The Shigeaki Hattori Scorecard

(AKA, The Human Wrecking Ball)



Last Updated: June 21, 2001

1999 CART Season Event Distance Wreck/Notes Spring Training 12 laps into first session. Smacked outside Turn 4 wall. With no spare car, team packed up and went home. Homestead First practice session. Coming out of Turn 4, lost rear end, slammed into outside wall. Registered a record 145 G's. Concussion forced team to pack up and go home. Motegi 140 race laps. Most likely inspired by his home country's crowd, Shigeaki manages to completely keep it off the wall the entire weekend. Clutch failure ultimately caused his departure. Long Beach 1) Sunday warm-up.

2) 21 laps into race. 1) While taking a look at his gauges, wrecks car against the wall during a shakedown run.

2) Puts his backup car into the wall during the race. Nazareth 11 minutes into first practice session. Lost control while exiting Turn 2 at only 137 mph. Hard contact into outside wall. Entry was withdrawn. Team packed up and went home. Rio Did not enter. By mutual agreement between Chief Steward, Wally Dallenbach, and team owner, Tony Bettenhausen, Shigeaki Hattori was told to skip Nazareth and Rio to get more testing time in order to become more familiar with the car. Gateway Saturday warm-up. So close, yet so far. After successfully running numerous incident free laps in practice and qualifying, Shigeaki Hattori spins in the pre-race morning warm-up and suffers minor front-end damage. The team is able to make repairs, and Hattori finishes his first CART race completing 229 spin free laps. Milwaukee 118 laps into race. Slides up high coming out of turn and brushes the wall, suffering damage to right side preventing him from finishing two races in a row. Portland 1) All sessions leading up to the race.

2) Lap 8. 1) Spun numerous times.

2) After nearly the entire field had lapped him, Shiggy yells something on the radio, pits, and jumps out of the car. He informs the team he was sick and leaves the pits. Bettenhausen insists that CART officially lists the reason as "driver retired" and not make up some mechanical problem. Cleveland Did not enter. Took the race off to get more testing time. Road America Did not enter. Took the race off to get more testing time. Either that, or they are running out of money fixing the car... Toronto 1) 72 minutes into Friday morning practice.

2) 7 minutes into Friday qualifying.

3) 19 minutes into Sunday morning warmup.

4) Lap 17

5) Lap 56. No major crash leaves the door open for a plethora of incidents throughout the weekend.

1) Slides into the run-off at turn 3. Did not hit anything.

2) Slides into the run-off at turn 3. Did not hit anything.

3) This time Hattori isn't so lucky in turn 3 and hits the tire barriers. He's able to continue.

4) Slides into the run-off area at turn 3 and stalls car. After several laps, he's restarted and rejoins race. There is no truth to the rumor that turn 3 will be renamed the Shigeaki Hattori Turn.

5) Brushes the wall sustaining suspension damage. Finally calls it a day. US 500 Did not enter. Skipped his first superspeedway race. Thankfully. Detroit Did not enter. Again, Shigeaki did not compete. He's taking all the fun out of this. Mid-Ohio Did not enter. Still no Shigeaki. Looks like it might be time to retire the Scorecard. Chicago 217 race laps. By George, I think he's got it! Well okay, he was slow, but Shigeaki never hit the wall for the entire weekend. The layoff must have done him so good. Vancouver Did not enter. Most likely reveling in his "fine" performance at Chicago, Shigeaki might have thought, why push your luck. Whatever the reason, he sat out Vancouver to prepare for Laguna Seca. Laguna Seca 1) 36 minutes into Friday morning practice session.

2) 6 minutes into Friday qualifying.

3) 28 minutes into Friday qualifying.

4) Saturday. 1) Spins at Turn 8 making light contact with the inside wall with the nose of his car.

2) Spins at Turn 6 and stalls on outside of track.

3) Spins exiting Turn 3 hitting the outside wall nose first.

