Bobby Hamilton dies at age 49

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Sunday, 01/07/07

Bobby Hamilton dies at age 49

Tennessean Staff Reports


Local racing legend Bobby Hamilton passed away today at age 49, according to his son, Bobby Hamilton, Jr.

Hamilton, a former Fairgrounds Speedway champion who won the 2004 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship, missed most of the 2006 season after being diagnosed with cancer.

See tomorrow’s Tennessean for more details.

http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070107/SPORTS09/70107008
 
RIP Bobby

Hamilton, 49, dies after battle with neck cancer
By Ryan Smithson, NASCAR.COM
January 7, 2007
07:14 PM EST (00:14 GMT)


Bobby Hamilton, a four-time winner in the Cup Series, died Sunday. He was 49.

Hamilton, a native of Nashville, had been battling cancer for nearly a year. He announced in March 2006 that he was undergoing treatment for neck cancer. He immediately turned over his driving duties in the Craftsman Truck Series to his son, Bobby Hamilton Jr.

Liz Allison, a family friend who co-hosted a radio show with Hamilton, said he was at home with his family when he died.

Hamilton was diagnosed with head and neck cancer in February after a malignant growth was found when swelling from dental surgery did not go down.

He raced in the season's first three events, with a best finish of 14th at Atlanta Motor Speedway, before turning over the wheel to his son.

"I love what I do; I love this business," Hamilton said when he disclosed that he had cancer. "NASCAR has been good to me, and I just don't feel comfortable when I am not around it."

Hamilton quit driving in the Cup Series after the 2002 season to focus on his thriving Craftsman Truck Series team. He went on to win the Craftsman Truck Series title in 2004.

"It is a terrible loss to us," said Larry McClure, Hamilton's team owner from 1998-2000. "I will miss him. I always thought of him as my friend."

McClure said he had talked to Hamilton just a few weeks ago.

"I asked him how he was dong and he said, Pretty good,'" McClure said. "Just amazing how it can turn like that."

Hamilton is probably best known for the unusual way he broke into NASCAR's top series. He served as a stunt driver for the 1990 movie Days of Thunder, performing so well that he was soon hired to run the Cup Series full-time. He went on become Rookie of the Year in 1991.

His big break, however, came in 1995 when Hamilton was hired to drive the No. 43 of Petty Enterprises. He resurrected the ailing team with 10 top-10 finishes in 1995, and in 1996, he won at Phoenix, which helped him finish a career-best ninth in points.

After winning at Rockingham in 1997, Hamilton moved to Morgan-McClure Motorsports for the 1998-2000 seasons. His only win during that time came in 1998 at Martinsville.

"He was a good driver and a good businessman," McClure said. "We spent three years with him and it was great. He got us out last win. It was probably the last time the team was competitive, and he kept getting better and better."

Hamilton wrapped up his Cup career with a two-year stint with Andy Petree. He won at Talladega in 2001 in a thrilling race that went green the entire way. The win was Petree's first as a car owner, and Petree celebrated by diving across the hood as Hamilton drove into Victory Lane.

The Tennessean first reported Hamilton's death on the newspaper's Web site.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
 
thats to bad. You just never know how your life is going to end up. Just remember live life to the fullest. RIP.:(
 
man that sucks...the last i heard he was getting better.

my prayers are with his family....he'll be greatly missed.
 
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RIP
 
Wow, very sad to hear of this. Condolences to the Hamilton family. 49 is way too young to die.
Kinda hits home right now. I'm going through the roughest time of my life with my dad.
 
Thoughts and prayers to Bobby's family.


(and to you to, Bobby Ford)



Bobby Hamilton, gone to race in a better place.......
with Adam, Dale, Neil and Alan.
 
I tryed to upload a pic of him doing a burn out that i took in Nashville back in 04.

Prayers to his Family, Friends, and Fans. The Racing Family has lost another driver to soon.

Him, Dale, Adam, Davey, Neil, Alan, Tim, and John are are all togather now talking about what they loved....Racing
 
One of my fondest memories of Bobby was from a race at Martinsville. Rusty had the car to beat that day and was stinking up the field. While trying to lap Bobby, he was having a very hard time and finally put the bumper to him and that spun Bobby out. Bobby didn't mince words over his radio and it was clear that at this moment in time, Rusty was his least favorite person in the whole world. Nuff said about that moment, but that savy racing fan that I am, I decided to keep my eye on Bobby for the rest of the race, thinking that at some time, he would take out his anger in Rusty's car. I waited and waited and finally, Rusty was getting close to lapping Bobby again. It was in the third and fourth corners that Rusty got around Bobby. Bobby didn't do anything and I thought it was all finished. However, Bobby stayed with Rusty down the front stretch and when they went into the first corner, Bobby took Rusty out. Not being a Rusty fan, I loved it, but it still caught me by surprise because I thought that Bobby would do it long before that corner. But when thinking back on it, I suspect that Bobby knew that if Rusty was thinking about Bobby getting even, he would probably do it when the first chance came and would be ready for it. However, when nothing happened during the pass, I imagine that Rusty thought all was cool and he wasn't ready for what happened. I can tell you from what I heard that he definately wasn't ready, but more important, he was ticked. Did I say ticked? I guess that's not the best word I could come up with, but ticked just isn't the emotion that Rusty was feeling at the time. BTW, Rusty was able to come back from that spin to take the lead again, but strategy played a bigger game and it was Mark Martin who didn't pit at the end who took the checkered flag.

Bobby wasn't the best driver on the track, but for sure, he had class. May he rest in peace.
 
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