Bobby Hamilton knows his limitations. As a full-time driver in the Winston Cup Series and owner of a three-truck Dodge team in the Craftsman Truck Series, Hamilton has little room left on his plate. Stock Car Racing spoke with Hamilton about how he pulls off this juggling act.
SCR: In the first half of the year, you, as an owner, and two of your drivers sat at the top of the point's standings in the Craftsman Truck Series. As a full-time Winston Cup Series driver, how do you find the time and energy to run a three-truck team?Hamilton: In any business, you surround yourself with good people, and I am fortunate enough to have good people here at my truck team. I don't have any other kind of hobby, so I basically run through here on Monday and Tuesday and see if they need me for anything. We'll talk and compare notes or whatever. Then I'll go do my Winston Cup deal and let them have at it. I don't let it take away from my Winston Cup deal. I know my bread and butter is in Winston Cup, but I know my future lies within this truck team.
SCR: Why did you pick the Truck Series over the Busch Series?Hamilton: I raced in the Truck Series and I thought it was better racing than the Busch Series. The big reason was I had a chance to go with Dodge and be a factory-backed team. I had known through talking with Richard Petty what effort they put forth. They want to win really bad and will really support you in a lot of ways beyond money.
SCR: Your truck shop is in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, when the majority of the stock car racing workforce is in Charlotte, North Carolina. What keeps you in Tennessee?Hamilton: Driving Winston Cup cars, you see the same face on three or four different teams throughout the year. The reason is everybody lives in Charlotte and they just roll their toolbox from one shop to the next. Since I started this deal three and a half years ago I might have had one turnover and I am up to 34 people now. I didn't want to invest my time in someone, have them learn what you're doing, and lose them to another race team. Everybody lives here and the few people who have moved up here, stay here.
SCR: You are part of a Winston Cup team that has seen firsthand the current economic strains. Yet, as a team owner, you added a third truck to your stable. How are you promoting the Truck Series to sponsors?Hamilton: We just look at it as TV time. We are all proud in Winston Cup of the TV package that we have, but they are not allowed to mention sponsors. ESPN, Jerry Punch, and all of those guys work really tight with us in the Truck Series. They give the sponsors all kinds of credit. They talk about the drivers. They talk about driver's appearances or truck appearances down the road at a Dodge dealership. Here I am with a $2 million sponsorship and my truck is getting $5 million to $7 million a year in exposure. I think last year we were at 930 sponsor mentions, 920 manufacturer mentions, and 800 driver mentions. That is totally unheard of in Winston Cup. That is the sales force we use with it.
SCR: One of your drivers is an African-American-which is a rare occurence in stock car racing. Tell us how Bill Lester came your way and how you got involved in the Dodge Motorsports Diversity Program.Hamilton: Dodge actually brought it to my attention and asked me if I would be interested. We did the deal with Willy T. (Ribbs) last year. They wanted Willy because he had established a name for himself and had been around in various motorsports, so we did that last year and built the program. Then we jointly wanted to make a change for this year. We started testing drivers and Bill was actually one of the first guys I tested.