North Carolina
Shige Hattori, Racer And NASCAR Team Owner, Dies In North Carolina Crash
HOMESTEAD, FL – NOVEMBER 16: Brett Moffitt, driver of the #16 AISIN Group Toyota, crew chief Scott … More
Shigeaki “Shige” Hattori, the Japanese-born racer who made the unlikely journey from open-wheel hopeful to championship-winning NASCAR team owner, was killed Saturday morning in a three-car crash on I-77 northbound in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. He was 61.
The accident occurred around 9:15 a.m., just outside of Huntersville — a suburb north of Charlotte and very much in the heart of NASCAR country. According to a release from the Huntersville, NC, police Hattori was behind the wheel of a 2025 Toyota Crown when he crossed the center line and collided with oncoming traffic. The crash remains under investigation, but officials have stated that neither speed nor impairment are believed to have been factors.
The news was confirmed Monday by Hattori Racing Enterprises, the team he founded and led for nearly two decades:
“We are heartbroken to confirm that Shigeaki ‘Shige’ Hattori was pronounced deceased on the morning of Saturday, April 5, in Huntersville, N.C., following a motor vehicle accident. He was 61.”
DAYTONA BEACH, FL – FEBRUARY 18: Shigeaki Hattori, driver of the #9 Aisin/Aisin AW Toyota, is … More
“Shige was known for his relentless drive, focus and competitive spirit. Team ownership through HRE and Hattori Motorsports had become both his passion and his life’s work. He had a unique gift to constantly inject a light-hearted attitude and one-of-a-kind sense of humor into his race teams that will never be forgotten. We’ll miss you dearly. Farewell, Shige.”
NASCAR later issued a statement of its own:
“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. We are deeply saddened by his tragic passing. NASCAR extends its thoughts and prayers to his family and many friends.”
In a sport that thrives on big personalities and bigger budgets, Hattori was the sort of figure who earned respect the old-fashioned way — through perseverance, hustle, and an unshakable belief that he belonged. And, against the odds, he did more than just belong. He won.
Born in Okayama, Japan, Hattori began his racing career on the open-wheel circuits of his home country before taking a giant leap across the Pacific to chase his dreams in America. He landed in the Indy Lights series in 1995, won twice, and made the climb to CART and the Indy Racing League. His résumé won’t set any speed records — 26 IRL starts, 28 laps led, a best finish of sixth at Texas — but it’s a testament to his tenacity. The man had guts.
Shigeaki Hattori of Japan is helped out of his car after qualifying 19 May 2002 at the Indianapolis … More
In 2004 and 2005, he even tried his hand behind the wheel in NASCAR’s Truck Series — a fish-out-of-water moment for a Japanese driver in what was then a very Southern, very V8 world. But it was team ownership, not driving, where Hattori found his true calling.
In 2008, he founded Hattori Racing Enterprises (HRE), a plucky little outfit that over the next 15 years would become a staple of the NASCAR Truck Series garage. The team earned 14 wins in total — many with Brett Moffitt and Austin Hill — but their crowning achievement came in 2018, when Moffitt delivered Hattori his first and only NASCAR championship.
It was an underdog story so improbable it practically begged for a movie adaptation. A Japanese businessman with a Formula Nippon background, running Toyotas in NASCAR, taking on the juggernauts like ThorSport and Kyle Busch Motorsports — and winning. Not with flashy sponsors or million-dollar facilities, but with razor-sharp strategy, solid engineering, and one very determined team owner at the helm.
Hattori’s approach was all heart and hustle. He wasn’t just calling the shots from the hauler — he was hands-on, sleeves-up, and fluent in every facet of racing life. Those who worked with him speak not just of his racing mind, but his humor, his warmth, and a work ethic that bordered on legendary.
DAYTONA BEACH, FL – FEBRUARY 18: Shigeaki Hattori, driver of the Aisin/Aisin AW Toyota, poses for a … More
In many ways, Shige Hattori was the embodiment of the American dream — not because he was born here, but because he arrived with nothing and still managed to climb to the top of one of America’s toughest sports. He came to race, he stayed to build, and he left a legacy.
Motorsports, like life, doesn’t always reward the most deserving. But for once, in 2018, it did. Shige got his championship. And now, tragically, it’s time to say goodbye to a man who lived for racing — and, more than most, helped redefine what it meant to be a racer in America.
And now he’s gone. Taken not by a wall at Daytona or a mechanical failure at 200 mph, but by the same random, cruel chaos that takes too many lives on American roads every day.
Godspeed, Shige.
The North Carolina Tar Heels’ season will officially conclude after this weekend, regardless of the result on Saturday against North Carolina State.
However, the Impact of this game against North Carolina State means much more since it is an in-state rivalry matchup.
While speaking with the media during his press conference availability center Austin Blaske previewed the matchup while revealing what he has learned from his head coach during the season.
The Tar Heels’ season has been a roller coaster, which is one of the main reasons the team failed to qualify for a bowl game. Blaske understands that it has not been the season that many fans hoped for, but it served as a learning experience for the program.
