Little to race for Hattori Racing Enterprises at Iowa Speedway
SHERRILLS FORD, North Carolina (July 29, 2015) — Hattori Racing Enterprises (HRE) and team owner Shige Hattori have signed 2013 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Rookie of the Year, to drive the No. 1 Yazaki Toyota Camry in Friday evening’s ‘Thanks Kenny 150’ at Iowa Speedway.
“We’re looking forward to this weekend’s start with Hattori Racing Enterprises and it’s great to have ‘Get to Know Newton’ community outreach project continue their relationship with me for the race at Iowa Speedway. The Newton community is one of our favorite places to visit and bringing attention to race fans about this great area has always been one of my highlights when coming to Iowa.
“Jesse is a talented young driver and we’re looking forward to have him drive our HRE No. 1 Yazaki Toyota Camry this weekend at Iowa Speedway,” said Hattori.
For this Friday night’s race at Iowa Speedway, HRE has assembled a crew featuring six college students from Toyota Technical College in Japan. The students, who are from the campuses in Tokyo, Kobe and Nagoya, have been in North Carolina since last Monday (July 20) attending classes at the NASCAR Technical Institute, including pit crew training, and working at the HRE shop to prepare for this weekend’s activities — where they’ll make all the adjustments during the halfway break in the race.
“This has been a great opportunity for the students to not only become immersed in NASCAR, but to visit the United States and experience a different culture” explained Hattori. “This is the fourth year of this program where we’ve had college students from Toyota Technical College come to North Carolina and I’m glad that we can provide these students with this unique opportunity and learning experience.”
In addition to taking classes and working at the race shop, the students have visited the NASCAR Hall of Fame and Charlotte Motor Speedway, as well as a Saturday night race at Bowman Gray Stadium.
Little is excited to make his HRE debut at Iowa Speedway and has been helping the crew get more acclimated to NASCAR.
“We’ve been working together in the race shop all week getting this Yazaki Toyota Camry ready for Friday night’s race,” he said. “Even though we may not speak the same language, we’ve been able to work well together because we all have racing in common. They’ve been practicing pit stops and we’ve been talking strategy — so looking forward to seeing what we can accomplish as a team this weekend.”
“HRE has good equipment, and as a driver at Iowa Speedway I’ve had a lot of success. It will be an honor to work with veteran crew chief Jamie Jones this weekend to see if we can get our Camry to victory lane,” Little said.
Little announced the continued partnership with the City of Newton and their ‘Get to know Newton’ promotional campaign tied into his racing endeavors on Friday night.
“To be part of the ‘Get to Know Newton’ brand is a great opportunity for our team,” the 18-year old said. “Iowa Speedway, Newton and the whole area are one race weekend we look forward to each year. The Newton community has so many great amenities, excellent schools and unique entertainment venues such as Iowa Speedway.”
Support from Performance Friction Brakes and NASCAR Technical Institute will continue this weekend as Little goes for the win with Hattori Racing Enterprises.
Stay informed of all the latest news regarding NASCAR Next driver Jesse Little by logging onto jesselittle.com and at hometracks.nascar.com
News and photos will also be available on Little’s Twitter account @jesselittle97 or on the team’s Facebook page, Jesse Little Racing.
About Hattori Racing Enterprises
Hattori Racing Enterprises (HRE) was founded in 2009 by Shige Hattori and since then the team has fielded entries in a variety of different series, including the NASCAR XFINITY Series, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, NASCAR K & N Pro Series East and ARCA. A former driver, Hattori captured the Japan Formula Toyota championship in 1994 and moved to the United States the following year to race open-wheel cars. He competed in the Toyota Atlantic Series, Indy Lights and Indy Car, winning a pair of Indy Lights races in 1998 and participating in two Indianapolis 500s. In 2005, Hattori made the transition to stock cars and drove Toyota Tundra in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. In 2015, HRE will be fielding entries in select NASCAR events, including races in the XFINITY Series, Camping World Truck Series and K&N Pro Series East.
About Yazaki
Yazaki North America is part of the Yazaki Group. An independent automotive component maker founded in Japan in 1941, Yazaki is a global leader in the research, development and delivery of vehicle power and data solutions for automotive applications. Yazaki produces wire harnesses, power distribution and control products, connectors, driver information systems, sensors, and hybrid and electric vehicle products. With nearly 257,100 employees in more than 44 countries, Yazaki is one of the world’s largest privately owned automotive suppliers. Yazaki has become a valued supplier to virtually every major automotive manufacturer in the world.
About Team Little Racing
Team Little Racing is a NASCAR driver development program that currently competes in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and NASCAR K&N Pro Series with driver Jesse Little.
Sources: Team Little Racing PR