By the Numbers: Bobby Hamilton (1957-2007)
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Bobby Hamilton spent significant time in all three of NASCAR's top series, although his most recent time at the racetrack was spent in the Truck Series as a driver and as an owner.
He ran races in 11 different seasons, but Hamilton ran three full-time seasons in the Truck Series: 2003-2005. During that span, and in his experience in Cup and Busch, Hamilton became a short-track specialist with Cup victories at Martinsville and Phoenix (although he did win at Talladega).
His lone Busch victory was at Richmond, another short track.
In the Truck Series, Hamilton kept his short-track prowess, but expanded to tackle bigger tracks like Atlanta, Kentucky, Homestead and even Daytona. However no track was better to him than when he danced with the Lady in Black.
What you didn't know
| 1.3 -- Average finish for Bobby Hamilton in his three Truck Series races at Darlington. Hamilton won in his first two starts (2001 and 2003) and finished second in 2004. |
Key Dates
| Nov. 5, 1989 -- Bobby Hamilton's first start in the Cup Series, which came at the Autoworks 500 at Phoenix. Hamilton started fifth in Hendrick Motorsports' No. 51 Chevrolet and led five laps before his engine blew, relegating him to a 32nd-place finish. |
| Oct. 27, 1996 -- Bobby Hamilton's first career victory in the Cup Series, which came at the Dura Lube 500 at Phoenix. Driving the No. 43 Pontiac for Petty Enterprises, Hamilton beat Mark Martin by more than a second to the finish line. |
| July 27, 1997 -- Bobby Hamilton's first career start in the Truck Series while driving for his own team. Hamilton, who had two prior truck starts, went to the Heartland Park Topeka road course and finished sixth. |
| April 10, 2000 -- Bobby Hamilton's first Truck Series victory, which came at the NAPA 250 at Martinsville. Hamilton led 179 laps. He only competed in five races that season. |
| May 5, 2005 -- Bobby Hamilton's final Truck Series victory, which came at the UAW-GM Ohio 250 at Mansfield. It was Hamilton's second victory in the first six races of the season. |
| March 17, 2006 -- Bobby Hamilton's final start in the Truck Series, which came at the John Deere 200 at Atlanta. Hamilton announced he had neck cancer earlier in the weekend but decided the Atlanta race would be his last before concentrating on battling the disease. He finished 14th. |
Numerology
Bobby Hamilton has victories in all three of NASCAR's top series, with four wins in the Cup Series, one in the Busch Series and 10 in the Truck Series.
| 1 -- Victory for Bobby Hamilton in the Busch Series, which came Sept. 9, 1989, at Richmond. It was the first of only two seasons in which Hamilton ran the entire Busch schedule. |
| 2 -- Truck Series starts for Bobby Hamilton in his 102-race career in which he did not drive for his own team. His first two starts in the series in 1996 were in the No. 48 Chevrolet with owner C. Spicer. |
| 2 -- DNFs for Bobby Hamilton in the Truck Series from 2003-2005, a span of 75 races. His overall average finish in those three seasons was 12.2. |
| 3 -- Starts for Bobby Hamilton as a Cup Series team owner. His son, Bobby Hamilton Jr., made one start at Homestead in 2000, and Hamilton ran two races for himself in 2005, at Indianapolis and Atlanta. |
| 4 -- Truck Series victories for Bobby Hamilton during the 2004 season in which Hamilton won the series championship. Hamilton beat Dennis Setzer by 46 points. Hamilton had 12 top-fives and 16 top-10s. |
| 4 -- Cup Series victories for Bobby Hamilton, the last one coming April 22, 2001, at Talladega when he beat Tony Stewart by .163 seconds. |
| 9 -- Ranking of Bobby Hamilton in the standings at the end of the 1996 Cup Series season, the best finish of his career. He had a victory, three top-fives and 11 top-10s driving the famous No. 43 Pontiac for Petty Enterprises. |
| 10 -- Career victories for Bobby Hamilton in his Truck Series career. Hamilton raced only three full-time seasons, finishing sixth in 2003, winning the title in '04 and again finishing sixth in '05. |
