Nissan legend Bob Sharp has been added to the Sports Car Club of America’s (SCCA) Hall of Fame as part of its 2018 class of inductees.
Sharp began racing and selling Datsuns in Connecticut in the 1960s. His racing prowess boosted his sales numbers and his profile, and by the 1970s he was the premier Datsun racer in the U.S. and a successful dealer.
Sharp’s success, including six SCCA titles won between 1967 (the first-ever for the brand) and 1975, attracted all kinds of talent to his team – including the legendary Paul Newman who got his start with Bob Sharp Racing in 1972 driving a Datsun 510 B-Sedan in SCCA competition.
The Datsun 510 was just one of the many Nissan automobiles Sharp ran during his career. In his 12 years competing in the SCCA National Championship Runoffs, across three classes, Sharp drove a Nissan every time, scoring six wins. He would be car owner and constructor to a dozen more champions driving Nissan products.
Sharp’s son, Scott, continued the tradition of racing with Nissan, winning three SCCA Runoff titles of his own in Nissan 280Z and 300ZX. In total, Nissan and Datsun have scored more than 100 victories at the annual SCCA Runoff event.
Presently, Scott Sharp races in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with the Nissan-powered ESM team. The younger Sharp took victory for Nissan in their first season with the team at the prestigious Petit Le Mans enduro in October of 2017.