Hamilton, 49, dies after battle with neck cancer from NASCAR.com's Ryan Smithson, http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/hea...sses/index.html
Bobby Hamilton, the 2004 Craftsman Truck Series champion and a four-time winner in the Cup Series, died Sunday. He was 49.
Hamilton, a native of Nashville, had been battling cancer for nearly a year. He announced in March 2006 that he was undergoing treatment for neck cancer. He immediately turned over his driving duties in the Craftsman Truck Series to his son, Bobby Hamilton Jr.
Liz Allison, a family friend who co-hosted a radio show with Hamilton, said he was at home with his family when he died.
Hamilton was diagnosed with head and neck cancer in February after a malignant growth was found when swelling from dental surgery did not go down.
He raced in the season's first three events, with a best finish of 14th at Atlanta Motor Speedway, before turning over the wheel to his son.
"I love what I do; I love this business," Hamilton said when he disclosed that he had cancer. "NASCAR has been good to me, and I just don't feel comfortable when I am not around it."
Hamilton quit driving in the Cup Series after the 2002 season to focus on his thriving Craftsman Truck Series team. He went on to win the Truck Series title in '04.
"It is a terrible loss to us," said Larry McClure, Hamilton's team owner from 1998-2000. "I will miss him. I always thought of him as my friend."
McClure said he had talked to Hamilton just a few weeks ago.
"I asked him how he was dong and he said, Pretty good,'" McClure said. "Just amazing how it can turn like that."
Jeff Purvis, a fellow Tennessean and a close friend of Hamilton's, was shocked at the news of Hamilton's death. A longtime Busch Series regular whose career was curtailed by a 2002 crash, Purvis visited with Ken Schrader on Friday and they had discussed Hamilton's progress.
"We went to lunch and talked about Bobby," Purvis said. "[Schrader] had just left Bobby's shop and came from there to my house.
"[Hamilton] was kind of what racing was supposed to be about. He was a racer's racer. You could talk to him about chassis. He understood racing and the race cars, the event. He really understood racing itself."
Though he made his Cup debut in 1989 -- a one-race deal at Phoenix on Nov. 5 -- Hamilton probably is best known for the unusual way he broke into NASCAR's top series. He served as a stunt driver for the 1990 movie Days of Thunder, performing so well that he was soon hired to run the Cup Series full-time. He went on become Rookie of the Year in 1991.
His big break, however, came in 1995 when Hamilton was hired to drive the No. 43 of Petty Enterprises. He resurrected the ailing team with 10 top-10 finishes in 1995, and in 1996, he won at Phoenix, which helped him finish a career-best ninth in points.
After winning at Rockingham in 1997, Hamilton moved to Morgan-McClure Motorsports for the 1998-2000 seasons. His only win during that time came in '98 at Martinsville.
"He was a good driver and a good businessman," McClure said. "We spent three years with him and it was great. He got us our last win. It was probably the last time the team was competitive, and he kept getting better and better."
Hamilton wrapped up his Cup career with a two-year stint with Andy Petree. He won at Talladega in 2001 in a thrilling race that went green the entire way. The win was Petree's first as a car owner, and Petree celebrated by diving across the hood as Hamilton drove into Victory Lane.
The Tennessean first reported Hamilton's death on the newspaper's Web site.
RIP Bobby
RIP Bobby Hamilton 1957-2007 
