Bob Sharp, Datsun and Nissan racing pioneer, 1939-2025

Racing legend Bob Sharp (right) died last week at the age of 85. The driver and race team owner helped establish Datsun as a motorsports force in America, winning six SCCA National titles and an IMSA GTU championship, all behind the wheel of Datsun cars. Sharp also gave seats to Paul Newman and Tom Cruise, mentoring the actors through their racing careers.

At the age of 21 Sharp began racing his daily driver Austin-Healey Sprite in Sports Car Club of America events near his Connecticut home. At the time, he worked at P. Bruck & Son, a Rambler and Datsun dealership located in Greenwich, Connecticut. When the Datsun 1500 Sports arrived at the showroom, Sharp convinced the owners to let him campaign one of the roadsters, known as the Fairlady in Japan, in order to boost sales.

The idea of any Japanese car in motorsports was unheard of. But in September 1964 Sharp’s Datsun 1500 had become the first car from Japan to win an SCCA National race, taking the win in the G Production class. That earned him an invitation to the first SCCA Road Race of Champions at Riverside International Raceway in southern California.

The Bruck dealership closed its doors soon after, but Sharp was convinced he could use racing to sell Datsuns. So Sharp opened his own small Datsun showroom and repair shop operating out of a gas station in Wilton, Connecticut. His performance on the race track had caught the eye of Nissan executive Soichi Kawazoe. In those early days of Nissan’s presence in the States, the country was divided into two sales regions. Kawazoe was in charge of the eastern half, while Yutaka “Mr K” Katayama was in charge of the western half.

Impressed with Sharp’s driving, Kawazoe gave him factory backing in 1965, coinciding with the launch of the Datsun 1600 Sports. Sharp went all the way to the Northeast Division Championship that year, placing first overall, and sales at his dealership began to take off.

Sharp continued to improve, claiming the Northeast Division Championship again in 1966, and then the overall National Championship in 1967 with a Datsun 1600. The relationship with Nissan continued to blossom as well, expanding the team to include the Datsun 2000 Sports, 510, and 240Z.

Sharp went on to win five more SCCA National Championships across three classes, cementing Datsun as a formidable marque in the road racing world. His success, mirrored by Peter Brock’s BRE team on the west coast, inspired racers all across America to take up Nissans as their weapons of choice.

In 1975 Sharp won the IMSA GTU Championship in an S30 Datsun Z, beating established brands like Porsche, BMW, and Alfa Romeo. Datsun became synonymous with road racing, and Nissan maintained a lucrative business supplying official Datsun Competition Parts, a catalog that Sharp had a hand in developing, to support amateur and professional drivers alike.

Sharp retired from racing after breaking his wrist in a 1976 crash. However, as a team owner he fostered a who’s who of American road racing: Sam Posey, Brad Frisselle, Jim Fitzgerald, Elliott Forbes-Robinson, Bruce MacInnes, Walter Payton, and actor Paul Newman, who joined Bob Sharp Racing in 1972 after Sharp took him for a promotional lap around Lime Rock in a 240Z. BSR drivers went on to claim another 11 titles for his team.

Sharp’s own son Scott would become a noted driver as well, a 1996 IRL and 2009 ALMS LMP1 champion. In a 2005 interview with the News Times of Danbury, Connecticut, Bob was asked about race team management. “The driver has an amazing ability to either undermine the demeanor of a team, or build it up,” he replied. “I’ve told Scott, ‘You don’t own the team, you don’t manage it, but you and your crew are a team.'”

Sharp’s relationship with Nissan spanned 35 years before the company withdrew from motorsports due to financial difficulties near the turn of the century. The “Race on Sunday, sell on Monday” adage proved true. His Nissan dealership saw much success and was eventually sold to another owner in 1988.

Today it’s called Bruce Bennett Nissan, and traces of Sharp’s involvement are unknown to all but the most fervent fans. However, BSR’s distinctive blue, red, and white Datsuns and iconic No.33 live on. Today they are reminders of how Sharp helped transform the road racing scene for a little-known Japanese car company in the 1960s.