040 | Built to Race: Jeffrey Willerth's Datsun 240Z & 260Z Journey | Z Club of America
Cool Cars with Chris: Car Talk, Driving Tips & Auto Life
040 | Built to Race: Jeffrey Willerth's Datsun 240Z & 260Z Journey | Z Club of AmericaCool Cars with Chris: Car Talk, Driving Tips & Auto Life · Jun 29, 2026
A famous, historic race track in the California desert. It is known for being incredibly fast and has been featured in many movies, video games, and car TV shows.
A classic Japanese sports car from the 1970s that looked like an expensive European sports car but was reliable and affordable. It is widely credited with changing how the world viewed Japanese cars.
A slightly updated version of the famous 240Z sports car, sold for only a short time in the mid-1970s. It had a slightly larger engine but struggled with early emissions control systems.
A racing technique where you keep pressing the brakes slightly even after you start turning into a corner, rather than doing all your braking in a straight line. This helps the car turn more sharply by keeping weight on the front wheels.
The Corvette is a famous two-seat sports car made by Chevrolet, an American company. It is designed to go very fast, look sleek, and be fun to drive on both regular roads and racetracks.
A 1980s sports car from Nissan that was famous for its futuristic, sci-fi-like digital dashboard and pop-up headlights. It focused more on comfort and technology than the raw race-car feel of the older Z cars.
An entry-level sports car made by Porsche in the late 70s and 80s. Unlike the famous 911, it had its engine in the front and was cooled by water instead of air.
The Ford GT40 is a famous racing car from the 1960s. It was built by Ford specifically to win prestigious long-distance races in Europe, and it is highly prized by collectors today.
The Infiniti QX80 is a very large, luxury family vehicle with three rows of seats. It is made by Infiniti, which is the high-end brand owned by Nissan, and is designed to carry many passengers in comfort.
A highly respected 5.0-liter V8 engine made by Ford, used in modern Mustangs and F-150 pickup trucks. It is loved by enthusiasts for its classic V8 sound and reliable power.
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Hey, what's happening? How are you doing today? Thank you so much for being here. I am Chris
and this is cool cars with Chris. Yeah, you clicked on the right show at the right time
and on today's fantastic episode, they were heading back over to Willow Springs to have
a conversation with the head honcho himself, Jeffrey Willard of Z club of America. And
look, if you are listening to this in an audio podcast, hey, that's fantastic. I love audio
podcasting, but if you want to see everything that's happening in this episode right here,
right now, then you got to head over to the YouTube channel, cool cars with Chris, or
you can follow us on Spotify. Both those places will be the video version of this episode.
But don't you worry, you can still listen to the episode in any podcast app of your choosing.
Keep on keeping on. Jeff came on the show today because he is the one of the founding
members of Z club of America, the official Z club of America. Check that out. So we're
talking about racing, his race cars, his Dotson to 60 Z's and his 240 Z, which is a full
blown race car. We're talking about that and all kinds of good fun stuff there at Willow
Springs. So with that, let's roll.
Okay, we are with the man of the show, Jeff. Yeah, the big, Mr. Big Time here. Jeff, thank
you for showing on the show, man. We really appreciate this.
More than anything, we appreciate having you guys here. This is really awesome. It's so
fundamentally important that someone capture what happens here and then even better when
they can turn it into something that's, you know, a great podcast that everybody else,
you know, just enjoys doing and being part of. Yeah, man. Well, thank you first off for
inviting us up here. This has been great. You know, it's, it's quite a track away from
San Diego coming all the way over here, but it's well worth it. Matt, I've never been
to a Ben Willow Springs the first time even being here. I've heard of this place. I've
seen it in movies, seen on YouTube a bunch, but being here, it's taking it all in. It's
kind of like breathtaking. And of course also getting a chance to actually race on, take
the car on the track. How about that? I think that we, so we make these parade laps available
during the lunch break when the race organization takes their official lunch break. That's when
we seize the track, when we get to our opportunity to go out there as you guys got to do. And
I got to tell you, I think that is the key motivator for people even coming out because
they get their one chance to take their street car or, you know, even their race car out
onto the track and have a blast with it. So. But aside from that, how would somebody take
a car out on the track? Like, what's the rules behind that? How would you get to do that?
