Hamilton's legacy lives on through Truck team

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Any doubt about the future of Bobby Hamilton Racing began to be dispelled Thursday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway, when a pair of BHR transporters arrived for the Craftsman Truck Series portion of Jackson Hewitt Preseason Thunder.

They unloaded Dodge trucks for veteran Ken Schrader -- a former Truck Series winner -- and Georgia youngster Chase Miller, who made his first eight Truck Series starts last season for BHR.

Any concern that existed about how competitive the Dodge Ram trucks brought to Daytona by the followers of the team's namesake -- who died from cancer last Sunday at home in Mt. Juliet, Tenn. -- vanished Friday.

BHR's Dodges, the only ones among more than 35 trucks in Daytona's garage Friday, warmed up in single truck runs that morning, then were seventh (Miller) and ninth (Schrader) on the sheet in the afternoon, when drafting runs dominated the action.

"We've got to still work on it a little bit, but it's not bad at all," Schrader said. "But see, I've never run a truck down here, so they're a handful [in the draft]. It's fun, but they're a handful.

"That big old body is what gives 'em all that drag, even if the front ends are getting slicker. And you've got better guys working on 'em, but it's still a big old block to move [through the air]."

Schrader, the motorsports mercenary who is probably the leading current example of a racing lifestyle made famous by Bobby Allison, i.e., racing anything, anywhere, anytime on any surface, is testing the truck with which Hamilton won the 2005 Daytona opener.

In fact, the truck's won three Daytona openers, wheeled by Joe Ruttman (2001), Robert Pressley (2002) and Hamilton.

"I'm going to be driving this truck every time that my Nextel Cup schedule will allow me to," Schrader said of his program with BHR. "I'm looking forward to going to all of 'em, whether I've been there in a truck before or not."

The team's commitment to its former owner is shown by the visible displays of his name -- on the hauler, on the No. 18 Dodge on the hauler's side and even above the window on the truck that Schrader tested.

And Schrader said that, despite having heartfelt pain that would probably never dissipate, there was no question the team would be in Daytona, would be competitive and would move on with its collective heads up.

"Well, I was thrilled last fall when Bobby asked me to drive his truck," Schrader said after taking a few seconds to gather his thoughts. "But then I got to thinking about it and I said, 'What the hell is he asking me to drive his truck for -- he should be driving it by then?'

"You always want to do good anyway, [but now] you want to do good for Bobby -- and for all of the guys there -- because most of them have been with him for a long time, and they've been through a lot of stuff."

Jeff White has worked as a mechanical engineer at BHR the entire decade and was named crew chief for the No. 18 truck, Hamilton's final move as the man in charge. Hamilton had hoped to share that truck with Schrader in 2007, and White said there was no question about coming to Daytona to test, within scant hours of ceremonies in the Nashville area to honor their owner.

"The thing that I can say about working for Bobby Hamilton Racing is that it's like working for your family, and that's the best way I can put it," White said. "I don't think there's any other way that you could put it. We were his family, he considered us his family and we raced as a family.

"I don't know if considering it that way makes it a simple choice to be here, but it's placed a lot of want and desire in our people. I've seen them working harder today than I ever have, to have two teams working together and really gelling."

White said working with Schrader has been a joy on every level.

"I really like working with Ken as a driver," White said, before breaking into a laugh. "I really don't know him [much], so I'm calling him sir, and trying not to call him sir and he's calling me sir, so we're really getting along, and it's fun.

"The thing about it is, Kenny's the racer's racer -- he's raced about everything there is and his insight into what he wants and what he's feeling, he knows what he wants in the vehicle. He says, 'Here's what it's doing,' and I'm pretty good at figuring out how to get it there on the engineering or mechanical side."

And White said he's most tickled to find that working with Schrader was so much like working with Hamilton it was almost spooky.

"I think the experience they had [is similar] and I think them two are a lot alike," White said, cocking his head to the side, as if to catch a fleeting memory of his departed friend. "I really think the two of them are a whole lot alike, I really do -- a good sense of humor, doesn't get upset and really calm about everything that's happening.

"The only difference is I worked for Bobby and Schrader's driving for us. I just worked that hard for Bobby and I'm going to continue to work that hard for him."

Any questions about the team's long-term future should be answered next month in Daytona, when Hamilton's widow, Lori, who is part of the management team currently operating the 2004 Truck Series championship program, conducts a news conference during Speedweeks 2007.

It's no surprise that Hamilton, who was a blunt-spoken realist on any topic he faced, had a smooth transition plan in place for his company in the event of a plane crash, racing or road accident or the illness that ultimately took his life.

Schrader, who's built his own multi-faceted racing operation through the years that's included everything from Busch cars and Craftsman Trucks, to dirt and asphalt Late Models, said he understood the owner's pride in what he'd built in little Mt. Juliet.

"Oh yeah -- I feel the same way about mine, so I know how Bobby [felt] about his," Schrader said. "[Now] you feel like you've got to take care of it -- like you've got somebody's baby and you've got to sit it for him for a little bit.

"Just help sit it, I mean. He's got a lot of good people in place. And Lori, she's in there up to her elbows every day. But a driver can still help some."

How it plays out remains to be seen, but there's no question the team's appearance for this first test of 2007 was a great sight, and a great sign. And for the time being the team and its steering wheels appear to be in good hands.