FANTASY NASCAR Racin

SHIGEAKI HATTORI - 11/3/1963 -
Hattori is a former race car driver that competed in the Indy Car Series, Indy Light Series and also the NASCAR Truck Series. Hattori first raced in the Indy Light Series in 1996 where he ran 11 of 12 races with a best finish of fourth. In 1997 he ran 12 of 13 events with mediocre results. 1998 was a good year for Shigeaki as he won the season opening race at Homestead and three races later won again at Gateway. He then had a run of bad luck as six of the next seven races he was either involved in a crash or had mechanical failure. He ended up 14th in that seasons points. The next five years he moved up and raced part time in the Indy Car series. 1999 was a dismal year with poor finishes. In 2000 he ran five races; but finished in the top ten four times. 2001 saw him have four Top 10's in twelve starts. 2002 saw him make his first start in the Indy

500 as he would pull off the starting grid 27th, and after he would suffer engine failure in his Nissan powered, Dallara chassis he would end up 20th. This year also saw him post his best career Indy Car finish as he finished sixth at Texas. His final season of Indy car racing came in 2003 as he made four starts. He again ran the Indy 500; but fuel pressure problems relegated him to a 30th place finish. He then decided to switch to the NASCAR Series and race in the Truck series. In 2005 he ran his only season in the Truck series and he ran a part time schedule. His first career start came at Daytona where he qualified a surprising seventh. Unfortunately he got caught up in the 'big one' and ended up with a 34th place finish. The next

week at Fontana he crashed again and finished 30th. At Atlanta he ran the complete race but finished 27th and repeated that again the next race at Gateway. Four of the final six races he was caught up in crashes and quit racing after the 16th race of the 2005 season and retired from driving. Hattori became a car owner and formed Hattori Racing Enterprises (HRE). This was in 2013 when he first fielded a truck for Brett Moffitt. He started 14th and finished 17th at the two mile Michigan International speedway. In 2014 Alex Bowman would make the first start for Hattori in the Xfinity Series. He would start 20 and finish 19th at Dover. Ross Chastain made three starts

for Hattori and Johnny Sauter made an additional three in 2014. Ross Kenseth made one start in the Xfinity series in 2015 and that is the only starts any of Hattori's vehicles have made outside of the Truck Series. Hattori's truck drivers only ran part time in 2015 and 2016 making a total of 19 starts. Ryan Truex made 15 of those starts in 2016. He posted the best finish over that span as he finished second in the season opening Daytona race, and had four Top 10 finishes. In 2017 Hattori went full time Truck series Racing. He hired Truex to drive full time and he posted eight Top 5 finishes. He claimed a second place finish at New Hampshire; added a third and five fourths. He had 13 Top 10 finishes and finished ninth in the 2017 points. Truex missed the playoffs in a tiebreaker with Ben Rhodes. Brett Moffitt was hired to drive the truck for 2018. In a

surprise the team jelled quickly and in only the second race of the year Moffitt claimed the checkered flag. He would add more wins as the season progressed claiming the checkers at Iowa. The team almost had to shut down because of lack of sponsorship and just barely went to race at Chicago. Hattori was constantly making trips to Japan to try and round up sponsorship money. At Chicago he would claim another win and he would add more wins at Michigan and Phoenix. Even with all the wins; the team seemed to always be on a tight budget. He rolled into the Championship race at Homestead with Johnny Sauter the odds on favorite to claim the win. Justin Haley had also had a good season and was a strong contender to claim

the crown. Moffitt was a bit off the pace early in the race; but the team worked on the truck each time they got their hands on it; and made it faster each time. By the end of the second stage; after pit stops Moffitt found himself up toward front with a fast truck. The green flag flew to start the final stage and the race ran green until the checkered hankie flew. Sauter's truck was never really competitive; neither was Haley's. Moffitt found himself the best truck of those in the Chase and with 29 laps to go Moffitt pushed his truck by Jordan Anderson and into the lead. He led the final 29 laps to claim the win and the Championship. Shortly after the season ended Moffitt was informed he was being released due to financial issues; and was free to

look for a ride elsewhere. Hattori Racing Enterprises was going to look for a driver who would be able to bring sponsorship with them to the team. In January 2019, Hattori announced that Austin Hill would drive the #16 machine for 2019. Hill scored a win the first race of the season at Daytona. Hill would go on to win again at Michigan and Las Vegas, and qualify for the Chase. In the third round of the Chase, Hill crashed and had a poor finish at Martinsville. It was enough to prevent him from advancing to the final race to try and win the Championship. In the race at Homestead Hill had a truck no one else could keep touch with. He led 56 of 134 laps and won the race. Since he wasn't eligible to win the Championship; second place finisher Matt Crafton was the 2019 Champ. Hill was back with HRE in 2020 and other than when he had a crash or mechanical issue; he was a contender to win. In the season first seven races he posted a top 10 or better result; including four Top 5's.

Then he had a motor expire at Texas; but came back the next race to get his first win of the season. He did well in the Chase; even winning at Las Vegas. A poor finish at Martinsville where he blew a motor; the last race before the Championship race; left him on the outside looking in without a shot of winning the Chase. He was back at the key boards of the #16 racing for HRE in 2021. Hattori provided race vehicles for driver in both the Xfinity and Truck series. In the Truck series he had driver Sheldon Creed back to try and win that Truck Championship. Creed got off to a rough start, finishing 22nd and 33rd in the first two races. After that 12 of the next 13 race were all inside the top 10, with Creed getting two wins. When the Chase started, he had some bad finishes, but manage to hang in

there right up until he was eliminated right before the Championship race. In the Xfinity series he fielded a car that was shared by several drivers. For the season Austin Hill would finish ninth at Nashville, while Bubba Wallace finished tenth at Michigan. This would be the only Top 10 finishes the drivers would produce. Creed is leaving the Truck series in 2022 to go drive for RCR in the Xfinity series; while Hill will also go to the Xfinity series and also drive for RCR. Tyler Ankrum was picked to fill the seat of the #16 Truck in 2022. HRE fielded two full time teams in the Truck series in 2022. As, Ankrum wheeled one truck; Chase Purdy drove the other. Ankrum replaced Austin Hill who moved on to the Xfinity Series to drive for RCR in

2022. The HRE equipment isn't as good as the upper level of truck teams. Hence it is difficult for their driver to post many wins or top five finishes. As it turned out; neither driver was able to get a top five finish all season. Ankrum would finish in the top ten on eight occasions. His best run came at IRP when he finished sixth. He did have 15 top 15 finishes. Purdy only had two top ten finishes. His best finish was seventh at Talladega. He had 12 top 15 finishes. Purdy has been hired by KBM to wheel the #4 truck in 2023. Tyler Ankrum would drive the #16 vehicle in 2023 as HRE scaled back to just fielding one full time entry. The team started off with a seventh place run at Daytona, and three weeks later finished fourth at COTA. It would be Ankrum’s best run of the year. He did end up with six top ten finishes. Ankrum is leaving to go drive for McAnally Hilgemann Racing in 2024.