I'm not a normal person. So relative to how it happens here. Yeah. Yeah. At this place,
it's, you know, it's, it's actually pretty simple. Well, you know, we just, we have, you
know, you, you, your cars don't have to go through tech inspection and all those kinds
of classical things that you would think race cars need to. If you've just kind of showed
up with your street car, your seatbelt works, your tires are round and you don't seem to
be pissing oil all over the place. You're good to go. You know, please wear a seatbelt,
but you don't need your helmets and all that stuff. And yes, you can have passengers on
board. So that makes it even more fun. But I don't know. Let me ask you the question.
How was that experience for you? It was great. You know, I, I was shifting to the gears
and I, you know, I was hitting some of the turns kind of tight to see what the car could
do. You know, I wasn't drifting like that, but I was definitely like, you know, it was
hitting some of that elevation peak, but you go up and you go down and you hit that turn
and go up that, you know, peak and then around the corner. If you're going, I think, see,
if you're going really fast, if you're actually in a racing car, a racing situation, I can
see where the, you might get a little motion sickness. You get some G's. Yeah.
I feel like, you know, Laguna Seca always gets credited with the corkscrew and everything,
but that, that, you know, elevation change going up and then down there is, I mean, it's
just as like, was that your first time? It was. Absolutely. Yeah. You're no longer
new, but it's welcome. No, come on. Newbies. Yeah. Oh, man. This is great. So how long
has the Z Club of America been around? So Z Club of America was established in 1971
by Joe Cassella. That's like right after the car came out. That is exactly correct. And
we immediately, Joe has always been, you know, he had racing in his blood and so there was
no sense in just talking about how cool your streak Z was at that time. Just like, let's
go to the track and see what the, see what this little thing will do for us. So that's,
that's how that started. And so immediately he grabbed a bunch of people and they ran
off to Lime Rock Park in Connecticut and started doing our events there. And, you know, we
just called them driver education programs at that time. There was no, you know, we didn't
have any big names for it like we do today and stuff like that. But the idea was like,
use your opportunity to go really push your, your 240Z to its max and not have to worry
about the cops chasing you're a breaking, you know, or anything like that. And it also
gave the drivers, all of us, you know, just a better education because now you're on the
track driving and you're learning how to trail break, you're learning how to turn and how
to where to break, where not to break and what gears to be and how to stay out of trouble
and you know, so it was just a great learning lesson and it became from the very beginning.
And it almost sounds like driving like Corvette, like Corvette driving school. We hear a lot
about that where, you know, it was like an early driving school for that.
Exactly was. We went on for a few more years or more than almost two decades really. And
then things started to peter off because the newer Zs weren't as exciting. They weren't
as cool as the 240 and the 260 and the 280. The 300s, we appreciate them now, but they
were just more, they were more luxury cars. So I know that the 300, the Z31, the like
the 85, 84, you know, 300 ZX, it went full blown like out of Star Trek mode with like
digital everything, you know, it was all like, that was a big theme in the 80s was this whole
like digital everything, you know, digital watches and digital, the gauges and this digital
everything went super over the top of that kind of stuff. It's just kind of fun, I guess.
It's kind of quirky, I guess, but I don't think it's anything.
It was the future happening.
Yeah, we weren't ready for it.
Right, right. It's got to show how future tech, our car can get kind of thing. It's almost
like a Tesla does today with stuff, you know.
So we just, you know, the club started to lose the owners at these events. So eventually
this time going on, we wound up saying, OK, you know, there's only like Joe Costello's
Z and my C were the only two Z showing up for a Z event, but we also were already inviting
the Corvettes and the, you know, OK, I saw here, there was other cars here today. There's
like, there's the Porsches and there's there's some BMWs and, you know, I mean, I thought
I was like a Japanese only, but I guess not. Or is it everybody's included kind of thing?
Well, yes and no. I mean, so we're in partnership with Vara, the Vintage Auto Racing Association.
That's who puts on this day for us. And it's the first race weekend for them of their season.
It all starts right here. So when they, four years ago now, they came up with the idea
that they were going to take just they had a, you know, they had several Japanese race
cars here, a lot of Datsun since a couple others. And somebody came up with this idea
that that said, you know, hey, let's do it all Japan showdown, you know, and just call
it and see what it is. So they posted it online and I saw the post instantly and I immediately
called them and said, whatever you guys are doing up there, I want to be a part of it.
