10 Questions: Hamilton Jr.

1. What's the best advice you ever received and who was it from?

Bobby Hamilton Jr.: I guess it'd have to be from my dad: just to be myself. It's easier to get people to like you for who you are than to find out later on you aren't that person. It was one of the things he always talked to me about in this line of sports. I'm not your typical really preppy-looking guy. I'm just me. You're going to see me at my restaurant like you see me here. I think that was the biggest thing. It keeps me at peace. If you like me the way I am, you'll like me for a long time, because I'm not going to change, on or off the racetrack.

Bobby Hamilton Jr.:
Brown

2. What was your first car?

Hamilton: It was a Ford Tempo. It was brown, had tan interior. It had like 150,000 miles on it. My uncle was working at a transmission job and he had it down there. They were talking about getting rid of it for $100. I had $100 in my pocket, since I got paid that week. I was down there, washing cars, stuff like that. It was right when I was 16 or 17. That's when I bought my very first car.

3. What was your favorite subject in school?

Hamilton: Lunch.

4. What was the best Christmas present you ever received?

Hamilton: A couple of years ago, I got an Elvis Presley rifle, one of those special edition things. It's all plated in gold. It's real nice. Offhand, that's what I can think of. I haven't gotten anything for my daughter that she's picked yet. I imagine that'll be this year.

5. What's on the top of your list of things to accomplish?

Hamilton: I love the sport that I'm in. Of course, you want to be on the Cup side. But I'm happy where I'm at, doing what I'm doing. My biggest accomplishment will be, when it's my time, I can look back with no regrets and I can 100 percent sit there and say my daughter and my wife are 100 percent happy with me. This stuff comes and goes. You can be here next year, you might not be here next year, as far as racing-wise. That would be my biggest fear is letting them two down. There's always them two and my dad, and he's not around. That would be the biggest accomplishment, to make sure that my job is complete.

6. What's your favorite movie?

Hamilton: I like the Jason Bourne movies. A classic is that Reno 911! movie, that Lt. Dangle and all those guys. I like the payback movies. I like the "you come in and killed my dog, now you gotta die for it." Plus, I like the real funny stuff, like Friday or Next Friday. I just really like the aggressive movies and real funny movies.

7. If you could change places with anybody, who would it be?

Hamilton: I don't know. I kind of like being me. I guess I'd like to know what it feels like to win a Nextel Cup championship or something like that or be Bill Gates for a day. I don't know. I never thought about it. Money don't solve all your problems, but it helps with it. If I had to change me to somebody else, I wouldn't.

8. What's your favorite video game?

Hamilton: I like the new NASCAR '08. It's for PlayStation 3. You have career mode and all that stuff. You can work yourself up from a nobody to a champion. I guess that's probably my favorite game.

9. Where's your favorite place to get away from it all?

Hamilton: I have 50-some acres with a pond on it. I'll catch myself tinkering around up there a lot. ... and just sitting, because there's nothing up there to do. Maybe some fencing or something like that. That's usually where I'm at. I've also got 20 acres almost right across the street from where my Late Model shop's at. Somewhere in those two areas. If I've been away, it's just home. I'll find something to tinker around with at home. Between those two or three places, you'll find me.

10. What's your favorite thing to cook at your restaurant?

Hamilton: I've always liked those little fried Oreo cookies that we have, but you can't eat those every day. We have this thing called a Titan Dog. It's a foot-long dog but it's thick and it's loaded with cheese, the whole works. That and our nachos. I really like our nachos. They're really good. That's probably why I've put on the weight I've put on.