Profitable racer and championship-winning crew proprietor ‘Shige’ Hattori has died. Hattori was concerned in a three-car visitors accident on Saturday morning. The tragic incident occurred round 9:15 a.m. EST on I-77 northbound in Mecklenburg County, about half-hour north of Charlotte, North Carolina. He was driving a 2025 Toyota Crown when he crossed the middle line, colliding with one other car. Everybody else concerned suffered non-life-threatening accidents.
The Huntersville Police Division confirmed Hattori’s passing and the small print of the crash on Monday morning. Rushing or impairment weren’t believed to have been components within the tragic accident, which stays underneath investigation.
Hailing from Okayama, Japan, Hattori moved to the States in 1995 as he branched out into the American open-wheel racing scene. He competed full-time as an Indy Lights driver for 3 years, profitable twice throughout the 1998 season at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Gateway.
He graduated to CART and IndyCar within the years to comply with, driving for numerous groups and beginning over two dozen races. His tenure in CART was tumultuous, however he improved mightily as an IndyCar driver. His profession included three Indianapolis 500 makes an attempt, making the long-lasting race twice in each 2002 and 2003, ending as excessive as twentieth. His greatest displaying in IndyCar got here whereas driving for Bradley Motorsports, ending sixth at Texas Motor Speedway throughout the 2002 season.
Shigeaki Hattori
Picture by: Earl Ma
Nevertheless, Hattori’s motorsports journey then took him from open-wheel racing to inventory automobiles round 2004. Competing with Germain Racing within the NASCAR Truck Sequence, he struggled to acclimate and crashed out in six of the ten races he began. However this was not the tip of his NASCAR experiment.
His true influence on the game would come a couple of years later as he ventured into crew possession. Hattori Racing Enterprises was established in 2008 and began actively competing in each the NASCAR Xfinity and Truck Sequence in 2013. He introduced new sponsors into the game and gave alternatives to future Cup stars like Alex Bowman and Ross Chastain. Whereas the group by no means positioned larger than fifth in an Xfinity Sequence race, Hattori’s NASCAR operation reached beautiful heights within the Truck Sequence.
Brett Moffitt, Hattori Racing Enterprises, Toyota Tundra AISIN Group celebrates his win with a burnout
Picture by: Russell LaBounty / NKP / Motorsport Photos
The race crew received a complete of 14 Truck races with Brett Moffitt and Austin Hill, however their crowning achievement got here in 2018. Moffitt led the crew to the Championship 4, beating Noah Gragson and Kyle Busch Motorsports to win the NASCAR Truck Sequence title. Hattori’s crew moved away from full-time competitors in 2023, solely working a partial schedule lately, however his influence on the game’s decrease divisions has been immense.
Hattori Racing assertion
The crew reacted to Shige’s tragic passing with the next assertion: “We’re heartbroken to verify that Shigeaki “Shige” Hattori was pronounced deceased on the morning of Saturday, April 5, in Huntersville, N.C., following a motorcar accident. He was 61. A local of Okayama, Japan, Shige moved to america within the Nineteen Nineties to pursue his dream of turning into an open-wheel race automotive driver. He received two INDY NXT by Firestone races and made two begins within the Indianapolis 500.
“His ardour for motorsports in the end led him to NASCAR, the place he competed within the NASCAR Truck Sequence (NCTS) in 2004 and 2005. He transitioned to crew possession in 2008 and based Hattori Racing Enterprises (HRE). He received 14 NCTS races as a crew proprietor and reached the final word achievement by profitable the 2018 sequence championship. Shige was identified for his relentless drive, focus and aggressive spirit. Staff possession by HRE and Hattori Motorsports had develop into each his ardour and his life’s work. He had a singular reward to continuously inject a light-hearted angle and one-of-a-kind humorousness into his race groups that can by no means be forgotten.
“We’ll miss you dearly. Farewell, Shige.”
On this article
Nick DeGroot
IndyCar
NASCAR Truck
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