Z Club of America will be up there. What do you want to do? I don't care. You want to buy
the trophy? I'll buy the trophies. OK, great. So, you know, that's at least how I got season
one, you know, my first year I was like, yeah, that's happening. And it was really just my
wife and I came up and did a really bad job of handing out trophies because new to us.
But we got that through. And then the second year we came back, we had a little more like
they called us again this time, you know, two months ahead and said, hey, in two months
we're going to do this. I was like, oh, wow, OK, sure. I can look, you know, pull it together.
Let me see how many people I can get to come out. And we did better. We had a 150 or something
like that. I don't know. It was some, you know, and then the next year, which is, you
know, season three or time, you know, the third year, then all of a sudden we had, I
had partnered with three other four other clubs. So we had five clubs, Southern California
area that are all working together harmoniously. And I love these guys. They love me. We all
work out together. It's like zero hassle. And the benefit is we have a membership base
that it's easy for us to call. And that's why you really have so many Nissan products
and Z products, you know, Datsun's here is because we're just the dominant force in terms
of club membership and club vitality. So if you go in this SoCal area and you try to find
the Honda guys and the Subaru Azuzu guys and all the Scions, they're all
out there. But they're like in these little pockets, they're organized clubs that, you
know, are meeting on a regular basis and are building a membership base and that sort of
So that really all takes us up to today. And the fact that, you know, now for this is our
fourth year. And so it really helps us like we got a little bit of a pattern going now.
Like we know what to expect. We know where we can start tweaking things to make it a little
bit better. Is it here every single year at the same time? Yeah, yeah, we did again, because
this is the inaugural event for Avara. Okay. That makes it easy for us. So we're again in
partnership with them. So in March of every year, last weekend, typically. Okay. Okay.
Nice. Nice. That's really cool. Just because I, when I have my Z add a 300 ZX C32 and I was a part
of the San Diego Z Club. I got to join the Z Clubs day with I got to, I got to give, I got
to get a Z Club going or something. That hat sparkles on you. Oh, does it now? I think it
does. We got to make a, we're going to go date him. Hey, I am single. So if you, if you're
only ladies, let me know. Okay. I do, I do have a Z now. So is that part, I think I'm
dating. I must have a Z. Is that why they like the day like the starter pack? Why wouldn't
we? Right, right. Absolutely. And speaking of Z's, what kind of Z do you have? So I have
those two guys right over there. Can't we see that or no? I don't think I will, but
we'll, we'll just have to make some B roll. So yeah, I got, I have those two cars. Those
are my two ladies. The one is yours. The blue car here is a 1970 early 74 260 Z. So it's
really a 60. That's kind of rare. Well, yeah, a little bit different. You know, the ones
that had that first year early break. So I think I'm August, August of 74.
So that, that made it really cool. But anyway, it's, I had it, I moved, I had this back east
when I worked for Skip Barber Racing School back in, in then I left that company and I
came out to work in California. I get here and within no time somebody steals the car.
No way.
It's gone for a year. Yeah. I went off and got a course 924 and you know, just driving
around in that. Oh, those are fun. And yeah, it was, I enjoyed it. So then all of a sudden
a year later, the cops call me and they go, Hey, do you, do you miss in the car? I'm
like, yeah. And they go like, well, we have your car. And I thought for sure it was already
in parts, you know, and, right, really long gone, you know, they're like, Oh, we have
your car here. Okay. So, so I got it and I brought it home and I said, Oh, this is wonderful.
What am I going to do with it now? You know, because I got other. I was it pretty much
in the state that it was, they didn't damage a thing hardly.
Wow.
Ridiculous. Well, that's kind of rare.
So very much so. But I already had it in my mind. I had already been a racer boy and
that sort of thing. So I was just trying to find myself, you know, I said, okay, there
was the ITS class at the time in SCCA racing. And that was where, you know, you've taken
essentially a street model Z. You're allowed to make some modifications to it and then
you'd be competitive and you could go out and race. That was my intention. Then life
gets in the way. The car winds up in storage units, spends almost three decades in storage
just sitting there. And finally, I was having a conversation with a old high school buddy
and he had telling him about all my successes proudly. And he says to me, What do you do
for fun, dude?
Right.
Like, I can't answer that question. He goes, Do you still have that Z in the, you know,
I said, Yeah, I do. And he said, Well, get it out and start working on it. You'll be
happy. That'll be wonderful. You'll make all of it.
Sure enough, that only took, I think 15 years. Eventually, nut by nut, bolt by bolt. Eventually,
I was able to put that car back together. And it's today was its first day on a race.
