Kas Kastner at 92

Marshall Pruett Archives
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emailBy Marshall Pruett | April 12, 2021 8:20 PM

Robert W. ‘Kas’ Kastner, the man who turned Nissan into one of the most powerful and successful players in North American racing during the 1980s and 1990s, died on Saturday at the age of 92.

Well prior to his post at Nissan, Kastner earned respect as a mechanic and fabricator who built and raced his own sports cars. The New Yorker migrated to California after serving in the Army, and it was there in the 1950s where his achievements with tuning and driving small British cars in SCCA events established Kastner as a man whose automotive talents were destined for bigger opportunities.

Hired by Triumph to run its racing department in the early 1960s, Kastner’s innate skills and inventive nature yielded great results for the brand, and by 1970, he moved on to form his own racing team which included an expansion into open-wheel racing and the eventual creation of an aftermarket turbocharging company during the formative days of forced induction.

It was during this rich period in Kastner’s career where he met Don Devendorf, the racer and co-founder of Electramotive Engineering, who would play a central role in bringing Kastner into the Nissan family as Electramotive’s IMSA team endured a punishing introduction to the GTP class.

“My first contact with Kas was back in the mid-70s,” said Wes Moss, the former VP of Electramotive. “I had a small race and foreign car repair shop in Charlotte with a couple of partners, and a customer asked us to put a turbocharger kit on a Mini Cooper, so I got in touch with Kas to buy the kit and got it done.

“Fast-forward to 1986, and I was working with Don Devendorf and John Knepp at Electramotive in a continual thrash on the Lola-Nissan GTP car. We had just about run out of Band-Aids for the GTP car, Kas and Devendorf had a relationship back in the SCCA Triumph days, and we needed financial and organizational help. The motorsports department at Nissan also needed help; as I recall it, Don suggested Kas to head the Nissan motorsports effort, Kas accepted the job, and came on board with a focus on getting the GTP program competitive.”
At Devendorf’s suggestion, Kastner was charged with overseeing Nissan’s GTP program, and he turned it into a powerhouse. Image via Marshall Pruett Archives

Mark Raffauf started with IMSA in the 1970s, and remains there today, having seen many teams and personalities come and go. He bore witness to Kastner’s leadership style as the floundering Nissan GTP effort went from an afterthought to an unbeatable force as Geoff Brabham and Electramotive – later known as Nissan Performance Technology Inc. – captured four straight GTP championships from 1988-1991 while setting the record for consecutive wins.

“Kas Kastner was already a West Coast sports car legend before he even came to IMSA, and when he did arrive to take over the corporate helm of the Nissan GTP program, it was in the beginnings of the developmental process of the car, made originally from a Lola T810 chassis,” he said. “The whole program came together with the very first all-California designed and built GTP-ZX Turbo car.

“Under Kas’s relentless pressure, the original Electramotive team went through numerous teething and developmental issues; they would be fast, they would qualify well, they would lead, but victory was elusive over two seasons of trying. Kas pushed hard for them to build their own cars, and when something broke, they went home and fixed it, and came back; something else broke, they fixed that, and came back. One day it all came together, and all of the problems went away and the rest was history in the Camel GT for four years.”

Trevor Harris was tasked with designing the 1988 Electramotive chassis that Brabham used to destroy the GTP opposition, and went on to pen its replacement, along with IMSA GTOs and Race Trucks for Nissan on behalf of NPTI.

“I’ve had two bosses I’ve regarded as my favorites. One was Dan Gurney, and the other was Kas Kastner. I really loved Kas,” said Harris, who drove out to Las Vegas on Friday to say farewell to his old friend. “We had some great times in France when we ran at Le Mans, and so many race tracks over the years, and away from the track drinking and telling stories. When he hired me in 1987 to design a new GTP chassis for Nissan, it only took an hour, Kas and me talking, and I got the job. He wanted advice on what to do, had a limited budget, and I started in July of 1987. We didn’t have much time to get something done for 1988, but the rest was history. It’s a huge loss for me.”
Brabham (left) remembers Kastner as a real racer with a “siege mentality”. Image via Marshall Pruett Archives

Based on the number of people who wanted to pay tribute to Kastner, it’s clear he made a sizable impact on many who were fortunate to orbit his world.

“Kas was a real racer and we hit it off right from the beginning when I joined Nissan,” Brabham said. “We had a siege mentality. It was us against everyone else. He did a lot for me, for which I will be forever grateful.”

Long before he became general manager of Portland International Raceway, E. C. Mueller served as the public relations man for Electramotive Engineering.

“When I think of Kas, I think of someone who was confident, determined, strategic, and always had the end game in mind,” Mueller said. “Right after Kas was hired by Nissan, we went to Firebird Raceway in 1986. The first year of the GTP program in 1985 was, let’s say, very challenging. Electramotive had always been successful, and quickly, prior to that with championships in SCCA, IMSA RS, IMSA GTU, and IMSA GTO. Everyone was a bit rattled going into 1986, and no-one knew what to expect from Kas.

“So as the PR guy for the team, I decided to focus some time chatting up Kas and getting to know him. At one point I said something like, ‘Well, it sure would be nice to be competitive.’ He looked me in the eye, those steely blue eyes blazing, had his finger pointed at me and said, ‘Competitive, hell! Championships are where we’re headed, that’s what matters. The talent and know-how here needs to get organized. And, that’s why I’m here!’

“That fire and determination became the hallmark over his tenure at Nissan and the championships are the legacy. He was a major mentor in my life and I will miss him tremendously. I was able to visit him last month and I treasure the several hours we spent reminiscing and laughing hysterically throughout a wonderful afternoon.”