In honor of the late Shigeaki “Shige” Hattori, we look back at the history of the Japanese-American racing team. Sadly, on Saturday, the racing world lost a visionary. Shige was 61. In honor of his passing, we take a quick look back on his race team, Hattori Racing Enterprises.

In the 1990s, Shige moved to the United States from Okayama, Japan, to pursue his dream of becoming an open-wheel race car driver. Shige entered the Indianapolis 500 twice after winning two INDY NXT races. But it was stock car racing that won over Hattori, where he competed in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2005 before ultimately becoming a team owner in the series.

Hattori Racing Enterprises began ownership in 2008 in the ARCA Menards Series. Over the years, HRE has won five times in ARCA competition. They would field cars for big names such as Brett Moffitt, Ross Chastain, Matt DiBenedetto, and more.

The team saw the most success in the Craftsman Truck Series, where they began competing in 2013, racing part-time, and competing full-time in 2017 with Ryan Truex. HRE saw major success quickly with two drivers winning 14 races and Brett Moffitt winning the 2018 Championship. Brett Moffitt scored six wins on his way to that title, and Austin Hill scored the remaining eight. Following the 2023 season with Tyler Ankrum, the team only entered four races in 2024 with Aric Almirola, who failed to qualify, 2016 Series Champion Johnny Sauter, and rookie Landon Lewis.

Hattori Racing Enterprises began racing in the Xfinity Series in 2014, with Ross Chastain scoring their first Top-10 at Kentucky that same year. They ran 25 times in the series, with the majority of the team’s success in that time coming from 2019-2021, with Austin Hill behind the wheel, netting 4 Top-10s and a single Top-5.

Hattori Racing Enterprises was a team with fantastic potential and results in stock car racing. Shige will be missed throughout the garage and the sport.

Image Credit: James Gilbert/Getty Images