Oh, wow.
It was real first day.
But how did how did you out there today?
I really felt great about it. You know, little things. I'm like, Okay, the just the brakes.
It wasn't quite as bright as little too high. I should probably pull that down a little
bit. And but overall, it's it's really it's got a wonderful rubs performance motor sports
engine in it. There's Rob bill for me. It's a 240 engine that I put in that one. And it's
all nice like crazy race car build. It's just it's built.
So that many horsepower.
You think you know nothing now?
I haven't been with it yet.
Okay. Okay. Well, I know the stock doesn't go about 150 or so.
Well, yeah, they'll say that. So I would say that's probably the right, you know, 150
area is probably where I am. And then the one next to it, the red, white and blue car,
that's a 1972 240 Z that was turned into a full SCCA race car in the mid 80s.
Oh, nice.
And so it had its long journey. I've got a couple of the books to go with it to, you
know, show me what its history was. But it really doesn't paint a picture accurate enough
to really have, you know, like I can be articulate about its history. And so I, and it was pretty
beat up when I got it. So I've had it now for five years, and I was able to take the
car and kind of undo the stuff that we did back in the 80s and the 90s. You know, the
welding sucked.
Yeah.
But you know, you do what you do. So we did, I just made a bunch of improvements, totally
redid the inside, totally redid the transmission, totally wound up doing the whole new engine.
Again, another Rob, Rob's Motorsport RPM motor. It's a beast now. And so we're in the
200 range because it has been on a dyno. And so, you know, so always a little more tweak
and you just never.
There's always, there's always something,
something.
So tomorrow I'm going to take it on the track for the test, you know, for the track day
that we have here, which is the second part of the All Japan showdown. And, and that should
be, that should be fun. I'll see if I've made any progress over the winter.
A little tweak in and play in around or is it not street legal? I don't think.
Totally not.
Okay. So you have to take it to attractive, get anything done to it.
My, my life is dragging a trailer everywhere I go.
And you know, I almost thought about driving, bringing my car on my trailer on a trailer
and bringing it out with my truck. I thought about it, but God's taking it for a road trip.
As if it can make it work. You know, load the car up and see if we're going out here as
is. And sure enough, she made it all the way out here from San Diego.
Yeah.
So, and then make it.
Yeah. I mean, this car is, I'd be the rate of the go, you know, I mean, I mean, seeing
your cars go having out of any miles on those things, but I mean, what they've been through,
it's, I mean, it's probably be a lot. Yeah. Yeah. And they last them like for a long time
if they're kept, if they kept up, you know,
It's like anything, as long as you take care of it, it'll, you know, be good to your tools
and your tools will be good to you. It's that sort of, that sort of scenario.
So all the cars here, what's your favorite scene?
So the red, white and blue one, that's the seventh Z that I've owned in my life.
77 Yeah.
Well, when you're hooked, you're hooked.
No, you're hooked.
The cinnamon's in you.
This is my second Z, so I guess I'm, I'm trying to catch up to you.
No, you're, please don't.
No, I'm done.
You're a smart boy. Don't mess that up.
Oh, I don't know. We'll see. We'll see how it goes.
But all the Z's are like, I mean, I mean, like, some of these are like, wow, look at that one.
Oh, wow, look at that one. Oh, wow, look at that car.
Oh, the GT 40. Check that out. Oh, the Viper. Check that out.
You know, it's like so many crazy things here.
I guess it's like, it's like, you kind of see some of the stuff like cars and coffee, but not so much because here you got like the trailer cars.
The cars come off the trailer, like your cars, that obviously you can't drive to cars and coffee.
So you have to trailer them wherever you go.
You don't see those kind of things at a cars and coffee.
Although they're starting to kind of do that, right?
I mean, we're not like, trade bringing cars.
Mostly it's like cars that are getting delivered somewhere else, like on the route.
And they're like, we'll just stop into Rancho Santa Fe and bring this McLaren or whatever.
But yeah, usually not necessarily like straight race cars like that.
But it's pretty nuts here though. It's so much fun though, driving on the course.
You got a chance to drive on the course too.
I did. I appreciate you guys for letting me kind of sneak into this little group there.
No, I mean, it was, it was awesome.
It was even, even at the, you know, the relatively slower speed, you know, you feel the corners.