4) In an unprecedented and long overdue move, Chief Steward, Wally Dallenbach, revokes Shigeaki Hattori's license for the remainder of the season, "because his performance did not meet the standards of a Champ Car competitor." Thus, putting an end to all the fun Deep Throttle fans have been enjoying.

THE END

2000 IRL Season Just when race track walls thought it was safe again, along comes the astounding news that Shigeaki Hattori, the man who had his license revoked by CART, will be driving for Treadway Racing in the IRL this year. He brought along Epson to buy ... whoops, that doesn't happen in the IRL ... to secure the ride for him. Thus, what we thought was going to be retired, comes back like Freddy Krueger -- The Shigeaki Hattori Scorecard will live on in 2000 and beyond bringing you all the exploits of this new adventure.



Oh, the absurdity! Event Distance Wreck/Notes Texas 207 race laps Starts 26th due to rained out qualifying which is then based on points, works his way all the way up to an 8th place finish one lap back, and beats Eddie Cheever who finishes on same lap. Wow, this IRL stuff is pretty easy. Pikes Peak 1) Lap 80.

2) Lap 174. Ahh, that's better.

1) Spins on backstraight coming off of Turn 2. No contact. Resumes racing.

2) Eventually parks it due to handling problems. Atlanta 206 race laps Starts 18th having qualified between IRL poster boys, Davey Hamilton (17th) and Billy Boat (19th). Good thing the Shig has all that sprint car experience. Finishes 9th, two laps back. Kentucky 199 race laps Starts 17th and finishes 9th, one lap back. Another top ten finish against oval racing's best... Texas 207 race laps Starts 15th and finishes 7th, one lap back, beating IRL powerhouses, Jeff Ward, Buzz Calkins, and Jaques Lazier. Good thing the IRL is the toughest racing out there...

2001 IRL Season Event Distance Wreck/Notes Phoenix 192 race laps Starts 24th, 12+ mph slower than the pole position, and just one spot behind IRL savior, Al Unser, Jr. Finishes 13th, 8 laps back. Hmmm, maybe the competition is finally taking the Shigster seriously... Homestead 193 race laps Starts 21st, 8+ mph slower than the pole position, and two spots behind Al Unser, Jr. Finishes 15th, 7 laps back. Can't go wrong cruising around in the IRL. Atlanta 198 race laps Amazingly, qualifies fifth, against the self proclaimed best oval drivers in the world, ahead of such luminaries as Sam Hornish, Jr., Buddy Lazier, Scott Sharp, and Al Unser, Jr. Finishes in 8th place, two laps down, but then only 12 drivers were still running at the end, with three of them limping home many, many laps down. Indianapolis 1) Testing lap 174

2) Day 6

3) Bump Day The famed Brickyard seems to bring out the best (the best?) in everybody.

1) Spins 180 degrees and hits the outer wall exiting Turn One while testing at the track that supposedly hosts the greatest race in the world.

2) Does a half-spin in the short chute between Turns 1 and 2, sliding backward, before the car spun back forward in the same direction of the initial spin. In atypical Shiggy luck, he makes no contact.

3) Gets bumped out of the field. Tries not once, but twice, to get back in, but fails, leaving the worldwide hordes of Shigeaki Hattori fans absolutely devastated. Texas 1) Practice

2) 198 race laps 1) Does a quarter spin exiting pit lane for his qualifying run.

2) Despite only being given one lap to qualify, he qualifies fifth -- fifth I tell you -- against the drivers that couldn't even finish on the lead lap at Indy against the CART drivers and teams. Alas, an early mechanical problem spoiled any chance of some more fun, but he still finishes 10th, thanks to hardly anybody left running, two laps down. Pikes Peak 1) Saturday second practice session

2) Qualifying The old Shigeaki Hattori we have learned to love returns.

1) Scraped the outside wall exiting Turn 4.

2) On his second qualifying lap (after his first lap was good enough to place him seventh(!) on the grid) backed into the wall in Turn 2. Was not cleared to race for "precautionary reasons."