For BHR, the dream lives 450 miles east in Virginia

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The best thing that Bobby Hamilton Racing-Virginia might have going for it, as it heads into the 2008 season in the Craftsman Truck Series, is that it's an organization consisting of and controlled by racers.

You have to look no further than the driver's seat of its No. 4 Dodge truck to confirm that, as former Truck Series race winner and NASCAR veteran Stacy Compton is part of the new ownership group.

After racing five full seasons in the Busch Series, Compton shifted into a part-time Truck Series season at Wood Brothers/JTG Racing in 2007 while he also diversified into TV work.

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"It's a huge opportunity -- there isn't a better way to get a ride than to buy it," Compton said, laughing. "When we unloaded [Friday] I was pretty surprised at the amount of support that we had, and how well things had went."

In the offseason, BHR owner Lori Hamilton announced that the team formed by her late husband -- 2004 Truck Series champion Bobby Hamilton -- would merge with a diverse group of Virginia racers, take on a new name and relocate to Martinsville, Va.

Bobby Hamilton had been passionate about maintaining a championship-level race team in his hometown of Mt. Juliet, Tenn., but on Saturday during a break in Truck Series Preseason Thunder testing at Daytona International Speedway, his widow said discussions of moving the team to Virginia had begun in 2005 -- nearly two years before Hamilton passed from neck cancer in early January 2007.

"BHR was extremely successful where it was, in Mt. Juliet and Bobby's vision was that he wanted it to be in his hometown, but behind the scenes we had numerous meetings with Martinsville and Henry County about moving the team," Lori Hamilton said. "NASCAR obviously has a hub and it's convenient to be close to [it].

"Does that mean that your team will be more successful or not more successful because you're right down the road from it? No, not necessarily -- but I think it's going to help us in the vision that we have the group of people that we've assembled."

On Saturday, the team's drivers, Compton and Truck Series veteran Dennis Setzer; and the ownership group including Martinsville Speedway president Clay Campbell, Arrington Manufacturing head Joey Arrington, Lori Hamilton and S&M Brands' chief executive officer Mac Bailey sat down to explain the dream.

"The people we've surrounded ourselves with, you can see, come from all different aspects of NASCAR," Hamilton said. "We have the sponsor side with Mac, the track side; with Mark Melling we have someone who's been an owner and the racer [Compton and Arrington] over here.

"One of the things BHR lacked last year was Bobby -- and Bobby wore those hats. So we had to fill those roles and help secure Bobby's vision for many years to come and the best way to do that was to surround ourselves with strength and power.

"When you put a group of powerful people together, they'll help push Dodge back up to where they deserve to be, because [Dodge] backed us through some difficult times. So the key group of people that came from Tennessee are there, and they're excited about it. Change is good." (Continued)