Although Blaske’s final season does not conclude with a bowl game appearance, the six-year senior did have an opportunity to learn from Bill Belichick. The veteran center spoke on that experience and how it helped him develop as a player.
The Tar Heels’ 2025 season is inching closer to the end, but 2026 could spell much more success with another recruiting class arriving, paired with the experience gained from the current regime.
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A pair of ACC teams meet when the NC State Wolfpack (6-5) face off against the North Carolina Tar Heels (4-7) on Saturday, November 29, 2025 at Wayne Day Family Field at Carter-Finley Stadium. The Wolfpack are favored by 7 points. The over/under for the contest is 47.5 points.
Against the Duke Blue Devils in their most recent contest, the Tar Heels lost 32-25.
The Heels’ Gio Lopez went 21-for-27 for 204 yards against Duke, with one TD and no INTs.
Last time around, the Wolfpack defeated the Florida State Seminoles, with 21-11 being the final score.
In the article below, we’ll give you all the details you need to watch this matchup on ACC Network.
Check out: US LBM Coaches Poll powered by USA Today sports
North Carolina vs NC State line, odds, spread, over/under
College football odds courtesy of BetMGM Sportsbook. Odds updated Thursday at 10:15 p.m. ET. For a full list of sports betting odds, access USA TODAY Sports Betting Scores Odds Hub.
- Spread favorite: NC State (-7)
- Moneyline: NC State (-275), North Carolina (+220)
- Total: 47.5 points
North Carolina vs NC State game info
- Game day: Saturday, November 29, 2025
- Game time: 7:30 p.m. ET
- Location: Raleigh, North Carolina
- Stadium: Wayne Day Family Field at Carter-Finley Stadium
- Live stream: Watch on Fubo! (Regional restrictions may apply)
Watch NC State vs. North Carolina on Fubo! (Regional restrictions may apply)
North Carolina betting info
- North Carolina has won two games against the spread in conference action this season.
- The Tar Heels have covered the spread five times over 11 games with a set spread.
- North Carolina has been an underdog by 7 points or more three times this season in ACC action, and covered the spread in one of those games.
- In games they have played as 7-point underdogs or more, the Tar Heels have an ATS record of 2-2-1.
- North Carolina and its opponents have combined to hit the over three out of five times this year in ACC play.
- This year, four Tar Heels games have gone over the point total.
2025 North Carolina leaders
- Lopez: 1,629 PASS YDS / 162.9 YPG / 64.9% / 9 TD / 5 INT / 78 CAR / 141 RUSH YDS / 3 TD
- Demon June: 82 CAR / 461 YDS / 46.1 YPG / 2 TD / 17 REC / 159 YDS / 19.9 YPG / 1 TD
- Davion Gause: 60 CAR / 253 YDS / 28.1 YPG / 3 TD / 14 REC / 123 YDS / 15.4 YPG / 2 TD
- Jordan Shipp: 52 REC / 581 YDS / 52.8 YPG / 5 TD
- Kobe Paysour: 30 REC / 388 YDS / 38.8 YPG / 1 TD
Nov. 26 (UPI) — A three-judge panel on Wednesday permitted North Carolina to adopt a redrawn congressional map that is expected to favor the Republican Party.
The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina unanimously ruled against the plaintiffs’ request for an injunction against legislation approved in October by the state’s General Assembly that critics say threaten one federal congressional district, specifically Congressional District 1, which represented by Democrat Don Davis.
In their 57-page ruling on Wednesday, the three Republican-appointed judges said the plaintiffs failed to prove that the state’s General Assembly enacted the legislation, Senate Bill 249, with the intent to “minimize or cancel out the voting potential” of Black North Carolinians as they had claimed.
The ruling comes in protracted litigation that began in 2023, when the Republican-led state sought to redraw some of the districts for electing representatives to the state Senate and federal Congress.
The plaintiffs, who include the North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, sued that December. In October, amid litigation on the maps, the state’s General Assembly passed legislation to swap counties between Congressional District 1 and Congressional District 3.
The plaintiffs again sued the state, alleging the legislation was unconstitutional and asking the court to enjoin S.B. 249.
Earlier this month, the same three-judge panel issued a ruling approving the changes to the map put forward in 2023.
A hearing on S.B. 249 was held Nov. 19, during which the plaintiffs argued that the speed with which the General Assembly passed the 2025 plan was evidence of discriminatory intent.
But the panel of judges disagreed, stating “they have offered no reason to believe that the speed of the 2025 process indicates an intent to discriminate on the basis of race. Nor do they explain what weight we are supposed to assign to what they call ‘the near uniform outcry among North Carolina voters against the map and the process.’”
The ruling comes amid something of a gerrymandering race in the United States that began in earnest when Texas this summer — under pressure of President Donald Trump — sought a mid-decade redraw of its maps to make them more favorable to the Republican Party.
California is in the process of redrawing its maps in retaliation and other states under control of both parties have followed with similar plans.
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