He began his racing career in a Honda S600[1] in 1969, before he was taken on as Mazda's factory driver, a position he held through the 1990s including participating in the World Sportscar Championship and All Japan Sports Prototype Championship.

[citation needed] He also took class wins at the 24 Hours of Daytona on two occasions, including in the Mazda RX-7's debut race in 1979, scoring a GTU class win at fifth place overall.

[2] The other occasion was a fourth place overall finish and a GTO class win in 1982.

[3] He is known for holding the record for the second most participations in the 24 Hours of Le Mans without an overall win (behind Bob Wollek), having run on 29 occasions (28 of which were consecutive) since 1974.

[5][6] and instructs on driving at NATS (Nihon Automobile High Technical School) [7] He is the father of voice actress Haruhi Nanao.