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Frank
Honsowetz is someone, who could be called Nissan North America's racing
czar. Ever since 1985, he has overseen Nissan's motorsports activities in
the United States with many victories and first place finishes. Himself a competitor, he has raced in various SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) events. We suspect he has an in-depth knowledge of what it takes to win and how much it hurts to loose. Now he's in charge of Infiniti's engine development and supplier involvement in the Indy Racing Northern Light Series (a.k.a. Indy Racing League). Honsowetz has said, "For a guy who has been involved in racing since he was a kid, the opportunity to manage the Infiniti Indy project, along with the chance to win the Indy 500, is a dream come true." Even though Nissan North America has lost many of it's sports cars and coupes, Honsowetz doesn't seemed to be fazed and is encouraged by the recent release of high powered vehicles including the new 2002 Q45 and the upcoming Z car. What originally inspired you to the world of racing and motorsports? I have liked cars since I was a young teenager. My very first and all my early street car purchases had modifications that were for the sole purpose of making them faster. I was in that mindset and very interested in drag racing until I came to Nissan in 1974. By 1976, I was auto crossing with a 240Z and started to become interested in sports car racing. From '74 to '79 I worked in the engineering department at Nissan. During that period, I started club racing. Then in 1980, I started working in sports car racing for Nissan -- and it is all history from there. You've been at Nissan since 1974; you've seen a lot of changes within the company. Are you excited about the current releases of cars and upcoming cars like the new Z? It is going to be exciting to see the new Z car come back. It is part of the reason that I am where I am today. I knew a girl that owned a 240Z in the early 70's. It was at a time where I wasn't really sure about where I wanted to work and seeing that car answered that question. I like that car a lot. I think it is really important for the company, and I hope that in the future we have a motorsports program where we can race that car aggressively. I think what is just as exciting is what is going on at Infiniti, the luxury division of Nissan. The powerful 2002 Q45 and future Infiniti products will create a strong line-up of vehicles that all will have a strong emphasis on performance. In general Nissan in North America and worldwide is a much more efficient company and more effective in their strategic planning for the mid and long term future. That's exciting as far as the motorsports department is concerned because when Nissan returns to being a healthy company I believe that we would increase our motorsports participation. What was the motivation and thinking behind selecting Indy Racing League series to compete in (versus CART)? The Indy Racing Northern Light Series is the best racing for us in the United States for two reasons. The first reason is the Indianapolis 500. This race is still the premier racing event in the world. The status of this event is important to Infiniti in the U.S. market, and globally for Nissan because it is Nissan technology behind the Infiniti Indy engine. The second reason is that the Indy Racing series visits several key markets in the U.S. that are important to Infiniti. Through the Infiniti Indy project Infiniti is able to build its image in these markets. In general, it's great racing, great competition and great people. The package is outstanding, and we are really pleased with the program. Infiniti Indy has had a lot of near victories but no first place finishes; how confident are you that the new VRH35DE engine will win races? We are very confident about our engine program right now. Our current 3.5-liter engine is on par with the competition. This has been proven by Eddie Cheever's performance on track; we convincingly ran up front during the first two races of the 2000 Indy Racing Northern Light Series, finishing third and tenth. Once our Infiniti Indy 35A is complete and ready to race, we believe it has the potential to be better than the competition. The most notable features of this all-new engine are that it is two inches shorter from front to rear, the height is approximately 9/16ths of an inch shorter, and it is about 10 to 20 pounds lighter. Most importantly, the center of gravity of the engine is much lower which will allow for great improvements in the handling of the car. Other than the Indy Racing League, could you tell us what other racing series and events Nissan Motorsports is involved with? Nissan currently fields the Art Schmitt Racing entry in the pro-lites division of the Championship Off Road Racing series. This program puts the Nissan Frontier truck up against the best in the extremely competitive light-duty, pick-up truck market. We also provide a strong contingency and support program to drivers that race Nissan vehicles in Sports Car Club of America club racing. This program represents the great history behind the Nissan Motorsports name. We won our first SCCA National Championship in 1967 with Bob Sharp driving a Nissan 1600 roadster. Since then we have won 77 SCCA championships, which is a record for any automobile maker. Are grass roots/private team campaigns using Nissan vehicles an area of importance to the Nissan Motorsports department? What kind of assistance can Nissan lend to parties involved with Nissan cars and trucks in these events? We are always interested in keeping up-to-date on where people are racing Nissan vehicles. As far as potential support, if we are in agreement with the venue they choose, the model they are racing, and they have the potential to win races and championships then it is a project in which we may be interested. A primary example is Art Schmitt's campaign with a Nissan Frontier in the Championship Off Road Racing series. The CORR television package is very attractive and the trucks he races against are a good representation of our competitors in the marketplace. Also, there is a strong interest by our Frontier marketing staff to utilize motorsports. As far as sports cars and sport coupes, we don't have a lot at the moment but in the near future we will have these cars and sporty sedans in the marketplace. Currently, we are supporting privateers racing the older model Nissan vehicles because we would like to retain them as customers and competitors so that in the future they will consider racing our new models. Nissan recently announced its intentions to sell one million vehicles in the United States within a few years. Do you foresee a need to expand Nissan Motorsport's "aftermarket" parts operation as a result of increased vehicle sales? The expansion of the department would not be my decision. It is interesting that the volume of sales for the motorsports department is not directly linked to the annual volume of vehicle sales for a particular calendar year. Actually, it is almost the same volume year after year and it has been that way for as long as I have been there. We have a department that is smaller than it was seven years ago and the volume of sales has remained constant even with the reduced manpower. With the efficiencies that we practice now and given additional headcount I believe that we could increase parts sales volume and profitability. Unfortunately, with the current climate at Nissan it won't happen near-term, but it maybe something that will happen in the future. You've recently finished a revision to a book about modifying older Nissan/Datsun engines for performance, could you tell us a bit about it and why you began working on it? The revision is on the book that I originally wrote in 1985, "How to Modify Nissan/Datsun L-Series Engines." Back then I wrote the book because there was a need -- it was a popular engine, and it was the type of engine that I was racing aggressively at that time. It was not an official Nissan program, but they were aware that I was writing it and they blessed the project. The second edition is published by a different company, Fisher Books, because they believe there is a great demand for that book again, and the first edition is out of print. It was a fun and challenging project and something different for me to try. The best part was that I didn't have to spend hours and hours of time on research. because it was information that I already had in my head from real-life experience. As far as photography, I just carried a camera around with me to all the races for about a year to collect the artwork for the book.
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