Hiroshi
Fushida

Hiroshi Fushida was born in Kyoto in 1946. He began racing in 1965 as a works driver for Honda and moved to Toyota a year later. In Japan he won the Fuji 1000km four times (1968, 1969, 1971 and 1979) and the Suzuka 1000km twice (1968 and 1971). In 1972 he took the Fuji Grand Championship title. After leaving Toyota in 1969 he raced in North America, including the Can-Am and Trans-Am series. In 1973 he drove a Mazda-powered Sigma MC73 at Le Mans alongside Tetsu Ikuzawa, and the pair were the first Japanese drivers to compete in the race.

In 1975 the Maki team entered him in two Formula One World Championship races. At Zandvoort an engine failure kept him from starting, and at Silverstone he failed to qualify. He was the first Japanese driver to be entered in a World Championship Grand Prix. Tony Trimmer then replaced him at Maki. That same year he won Class C and finished fifth overall in the 1000km race at Bathurst. His driving career ended in 1981. He later worked for TOM's GB and its successor RTN, and as operations director he oversaw the Bentley Speed 8's Le Mans win in 2003.

Source: Wikipedia, “Hiroshi Fushida”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.