Bobby Hamilton gets doused after winning the Craftsman Truck Series championship. Credit: AP

Conversation: Bobby Hamilton

Bobby Hamilton had fashioned a credible career as a driver in NASCAR's national touring series, winning in both the Busch and Cup Series after a successful short-track stint that included multiple championships at his hometown Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville, Tenn.

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Hamilton was looking long range at his future when he started his own Craftsman Truck Series operation at Bobby Hamilton Racing. The team moved into the series full-time in 2000 and was ready for Hamilton, 47, when he decided to become a full-time owner-driver in 2003.

BHR was an integral part of Dodge's second Truck Series Manufacturers' Championship in 2003, but this season Hamilton scored the ultimate payoff when he keyed Dodge's second consecutive manufacturers' trophy and its first drivers' championship in a NASCAR national touring series in nearly 30 years.

Three days after he was honored as the 10th Craftsman Truck Series champion, Hamilton sat down with NASCAR.COM senior writer Dave Rodman to discuss the impact of this championship on himself and Bobby Hamilton Racing, the impact of his time with Petty Enterprises and what the future holds for him.

Q: Bobby, I wanted to ask you on the weekend what you were thinking as you made those two laps behind the pace truck at Homestead, after you'd clinched the title; but now that we're a few days beyond that, how has this championship sunk in and how does it feel to be the Craftsman Truck Series champion?

Hamilton: I'm still more happier for the people around me. I mean, when I got after the banquet and the way I got treated after the banquet and during my speech, I could tell that people were listening to what I had to say.

I went out on pit road at the Nextel Cup race (Sunday's Ford 400) and was seeing Bobby Jr. off -- and I think it really sunk in then (because) everybody was stopping me and congratulating me, and things like that.

That was a pretty neat deal, right there, because it was over with, I was ready to move on and I didn't expect that out of the people in that (Cup) division. I should've expected it, because I know how I was when I was there.

The people have a tremendous amount of respect for racers in general and I think it just sort of put the life back into it, so that was pretty cool.

Q: Winning this championship would have been a big thing, but I hadn't thought about that, that you could go through a career and retire and go home and never really understand how much respect people have for you. How much does it mean to have people acknowledge that?

Hamilton celebrates his championship with a big-league burnout at Miami. Credit: Nate Mecha/HSP

Hamilton: It was a big deal. I don't exactly know how to put it in words, but it was a big deal. It was very gratifying and I think people like Robbie Loomis, Ray Evernham, Carl Edwards, Fatback (Michael McSwain), Bobby Labonte -- I mean, it was just a ton of people, if I think about it.

They know how I'd done this thing and how I structured (the team), because we've all talked a little bit about it. And they all know he got in there and he drove it the first year and he had his problems.

He started doing all this stuff in-house to make sure he had quality product. He overlooks that, he runs the business, he drives it -- and granted, it was certainly probably easier than winning a Cup championship because the competition isn't quite as keen -- but it was a whole lot more fierce than it was last year, too; so they know that, too.

So, them knowing and then getting the feedback that I got just made me feel pretty special about it, you know?

Q: Talk about feeling special -- how big was it to have three generations of Hamiltons in Victory Lane at Homestead a few days ago?

Bobby Hamilton: Wow (laughing) I didn't even think about that. You know, that's pretty easy for me to say that that was the best trophy, ever.

Q: I can remember Bobby Hamilton in Victory Lane with the pooch, and now, being a grandfather myself, to see you in Victory Lane with your granddaughter, that had to be pretty stupendous.

Bobby Hamilton: It's NASCAR, too. We talk that and a lot of people don't believe it and they don't see it, but we have a huge family in NASCAR. They don't necessarily have the same bloodline or the same last name, but that was 100 percent NASCAR racing, right there.

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I mean, there I had the dog in there, the granddaughter was there, the daughter-in-law, the son -- I mean, you couldn't have wrote a script any better for them to all be there and for it to happen like that.

So I call that, 'That's NASCAR.'

Q: And again, I really felt for you a week before that, at Darlington, because I had never seen you as emotionally upset after a race, after the accident on the last restart with Bobby Jr. Was it a case of indescribable emotion at Homestead?

Hamilton: Yeah. After that race at Darlington, I was beat up. I know he missed a shift, or whatever the deal was, but I just wish it had of been me. I would've traded places with him, even if it cost me the championship (because) I didn't want to see him go through that.

But right after that wreck, he run out there --- and he didn't have no idea of the shape I was in, because he didn't see it on TV or anything --- and he said, 'we padded that point lead, didn't we?'

It wasn't anything about the wreck or anything, even though his knee was bleeding and stuff from where he'd got cut in that (wreck) -- he was all about the point lead.

And for him to sit on the box the whole race (at Homestead) and ride along with me and worry about it the whole race, and just being there. That's just the way he is, though. He loves his daddy, I promise you that.

He's a huge Bobby Sr. fan as I'm a huge Bobby Jr. fan and stuff that we do like that is pretty natural.

Q: You've had a lot of success in racing, from the Fairgrounds days right up to the Cup level. But you talked about this championship and what it means to the people at Bobby Hamilton Racing, at Dodge, and have you got a call from Germany yet, from Dr. (Dieter) Zetsche, the head of DaimlerChrysler?

Hamilton kisses his granddaughter, Haylie, after winning the title. Credit: AP

Bobby Hamilton: I got a fax just as I was walking back here (to the phone) from Dieter Zetsche, congratulating us on it, and that was pretty neat. We have meetings once a year, and they were like, wanting this championship.

(The Truck Series) has been going since 1995 and they've not had (a drivers' championship) since 1975, so I can't really speak on Dodge's behalf because it was all really a whirlwind down there (in Miami).

