Triumph—and later Nissan GTP—racing legend Robert “Kas” Kastner has passed away at the age of 92.
Born in Batavia, New York, on August 30, 1928, Kas Kastner started racing in the early 1950s with an MG TD, followed by a pair of MG Specials of his own construction. By 1958, Kas was working as a mechanic for Cal Sales, the west Coast Triumph distributor, which launched his long and storied career racing and tuning Triumphs.
Continued racing success with his own Kastner-Brophy team later led to the team joining forces with Roy Woods Racing, which saw Kastner heading up efforts in Can-Am, F5000 and the Indy 500. Kastner’s leadership at Roy Woods eventually led to him being offered the position of National Motorsports Manager for Nissan, at a time when Nissan was struggling to find its way in IMSA’s GTP series. Under Kastner’s direction, Nissan would go on to win the GTP driver’s championship four year in a row and the manufacturer’s championship three years in a row.
