BS: Obit: Bobby Hamilton

Subject: BS: Obit: Bobby Hamilton
From: tarheel
Date: 07 Jan 07 - 10:07 PM

NASCAR Driver Bobby Hamilton Dies Of Cancer

POSTED: 7:12 pm EST January 7, 2007

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Longtime NASCAR driver Bobby Hamilton, who won the 2001 Talladega 500 and was the 2004 Craftsman Truck Series champion, died Sunday of cancer. That's according to family friend Liz Allison, who co-hosted a radio show with Hamilton.

Hamilton was diagnosed with head and neck cancer last February. 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. He then turned over the wheel to his son, Bobby Hamilton Jr. The senior Hamilton then started chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

Bobby Hamilton was 49.

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: Bobby Hamilton
From: catspaw49
Date: 08 Jan 07 - 12:31 AM

I doubt too many here are familiar with Bobby Hamilton tarheel. But I'll miss him. Bobby was one of the last of the old school racers....and he was a racer to the core. He quite literally grew up on the streets of Nashville, living in old cars and flophouses for much of his early life.

Maybe it was that which made him so tough, but it was a toughness laced with good heartedness. He wasn't pretencious and never a braggart but he never backed down from a challenge. When he moved to the truck series and opened his own shops and ran his own team, he did it back in Nashville and not Charlotte. That was not easy but for Bobby Hamilton it was right.

Keep a good thought out there for Benny tarheel. Although his cancer is in remission, it sounds as though it has taken a costly toll as he's been in the ICU since Christmas.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: Bobby Hamilton
From: tarheel
Date: 08 Jan 07 - 07:28 PM

i've heard about Benny and his recent admiitance to the ICU...
Benny was one of the great ones too!
as a tv news photographer for alm0st 40 years,i got to know many of the "old school" nascar boys personally!
although the "new breed "of guys are good too,there will never be another of the "ole school of racers!"
thanks Spaw, and a prayer for Benny is on my list for sure!
Tar...

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: Bobby Hamilton
From: catspaw49
Date: 09 Jan 07 - 12:58 AM

Kenny Schrader saw Bobby last week as he had agreed to drive the Fastenal truck this year. I wonder if Bobby knew things were close and wanted to assure that things would go on........Kenny was the right guy, a real racer's racer.

These guys who are dying now of illnesses and all are a bit odd. Don't get me wrong, I hate to see them go, especially a guy so young as Hamilton. But when I was growing up in the 50's and early 60's, my heros were dying on the tracks every week! Cancer is no better but somehow its nice to know that the safety is such today that guys can live long enough to worry about cancer!

That sounds terrible doesn't it? Well, if you know how Tony Bettenhausen or Fireball Roberts or Eddie Sachs or Art Malone or Bill Vukovich, etc. died, then you know what I mean.

Spaw