30 year old Steve Hatley owns and operates Hatley's Body Shop in Chapel Hill, NC. Steve and his wife, Cathy, have one son, Michael (age 9),and were recently blessed with a baby girl, Heather Rose Hatley. Hatley has been in and around auto racing all of his life. He began racing competitively at the age of 18, and spent 3 1/2 years running on dirt at Ace Speedway, north of Burlington, NC. When the 3/8ths mile speedway was paved in 1990, Hatley built a car that would enable him to run in the NASCAR-sanctioned Winston Racing Series Super Stock Division. In his first season on asphalt, he had a first-place finish, six second place finishes and finished an impressive fourth in final division points. He dominated the Super Stock division for the next 2 years, and drove away with back-to-back season championships in 1993 and 1994. Hatley has been recognized at the NASCAR-sanctioned speedway as the Most Popular Driver, the ACE Hard-Charger, and the "Winningest Driver of the Year."

Hatley advanced to the NASCAR Winston Racing Series Late Model Stock division for the 1995 season. He finished sixth in division points and was awarded Rookie of the Year honors in an impressive field that included present Busch Grand National driver Elliott Sadler. In 1996, Hatley drove to a fourth place points finish and the annual Late Model Sportsmanship award.

1997 marked big changes for Steve Hatley Racing. Hatley's racing philosophy is "RACE with the best, LEARN from the best, BE the best." That's why he decided to turn the heat up a notch and field his late model Pontiac Grand Prix at the prestigious and highly competitive Orange County Speedway near Durham NC. This historic high-banked track is billed as the "fastest 3/8ths mile oval" in the nation, and has recently hosted the Busch Grand National Series and Hooters Cup. OCS is considered a premier Late Model Stock Division "showcase" where drivers go to hone their skills against the best the series has to offer. Hatley's freshman season at OCS was quite a "learning experience". The greatest lesson learned by the team was that to finish well at OCS, they would have to consistently qualify near the front. Things happen fast at OCS and Steve and the team often found themsleves caught up in multi-car carshes in the middle of the pack. Despite a few of these "learning experiences", more than a few strong finishes and consistent performance brought Steve to a 9th place finish in the final season points.

Orange County Speedway holds races every other Saturday during their season. When time permits, this will allow Steve to race off weekends at Caraway Speedway, another hotbed of young driver talent. This storied short track in Asheboro NC has graduated successful drivers such as Bobby Labonte, Mike Skinner, Chuck Bown, Dennis Setzer and Nathan Buttke.

In addition to this full season schedule, when time allows, Hatley will return to ACE Speedway for a few Friday night shootouts.

Steve Hatley Racing has an impressive track record of performance excellence. A proven champion, Hatley has every expectation of having his most successful year in 1998. He has established himself as a driver who can race wheel to wheel with the best Late Model Stock Car drivers in the southeast, usually on a fraction of their budgets. Hatley is happy racing anything on 4 wheels. For the foreseeable future, he is dedicated to joining the elite of the Late Model Stock world. However, the prospect of moving up to NASCAR's Busch Grand National Division is not out of the question. The prospect has arisen in the past and will be given due consideration in the future. If the time and the deal are right, it will be a strong possibility.