Shigeaki Hattori, former Austin Hill team owner, dies in N.C. car crash at age 61

NASCAR PHOTO

NASCAR Wire Service – Shigeaki Hattori, a former driver and championship-winning NASCAR team owner, died Saturday morning in a highway crash. He was 61. The Huntersville, N.C. Police Department confirmed Hattori’s death in a Monday press release that Hattori was pronounced deceased on the scene.

Hattori raced in IndyCar and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series before transitioning to team ownership. His Hattori Racing Enterprises (HRE) teams made starts over several years in the Xfinity Series but emerged as a contender in the Craftsman Truck Series, winning the 2018 championship with driver Brett Moffitt.

Hattori scored 14 wins as a Truck Series team owner from 2018 to 2021 — six by Moffitt and eight by current Xfinity Series regular Austin Hill. All the while, Hattori served as an ambassador for the sport in his home country of Japan, building partnerships with his team and Toyota dealerships, and creating a NASCAR training program for aspiring mechanics there.

Austin Hill drove for Hattori Racing Enterprises from 2019-2021, piloting the No. 16 Toyota, with Hill’s first win in the 2019 NextEra Energy 250 at Daytona.

Winston, Georgia’s Austin Hill, driving for Hattori Racing Enterprises in 2019 – Motorsport America File Photo

“I never would have thought in a million years I’d win at Daytona. I think there’s going to be a lot of good things to come for us.”, Hill said in a post-race interview.

“Shigeaki Hattori was a passionate racer and highly successful team owner, but beyond all his team’s statistics — which includes a NASCAR Truck Series championship — Shige was a genuine, beloved member of the garage who worked tirelessly to lift our sport and his people,” NASCAR said in a statement. “We are deeply saddened by his tragic passing. NASCAR extends its thoughts and prayers to his family and many friends.”

In a statement, Toyota Racing Development USA President Tyler Gibbs said: “Everyone at Toyota and TRD, U.S.A. is saddened to learn of Shige Hattori’s tragic passing. Toyota’s history with Shige spans decades. Through his long run as a driver to his history-making championship success as an owner, Shige’s motivation and work ethic to achieve at the highest level never wavered. His endearing personality was infectious and unforgettable. We are thinking of his family and friends as they process this terrible loss.”

As a driver, Hattori began his career in youth go-karts before shifting to Formula 2 and 3 racing in Japan. He moved to the U.S. in 1995 to chase a racing career stateside, joining the Indy Lights Series full-time the next year and scoring two wins in 1998.

He reached the IndyCar Series in 2000 and competed in parts of four seasons before exploring the Craftsman Truck Series in 2004, the same year Toyota entered NASCAR. He made 10 starts on that circuit the next year but decided to trade his driving gloves in for a different role shortly thereafter.

“I decided, ‘OK, no more,’ and I stopped driving,” Hattori told NASCAR.com in 2022. “Two or three years after, I didn’t do anything. I took some classes at UCLA, traveling and doing nothing with my life. I was thinking, I should do something. I really liked NASCAR racing, and so I decided I should start my race team and put young drivers (in it). So, I started in 2008.”

That year, Hattori started a team in the ARCA Menards Series, then known as the NASCAR K&N Series. He reached the national series ranks in 2013, with Moffitt as his first driver.

Hattori’s organization began full-time competition in trucks with Ryan Truex at the wheel. The next year, he reunited with Moffitt and the two won in just their second race back together, an overtime victory at Atlanta that set the course for their title march.

“It was a green-white-checkered (finish),” Hattori recalled. “It was such a good memory.”