SCR: One of your drivers, Brian Rose, is a veteran of Nashville Speedway USA, as you are. Do you see a little of yourself in him?Hamilton: Brian has a lot of ability. He listens well. He is a very good racer. The thing that surprises me with Brian is he will look lost at a place like Darlington. He'll go out to qualify and suck it up and cut a lap. Then we go out and practice Happy Hour and are one of the worst trucks there. The next thing you know, we are leading Darlington and finish in the Top 10 on the lead lap. He is just that kind of guy. When the flag drops, something natural comes out. I think he knows how to let his ability take over and not let his worries take over. We are hoping to build a program with Brian here. I don't have a contract with Brian; I am just trying to help his career along a little bit.
SCR: Is it true that Bobby Hamilton Racing is planning on running a couple of Winston Cup races this season?Hamilton: It has been tossed around. One thing I have to stress: a lot of people think sometimes you get too much on your plate. Clint Eastwood says in his movies, "Every man's got to know his limitations." I know my limitations. Until we get completely caught up around here, we are looking at something deep in the second half of the season. I know for a fact that it helps my race team. We built a Winston Cup car here two years ago and went to Homestead with Little Bobby (Hamilton Jr.) and made the race down there. It made my race team so much better with just that one race because they worked in the atmosphere of professional Winston Cup teams. So that is the main reason I do it. I thought it would be pretty cool to put one together again. We will start right now and build one car. It will take three or four months to build it. Then we will go test it and be ready to race.
SCR: You talk about having this Truck team as something to fall back on when your career as a driver is over. Are you grooming your team for Bobby Hamilton Jr.?Hamilton: That is in the back of my mind. The way he is coming along now-he is with a good race team; he could surpass us and that is OK, too. I could keep going on with my own deal. The bottom line is that I don't have anything else to do. I don't understand football, baseball. I can't play golf. I can play a little pool, but you learn how to drink beer when you do that. I just love NASCAR racing. I am going to let the sky be its limit. I'm going to let it go as far as it can go. If it goes to Winston Cup, I'll try it. If it doesn't, I'll stay in trucks.
SCR: You have a great attitude about Bobby Jr.'s racing career. You basically let him go out there and learn on his own. However, has there been some advice you have given him?Hamilton: The advice is there if he needs it. At first, there was a lot of advice. There was a point when we felt like he didn't have his heart in it; but I think if you asked him right now he would say he definitely has his head in it a lot more than he did three years ago. To watch him finish in the Top 10 leading laps and almost win, not to even be on the radio with him is great. To just know he has taken the ball and run with it and has learned how to work with his people and communicate with his crew chief makes me feel really proud of him. He has taken that upon himself to learn how to do that.
SCR: Your start in racing was actually working under the hood with your father and grandfather. Hamilton: Yeah, it was. I think that has helped me along. There is probably nothing on a Winston Cup race car that I can't do. If the motor man isn't there, I can adjust the valves; I can read the spark plugs, adjust the carburetor. Hell, I can pull the cylinder heads off and put another pair on if we need to. I can build the gears, transmission, set the car up, build the shocks. That is something that has always interested me. I would probably be a little out of date on it, but I can make us finish the race.