32 Facts About Bobby Hamilton

Bobby Hamilton had a memorable win at the Talladega 500 in April 2001 driving the No 55 car for owner Andy Petree.

Bobby Hamilton quit school at the age of fourteen and began his racing career at Nashville Speedway USA, now Fairgrounds Speedway, racing on the weekly circuit at the legendary track, where he won back to back Late Model Stock Car Championships in 1987 and 1988.

In 1988, Bobby Hamilton won an unprecedented four races, in three different divisions, in one night, at Nashville Fairground Speedway.

Bobby Hamilton began to be noticed within the NASCAR ranks after racing in a special four-car "Superstar Showdown" at Nashville in 1988 against Cup Series drivers Sterling Marlin, Darrell Waltrip, and Bill Elliott.

Bobby Hamilton broke into the Winston Cup ranks in a very unusual way.

Bobby Hamilton was asked to drive one of the "movie cars" for the 1990 film Days of Thunder, qualifying fifth in the movie car at the 1989 Autoworks 500 in Phoenix, in a car that was not intended to be competitive.

Bobby Hamilton made his NASCAR debut in the Busch Series in 1988 at Charlotte Motor Speedway driving the No 16 Filmar Racing Chevrolet, finishing 14th.

Bobby Hamilton competed in the next race at Rockingham and finished 20th.

Bobby Hamilton made his Winston Cup debut in a "Days of Thunder" car owned by Hendrick Motorsports.

Bobby Hamilton led five laps but finished 32nd after an engine failure.

Bobby Hamilton matched his 11th-place points finish in 1990 with Filmar Racing, when he was picked up by Tri-star Motorsports to run Winston Cup full-time beginning in 1991, driving the No 68 Country Time Lemonade-sponsored Oldsmobile, posting four Top 10 finishes and narrowly defeating Ted Musgrave for Rookie of the Year.

Bobby Hamilton began 1993 with Tri-Star but was released early in the season.

Bobby Hamilton spent the rest of the season in the Cup and Busch Series, posting two Top 10s for Akins-Sutton Motorsports.

Bobby Hamilton made five Busch Series starts in the No 05 Key Motorsports Chevrolet.

Bobby Hamilton had just one Top 10 finish and left at the end of the season.

Bobby Hamilton posted 10 Top 10s and moved up to 14th in the final standings.

Bobby Hamilton formed his own Craftsman Truck Series team and began competing in the series part-time.

Bobby Hamilton won at Rockingham in 1997, but departed the team after falling to 16th in points.

Bobby Hamilton then signed with Morgan-McClure Motorsports in 1998 and in their eighth race together, he won from the pole, leading 378 of 500 laps at Martinsville Speedway.

Bobby Hamilton ended the season, finishing 10th in the points.

Bobby Hamilton had another ten Top 10 finish in 2000 and finished that season off 30th in points.

Bobby Hamilton left for Andy Petree Racing to drive the No 55 Square D-sponsored Chevy.

Bobby Hamilton won his final Cup career race at Talladega and finished 18th in points.

Bobby Hamilton posted three Top 10s in 2002 but suffered a broken shoulder late in the season, causing him to miss several races.

Bobby Hamilton led the final laps of the 2005 Dodge Dealers 250 at Daytona International Speedway when Jimmy Spencer got by with a few laps left and the white flag flew just before a crash occurred in turn 1.

Spencer drove to victory circle, but not long afterward it was determined that Bobby Hamilton won; Bobby Hamilton was at the final scoring loop as he was in the lead.

Bobby Hamilton later won at Mansfield and went on his way to another sixth-place points finish.

Bobby Hamilton drove the No 18 Fastenal Dodge for three races in 2006, but was diagnosed with cancer and never raced again, with his son finishing out the season.

On March 17,2006, Bobby Hamilton announced that he had been diagnosed with head and neck cancer.

Bobby Hamilton took part in the Craftsman Truck Series race that night, before starting therapy the following Monday.

Bobby Hamilton returned to the track for the race at Kentucky Speedway, overseeing his team's operations.

Bobby Hamilton died on January 7,2007, at his home in Mt.