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Tom Hnatiw, Well Known Race Announcer and Automotive TV Personality Has Died


Tom Hnatiw, Well Known Race Announcer and Automotive TV Personality Has Died

Well known racing announcer, journalist, and automotive television personality Tom Hnatiw has died. Chances are you have seen Hnatiw on TV or read something he has written in a myriad of car magazines and other publications. We most remember him from two places. The first was hearing him announcing at tracks like Lime Rock when he was the voice of the SCCA World Challenge Series and the second is from the two TV shows that were in heavy rotation on the SPEED channel a few years back, which were Dream Car Garage and Sports Car Revolution. Dream Car Garage saw Hnatiw and his pal Peter Klutt profiling many of the coolest cars ever made.

While we never had the chance to meet Tom personally, his easy going “regular guy” persona on television made him watchable and someone we probably would have loved to have had a beer with while talking cars. He clearly enjoyed what he was doing and his passion for cars of all shapes and sizes came right through the screen, the microphone, and the page. Details have not been released regarding his passing and we will not speculate on that end.

A great voice silenced too soon.

 


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6 thoughts on “Tom Hnatiw, Well Known Race Announcer and Automotive TV Personality Has Died

  1. Mad Matt

    Sad. I loved Dream Car Garage. I miss it. He was a great announcer. I heard him many times at Road Atlanta.

  2. THoffmann

    Sad to hear. I recognized the name before I saw the photos, but couldn’t remember who he was. Once I saw the pictures, I was bummed. He was an enjoyable guy to watch and had a quirky humor. I never really cared for Peter Klutt, but they did profile some beautiful cars. Tom did not appear to be all that old — maybe mid to late 50’s?

    RIP Tom.

  3. fast Ed

    Tom was only 54 years old, but he did a heck of a lot of living in that time. Up here in Canada we are taking the loss pretty hard, Tom was extremely well liked and respected in the racing community here especially. I am going to put together some more background info and stories about Tom for Brian to post up here. R.I.P. to an amazing guy.

  4. Ed

    awesome guy, sad news. Loved his line “do you NEED a car like this? No. Do you WANT a car like this? Oh yeah”.

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