You feel like what it really, you know, even that bank on the first corner coming around, like you really feel what that feels like.
And so it was really cool. I got the itch now to really, really get out there and try out some track bags for sure.
Excellent. Oh, my job is done.
Other than your car, happy bubble.
That's all I scored.
Yeah, other than your two cars here, where you see other cars, you're like cut your eye like, oh, I like that.
There's a lot of stuff, but yeah, like, I don't think there's a single race car.
So first off, like I'm not a streetcar guy. I'm just super not just just I don't know why, but no, but the Armada is my beast.
And it's my tow vehicle. So that's that's when it gets used.
I got my own one of those by the way.
I got two kids thinking about the third. So we're at that point, Armada, QX-80.
This is my second Armada. I'm a big fan. And the new one is really, really nice.
I just don't think it's worth the money.
There's a low car. I think most cars, new cars today. Yeah.
Yeah, it's crazy.
I love that. That would be really cool. But you didn't, the tow package is still the same and the performance is still relatively same.
Oh, what is the tow package on the Armada?
8,500.
That's pretty good. Yeah, it is.
I think my F-150 is like 10. I somewhere around there.
I don't know. I never taken it that far.
But I told my car out there with the F-150, but I got the, I got the V8 and nothing.
The, okay. Did they know they had a turbo?
The new one. The new one is a turbo.
Yeah. Everybody's going turbo V6's these days.
All the trucks. Yeah. When I bought my F-150, I got the Coyote V8 in my truck.
So yeah, I like the V8.
But I don't think there's a race car on this track right now that I wouldn't like to, Johnson to get in.
Oh yeah.
Did you like that?
Yes.
Even for a ride?
Even for a ride.
Yeah.
What sucks though, somebody's going, cars, they can't do rides in them because you don't
have the passenger seats in a lot of these I noticed.
I told you I'll drive.
I want to go for a ride.
Oh, I can't.
Yeah.
All right.
Yeah.
But you have to spend so much fun having you here and thank you for inviting us over
here, man.
That's been such a treat.
Thank you is really what's necessary because I wouldn't have this content being created
if it wasn't for you guys.
Oh.
I love watching your shows.
That's why I called you.
Yeah.
Dude, you're really cool.
And you know, cars.
You should call it cars that are cool or cool cars.
So, you know, I know he already had that down.
It was already.
So I bought the Z.
Is that got to come now?
Yeah.
Yeah.
That was that submitted it for sure.
That's the venom.
I'm telling you, it's out there.
Be careful.
It's like COVID.
Well, it is.
Well, thank you so much.
I really appreciate it.
Thank you guys so much for all the ratio.
You were really great.
Thank you.
About this episode
Head to Willow Springs with host Chris as he chats with Jeffrey Willerth, a key figure behind the Z Club of America. Jeffrey shares the rich history of the club since its 1971 inception, detailing its evolution from early driver education programs to modern track days. The conversation dives into Jeffrey's personal Datsun 260Z and 240Z race cars, including a wild story about a stolen and recovered 260Z. They also discuss the club's partnership with the Vintage Auto Racing Association (VARA) and the annual All Japan Showdown.
On this episode of Cool Cars With Chris, we're joined by Jeffrey Willerth of the Z Club of America at the legendary Willow Springs Raceway for a conversation about Datsun heritage, vintage racing, and the passion that keeps classic Z cars alive.
Jeffrey shares the story of his beloved Datsun 260Z that was stolen and recovered, how it sat in storage for nearly 30 years before finally returning to the track, and what it takes to build and maintain race-ready classic Japanese sports cars. We also dive into the origins of the Z Club of America, the growth of the All Japan Showdown, track days at Willow Springs, and why the Datsun Z remains one of the most beloved enthusiast cars ever built.
Whether you're a Nissan Z owner, Datsun enthusiast, racer, collector, or simply a fan of automotive history, this episode is packed with stories, insights, and motorsports passion.
Topics discussed in this episode:
• The history of Z Club of America • Racing at Willow Springs Raceway • Datsun 240Z and 260Z ownership • Vintage racing and track days • Restoring classic Japanese sports cars • The All Japan Showdown event • Building a dedicated race car • The Nissan Z community • Motorsport culture and driver education • Jeffrey's journey through seven different Z cars
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, follow, and leave a review. Your support helps us continue bringing you conversations with enthusiasts, racers, builders, collectors, and automotive personalities from across the automotive world.
