Bob Sharp (born March 11, 1939) is an American former racing driver and owner of Bob Sharp Racing. Bob is the father of Scott Sharp, an American professional racing driver, who is best known for his years as a competitor in the Indy Racing League.
Between 1967 and 1975, Sharp won the Sports Car Club of America national championships six times, (in B-Sedan, F-Production and C-Production) and the IMSA GTU title, racing for Datsun, whose cars he also sold. [1] One of his main motivations to campaign Datsuns was, he said, "You race cars to sell cars." His success with racing drove his Connecticut dealership to go from selling 200 Datsuns per year to selling 2000. [2]
In 1960, after serving in the Army and while attending college, Bob began racing his 1960 Austin-Healey "bug-eye" Sprite, in spite of it being his "daily driver" used to go back and forth to school. [2] While his time at Nichols College was wrapping up, his racing and Datsun owner's club started earning him customers from Boston to Philadelphia, with the dealership becoming known for its racing-inspired attention to detail. [3]
Bob, who was the premier Datsun racer on the East Coast, introduced Paul Newman to competitive driving in 1971. By the following year, Newman joined Bob Sharp Racing, driving one of Bob's 510 B-sedans, and they spent many weekdays at Lime Rock Park discussing racing, while Paul got comfortable with the new Datsun car. [4] [5]
Year | Track | Car | Engine | Class | Finish | Start | Status |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1964 | Riverside | Nissan | Nissan | G Production | 10 | Retired | |
1965 | Daytona | Nissan | Nissan | G Production | 3 | 4 | Running |
1966 | Riverside | Nissan SRL311 | Nissan | F Production | 14 | 1 | Retired |
Nissan | Nissan | G Production | 5 | Running | |||
1967 | Daytona | Nissan | Nissan | F Production | 1 | 3 | Running |
Nissan | Nissan | C Production | 12 | 3 | Running | ||
1968 | Riverside | Nissan SPL311 | Nissan | F Production | 2 | 3 | Running |
Nissan SPL311 | Nissan | C Production | 16 | 4 | Retired | ||
1969 | Daytona | Nissan SRL311U | Nissan | D Production | 4 | 4 | Running |
Nissan SRL311U | Nissan | F Production | 5 | 9 | Running | ||
1970 | Road Atlanta | Nissan 240Z | Nissan | C Production | 2 | 4 | Running |
1971 | Road Atlanta | Nissan 510 | Nissan | B Sedan | 1 | 1 | Running |
Nissan 240Z | Nissan | C Production | 2 | 2 | Running | ||
1972 | Road Atlanta | Nissan 240Z | Nissan | C Production | 1 | 1 | Running |
Nissan 510 | Nissan | B Sedan | 1 | 1 | Running | ||
1973 | Road Atlanta | Nissan 610 | Nissan | B Sedan | 21 | 1 | Retired |
Nissan 240Z | Nissan | C Production | 1 | 1 | Running | ||
1974 | Road Atlanta | Nissan 260Z | Nissan | C Production | 3 | 5 | Running |
Nissan 610 | Nissan | B Sedan | 2 | 2 | Running | ||
1975 | Road Atlanta | Nissan 280Z | Nissan | C Production | 1 | 1 | Running |
Nissan 610 | Nissan | B Sedan | 2 | 3 | Running |
The Nissan Z-series is a model series of sports cars manufactured by Nissan in seven generations since 1969.
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Silver Bear, a Cannes Film Festival Award, and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
The Nissan Bluebird is a compact car produced between 1955 and 2007 with a model name introduced in 1957. It was Nissan's most internationally recognized sedan, known for its dependability and durability in multiple body styles. The Bluebird originated from Nissan's first vehicles, dating to the early 1900s, and its traditional competitor became the Toyota Corona. The Bluebird was positioned to compete with the Corona, as the Corona was developed to continue offering a sedan used as a taxi since the Toyota Crown was growing in size. Every generation of the Bluebird has been available as a taxi, duties that are shared with base level Nissan Cedrics. It is one of the longest-running nameplates from a Japanese automaker. It spawned most of Nissan's products sold internationally, and has been known by a number of different names and bodystyles, including the Auster/Stanza names.
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