| 11 -- Seasons that Bobby Hamilton competed full time in the Cup Series. |
| 31 -- Top-five finishes in the Truck Series for Bobby Hamilton, ranking him 12th on the all-time list. |
| 54 -- Top-10 finishes in the Truck Series for Bobby Hamilton, tying him for 15th on the all-time list with Greg Biffle and Mike Wallace. Hamilton finished in the top 10 in 52.9 percent of his races. |
| 559 -- Career starts for Bobby Hamilton in NASCAR's top three series. He made 371 Cup starts, 86 Busch starts and 102 Truck starts. |
| 1,676 -- Laps led by Bobby Hamilton in his Truck Series career, ranking him eighth on the all-time list. He is one of only 10 NCTS drivers to have led more than 1,000 laps in their career. |
Bobby Hamilton's career statistics
Cup Series
| Year | Starts | Wins | Top-5 | Top-10 | Rank | Start | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 89 | 5.0 | 32.0 |
| 1990 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 66 | 17.7 | 35.7 |
| 1991 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 22 | 22.4 | 19.9 |
| 1992 | 29 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 25 | 24.1 | 22.3 |
| 1993 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 37 | 24.1 | 24.4 |
| 1994 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 23 | 26.9 | 24.0 |
| 1995 | 31 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 14 | 16.6 | 16.8 |
| 1996 | 31 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 9 | 19.9 | 16.5 |
| 1997 | 32 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 16 | 23.2 | 19.6 |
| 1998 | 33 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 10 | 26.7 | 17.0 |
| 1999 | 34 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 13 | 23.9 | 19.8 |
| 2000 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 30 | 27.9 | 28.0 |
| 2001 | 36 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 18 | 22.3 | 21.8 |
| 2002 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 32 | 26.6 | 24.1 |
| 2005 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 60 | 32.7 | 32.0 |
| Total | 371 | 4 | 20 | 67 | 23.7 | 21.3 | |
Busch Series
| Year | Starts | Wins | Top-5 | Top-10 | Rank | Start | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100 | 32.5 | 17.0 |
| 1989 | 28 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 11 | 21.3 | 17.8 |
| 1990 | 31 | 0 | 7 | 14 | 11 | 17.4 | 16.4 |
| 1991 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 96 | 20.0 | 25.0 |
| 1992 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 110 | 11.0 | 25.0 |
| 1993 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 47 | 24.0 | 26.1 |
| 1995 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 57 | 20.0 | 27.2 |
| 1996 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 88 | 32.0 | 24.0 |
| 1999 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 80 | 27.0 | 23.7 |
| 2001 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 93 | 19.5 | 31.0 |
| 2004 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 111 | 14.0 | 16.0 |
| 2005 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 63 | 26.0 | 16.8 |
| Totals | 86 | 1 | 11 | 22 | 20.7 | 19.1 |
Truck Series
| Race | Starts | Wins | Top-5 | Top-10 | Rank | Start | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 86 | 9.0 | 28.0 |
| 1997 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 61 | 15.0 | 5.5 |
| 1998 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 69 | 24.0 | 33.7 |
| 1999 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 36 | 13.2 | 20.0 |
| 2000 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 42 | 7.6 | 18.0 |
| 2001 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 38 | 5.4 | 10.4 |
| 2002 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 66 | 8.5 | 22.0 |
| 2003 | 25 | 2 | 10 | 18 | 6 | 8.2 | 8.6 |
| 2004 | 25 | 4 | 12 | 16 | 1 | 9.8 | 9.4 |
| 2005 | 25 | 2 | 6 | 12 | 6 | 18.7 | 13.9 |
| 2006 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 49 | 26.7 | 19.3 |
| Totals | 102 | 10 | 33 | 54 | 12.4 | 12.9 |
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