24 At Daytona.
1992: Nissan 300ZX driver Steve
Millen captured his first IMSA GTO title.
1992-’96: Mark Youngquist and David
Daughtery claimed five consecutive
SCCA Showroom Stock B national
championships with the Nissan Sentra
SE-R, NX2000 and 240SX.
1994: The Nissan 300ZX won at
Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans. The
driver roster included Steve Millen, John
Morton and Johnny O’Connell.
1995: When the Atlanta Region
SCCA brought back the ARRC moniker
as a Road Atlanta championship race
for regional-level classes, Datsun 240Z
drivers swept the Improved Touring S
podium: Nick Craw, John Williams and
Steve Clifton.
1998: The Nissan R390 GT1 finished
third at Le Mans.
1998: The Skyline GT-R won the All-
Japan GT Championship.
1999: Laurent Aïello drove a Nissan
Primera GT to the British Touring
Car Championship.
2001: Nobuteru Taniguchi drove an
S15-chassis Nissan Silvia to win the first
D1 drift championship.
2002: Infiniti became the spec
engine supplier for the IRL Infiniti
Pro Series, the successor to the Indy
Lights program. Infiniti and Nissan would be the sole engine supplier
through 2014.
2008: A Nissan GT-R Super GT won
the Super GT Championship.
2011: Chad Hord drove a Nissan
Leaf at the Pikes Peak International Hill
Climb, setting the event’s initial record
for electric vehicles.
2011: The Nissan GT-R NISMO GT1
won the FIA GT1 World Championship.
2011: Bryan Heitkotter beat more
than 53,000 online competitors to win
the Nissan PlayStation GT Academy. His
reward: a professional ride with Nissan.
2012: The Nissan-powered DeltaWing
made its competition debut at Le Mans.
2014: The hybrid-electric Nissan ZEOD
RC was unveiled at Le Mans, becoming the
first race car to record an all-electric lap there.
2014-’15: The Nissan GT-R NISMO
GT500 won back-to-back Super GT
championships.
2015: Nissan’s Micra Cup, a spec series for
the brand’s small car, made its Canadian debut.
2015: Nissan fan and collector Adam
Carolla celebrated Paul Newman’s racing
career with the documentary “Winning:
The Life of Paul Newman.”
2016: Thanks to Derek Kulach’s
Touring 3 win in a 350Z, Nissan claimed
their 100th SCCA Club Racing national
title–a record string of championships.
2016: In just their second race after
switching to a Nissan Altima, Owen
Trinkler and Sarah Cattaneo won the
IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar
Challenge ST contest at Canadian Tire
Motorsport Park.
2016: Masato Kawabata set a Guinness World Record for the
fastest drift: 190 mph in a 1361-horsepower, rear-wheel-drive
Nissan GT-R.
2017: The Nissan DPi made its IMSA debut, winning the
Petit Le Mans.
2017: Derek Kulach won his second straight SCCA Touring
3 championship, this one coming in a Nissan 370Z.
2017: The PACC Racing team of Andrew, Paula, Calvin and
Cameron Nelson became the first Grassroots Motorsports $2000
Challenge effort to break into the 9s, pushing their Datsun
260Z down the quarter-mile in just 9.521 seconds.