There was a lot of relieved people and a lot of very satisfied, happy people. But as far as my people I can see the step in everybody. I mean, everybody's happy to be here, cutting up, working and we're digging, wide-open and getting ready to go test, you know?

It's in the record books and it's on the resume for BHR. We're talking to sponsors and all, right now, and trying to use that to help (get support for 2005).

Q: In terms of everything you've done in your career, does this championship rank at the top?

Hamilton: I think it does, now. Three days ago it didn't. Still, my first win with Richard Petty was probably the most gratifying I'd ever done, because of Dale Inman.

But now, I contribute probably 70 percent of this championship to Dale Inman (Richard Petty's cousin and part of Petty Enterprises' management team) and Robbie Loomis (Hamilton's crew chief at Petty's) -- and even Richard (Petty) a little bit because I learned so much from them people on how to handle yourself business-wise and how racers really make decisions.

I've run this thing with so much learned from Petty Enterprises but more from Dale Inman and Robbie Loomis, probably, than anybody. I don't know. It just sort of went hand-in-hand with me. I'm a pretty loyal person when it comes down to people that I've had a great relationship with.

When I'm that way it's only because they've treated me well and taught me a lot and I respect their opinions and their abilities and they have always been three key people in my whole career.

Q: This team has been a building process, because it's existed for a lot longer than when you became its owner-driver; but what enabled this championship to take place this season? Despite some minor changes, your personnel have been consistent, and not leaving.

Mike Joy interviews Hamilton during the ceremony. Credit: Nate Mecha/HSP

Hamilton: I think that's the big thing. Also, like I said, it was when we started getting a handle on what fit the type chassis and just everything. We finally went and tested enough so that we figured out that this is what we needed to have the most versatile stuff that we needed to go to any type of racetrack and be successful.

We run the same truck in 19 races this year. I run it on short tracks, the big tracks -- it didn't make no difference. And that's the kind of stuff we realized to be a very consistent and versatile race team, that's what we had to do. That was the biggest thing.

Q: What's next for BHR? It was a huge thing for Square D to win this championship with you, but they're leaving, as is Dickies, the sponsor on your No. 18 truck. Where do you see the future of BHR?

Bobby Hamilton: We'll be fine. We'll be just like we are. I hope. I'm worried about it, because we don't have a sponsor (for the No. 4 truck).

The 18 deal is taken care of and we're pretty proud of that. All the people are in place, there and that deal is just whizzing right along. God, you would think that we'd get something, you know? But we don't have it yet, so we're hoping for the best.

But the business goes on and I have to keep working every day like we're racing Daytona (so) I'm just taking it day-by-day and seeing what happens.

Q: Exactly what's the program that's in place for the 18 truck? I understand Chase Montgomery's going to drive it?

AUDIO Conversation: Bobby Hamilton Listen to the conversation!

Bobby Hamilton: Right. His dad, Ray, has got a deal and I don't even know what it is. They're going to make an announcement right at the first of the year (because) whatever they're doing can't be announced until the first of the year.

But my contract's done with them and we're actually going to go test with Chase in the next couple days so we're all ready to go with that deal.

Q: So that brings him back in-house and I understand the BHR2 aspect of the team, which was Ray Montgomery's part of the deal, with the No. 8 truck is going to continue as well?

Bobby Hamilton: Well, that's what Ray's trying to do and I'm leaving that completely up to him. He's got two or three things going on and I don't know exactly which way it's going to land.

I'll let him make them decisions and he'll just come and get me when he needs me.

Q: How do you see Dodge performing in the 2005 Craftsman Truck Series? Are they going to simply massage on what they have?

Bobby Hamilton: We can improve. Just now, believe it or not, between (fellow owners) Jim Smith and myself and Michael Gaughan and Jim Harris have just now learned how to focus on the one-team concept.

We had always called it that and chattered that among the garage area, but we had never done it right. A quarter of the way into this season we started treating this thing like it's supposed to be treated so by saying that, and as we move on and just massage on that factor in itself, is going to make the Dodges that much stronger.

What did we win, 11 races out of 25? I think for the last three or four years I think Dodge has won, what, (52 percent) of the races? They've got a pretty strong standing. If myself and Ultra (Motorsports) do what we did and massage at least a little bit we can win more than half the races.

We know Toyota is coming on, and Chevrolet and there are great race teams out there. You know, yourself the competition is better than it's ever been in the Truck Series. But I also know that all of us as a whole sort of dropped the ball on a few things -- even though it didn't look like it -- and we could have been even better a lot of places.

Q: We've talked before about how this race team is your golf game, it's how you relax. With you talking about already going testing with Chase, 2005 has already started. Are you going to get to celebrate this championship?

Bobby Hamilton: I'm just going to take some time off, I think. Once we get everybody aligned and all I'm just going to take some time off and see what happens. That's about it, for me.

I'll use it as motivation to get ready for next year. I mean, I want to win at Daytona, now; I don't want to win at Atlanta. I mean, I want to win at Atlanta -- I want to win the first five races, not five throughout the year.

That's how I'm using this. When I catch my people motivated like they are, I turn that ingredients into more motivation, so the celebration is just more success.

That's my celebration, so I might have to wait another year from right now to celebrate it. I don't know.

Q: People might think you've got to get away, to relax somehow. But is getting out in that fab shop and scheming up a new chassis design do it for you?

Bobby Hamilton: That's what I was doing when you called. I was going through a bunch of A-arms and stuff. We were just trying to make some stuff better and I love that.

That's me. And I don't have to have any credit for that. It's like they say, 'you figured this out, and we appreciate it.' I just say, 'no. You all figured it out.'

It's just self-satisfaction for me to know that I can come back here and think and do my golf game because that's what I like to do. The fun part of that is when you put all that stuff into place and get the thing to driving and it runs fast.

That's what's good for me.