Conversation: Bobby Hamilton Jr.

In the volatile world of NASCAR racing, Bobby Hamilton Jr. has made a couple valuable characteristics, namely patience and straight shooting, pay off.

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Since joining with Busch Series championship crew chief Harold Holly three races ago at Team Rensi, the only child of Craftsman Truck Series point leader and owner Bobby Hamilton has steered himself into seventh in the Busch Series standings driving his No. 25 U.S. Marines Ford.

Before heading off to this weekend's GNC 250 at The Milwaukee Mile, Hamilton Jr. talked with NASCAR.com's Dave Rodman about his Winston Cup future, Holly's impact and navigating the Nashville roadways.

It seems like Harold Holly has electrified you and your team. Is that the case?

Bobby Hamilton Jr.: He definitely has. He's been there three weeks and we've had a sixth, a fifth and a first. We all sat and talked about it, and we said, 'If we can get Harold Holly over here, that's what we need.'

Everybody he's ever worked with has won races and come close to winning championships. The minute he got there it was like a totally different animal. Whenever he speaks, wrenches drop and they listen -- that's just how dedicated the guys are to him. Getting him was a huge step for us.

What do you feel like Harold's strong point is?

Bobby Hamilton Jr.: He's an organizer, a motivator -- pretty much all of it. The guys have a board up and they know the hours they're going to work that week, no matter what. If it's 7 to 7 they know at 7 o'clock they're out of there.

As far as his people skills, it's huge. He came in there when a lot of guys were down and struggling with things and he's just turned them around. He's just unbelievable with people and real organized. T

he guys are fired up, the driver's fired up, the owners. I mean, they gave him every key to win races and it's already worked, so he's just tremendous.

Were you offered Morgan-McClure's Winston Cup seat? Since you had driven that car in a relief role in 2001, what made you turn that offer down?

	Hamilton Jr. has reeled off six top-10 finishes in the last seven races. Credit: Autostock

Bobby Hamilton Jr.: It was offered, and it really killed me not to help Larry (McClure). He gave me tons of experience in his car (in 2001) but it was a situation that I was tied in with Team Rensi, the Marines and Harold and all the guys.

I'm not one of those people that would just jump to get out of something that we had built for two years to get it to where it is, now. It was bad timing, really.

I would have loved to get in there for Larry and push the button and help him get stuff turned around, and I'm sure we could have. But I felt being with the Rensis was the best for me; to stay in the 25 car with Harold, to win races and try to move the whole organization up.

What would your ideal timetable be, to go Winston Cup racing? Do you have a set of goals in the Busch Series?

Bobby Hamilton Jr.: This year my goal was definitely to try to win the championship. I look at it that I'm 25 years old and I have a ton of time more left in this sport. Team Rensi, Harold and all the guys want to go and race in the Cup Series.

	Hamilton Jr. waves the Marines flag after winning at Kentucky earlier this month. Credit: AP

We have some unfinished business in the Busch Series. After next year we hope we can be on the other side of the fence (in Winston Cup), and if not we'll just keep trying. As far as me having a timetable, I don't.

I'm paying all my bills driving a race car and we're having fun, winning races and running up front, so if this is as far as I'm ever able to go, I never could complain.

I don't have any set date or set time. We're a team here, and we're going to live and die as a team. If it goes two years, we'll go two years and if it takes five years, then we'll take five years.

I'm behind these guys and they're behind me so whatever it takes to get us there is what we're going to do.

Do you spend much time at your dad's shop, or is your schedule just too busy?

Bobby Hamilton Jr.: Usually I try to go down there two or three times every two weeks. It depends what the schedule is and how busy I am around the house getting caught up on things.

Usually I just try go down there and hang out and have lunch with dad. A lot of those guys are the same guys I raced in ARCA with, so it's just like hanging out with your friends.

What's your favorite thing to do when you have some downtime?

	Hamilton Jr. is 162 points behind leader Scott Riggs. Credit: AP

Bobby Hamilton Jr.: It varies. Today I'm working on a Sportsman car that I own. We mess around with some local racing. My wife likes to go out on the boat some, and I'll do some fishing, though I'm not a real big fisherman.

I collect a lot of guns, and I like to shoot them. It varies from time to time, depending on what everyone's schedule is.

I'm not one of those people that likes to do stuff on their own, I like to have three or four of my friends with me, and it depends what everyone's doing at the time. Today we're cutting bodies and frames.

What is your biggest pet peeve driving out on the street?

Bobby Hamilton Jr.: Slow traffic. That, and people that run slow in the fast lane. That gets irritating. If the speed limit is 70 I hate it if they run 65 or right at 70. I usually try to run 75 or a little bit over that.

Do you have a bunch of alternate routes to get around town?

Bobby Hamilton Jr.: We try to use them, but the longer we stay here the more people figure them out. Up here where I'm at, it's nothing unusual for a tractor to be toting hay along the side of the road, and that puts a big damper on your plans.

How impressive is it to you all the guys that have branched out of Fairgrounds Speedway into the upper levels of NASCAR?

Bobby Hamilton Jr.: It's one of those race tracks that you've got to be smooth and have a lot of finesse on the throttle. With the heavy cars with as much horsepower that we have nowadays we fit right in.

It's pretty cool to be part of it, with guys like Darrell (Waltrip), Sterling (Marlin), my dad coming out of there. Bobby Allison used to come down here (because) it was just a race track that everybody wanted to run.

To have it right here in your backyard is pretty cool. Every time that we go down to the speedway, whether we're testing a Late Model or whatever, you just kind of sit there and smile for a second because you can just picture Richard Petty, or all the way back to Marty Robbins racing there at one time.

It's pretty special to have that place here and to know that I was there on it, too -- I crossed that finish line just like those guys did.