Keiji Matsumoto

Matsumoto scored 11 wins and 29 podium finishes, seventh all-time in both accounts, over a 129-race career, which put him third in all-time Super Formula career starts behind generational peers Kazuyoshi Hoshino and Kunimitsu Takahashi. In a rare overseas foray in 1981, he also took part in the Donington "50.000", a race of the European Formula Two championship, crossing the finish line in 15th place.

Until 1989, he also dabbled in Japanese sports car racing, winning the Fuji Grand Champion Series in 1983, and the Fuji 1000 km in 1985 and 1989.[1] In the 1985 win, Matsumoto became the first Japanese driver to ever win a race in the World Sportscar Championship alongside teammate Hoshino, who was actually the only one who got to drive the car before the race was stopped early due to heavy rain. Matsumoto also competed in the 1987 24 Hours of Le Mans alongside Hoshino and Kenji Takahashi as an official Nissan driver.[2]

In 1986, Matsumoto became the first public representative of Cabin Racing, which was developed as a huge project of Japan Tobacco, and gained notoriety beyond the world of motorsports by appearing in TV commercials. After his retirement, he stayed active in the Japanese motorsports scene, either at historic or current events, and became a driver coach for young talents such as Shinji Nakano, Juichi Wakisaka and Ryo Michigami.

He died on May 17, 2015, aged 65, after battling with cirrhosis for some time.