MARTINSVILLE, Va. --On Lap 128, Kyle Busch ran into the back of Brent Raymer who spun in front of Busch, forcing him to slam on the binders and come to a halt. After the caution flew, Busch, Ron Hornaday and a number of other drivers came down pit road for gas and tires. That handed the lead to Dennis Setzer, ahead of Ron Hornaday, Brendan Gaughn, Johnny Benson, Mike Skinner and David Starr. Setzer then held on through numerous restarts and survived a green-white-checker finish to to win the Kroger 250 Craftsman Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway and put his Duck Head Footwear/Aquadock Dodge Ram into victory lane. The victory was the first for Dodge (and Bobby Hamilton Racing) since the late Hamilton won at Mansfield in 2005, and the truck Setzer won in is co-owned by Hamilton's widow, Lori.
"The emotions are running high right now," Lori Hamilton said. "We always said after Bobby passed away that if we could build it, then we'd do it in honor of him."
Setzer prevailed in a single-file restart. For him, winning at a track where he and Bobby Hamilton dueled also was special.
"I ran second to Bobby the year he won the championship," Setzer said. "We fought like heck all year as far as racing goes, but we were probably as good of friends off the track. We never had a harsh word with each other any time during the year."
The race, run on a cold, overcast day after the teams practiced in heat and sunshine Friday, was dominated by 15 cautions that slowed the pace for 82 laps, and caused the race to go three extra laps for a two-lap sprint to the checkered flag. It was Setzer's 18th career victory in the series and third at Martinsville.
Ten years ago this weekend Bobby Hamilton won The Winston Cup event at Martinsville in the Morgan McClure Motorsports Kodak sponsored Chevrolet. Perhaps Setzer's win today was written in the stars.
Text by The Associated Press, Tom Jensen of TruckSeries.com, Small Town Girl and 14Falcons
"Bobby Hamilton Racing owner Lori Hamilton hopes a new partnership will return her team to victory lane for the first time since May 2005. "
Scenedaily.com
Lori Hamilton has made adjustments to Bobby Hamilton Racing in an effort to make the team more competitive. MICHAEL HELMAN / GETTY IMAGES
By Dave Rodman, NASCAR.COM
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, Stacy 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.
"One of the things BHR lacked last year was Bobby. So we had to fill those roles and help secure Bobby's vision for many years to come." Lori Hamilton
"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."
But there was a price. While Hamilton said that a number of key members of the team's competition department had transferred -- including crew chief Marcus Richmond and truck chiefs Jonathan Ellis and Todd Perryman -- others did not. Hamilton said that engineer Jeff White, another long-term BHR fixture who most recently served as crew chief on the team's No. 18 Dodge, didn't make the transfer due to family considerations; and has taken a position as team engineer with Baker-Curb Racing's Nationwide Series team, which is based in Nashville, Tenn. Kip McCord, who along with Bobby Hamilton could be considered one of "the faces" of long-term Nashville racing and who served BHR as both a team manager and crew chief, opted not to make the move, Hamilton said.
BY BOB POCKRASS, SCENEDAILY.COM
In its 10-year existence, BHR won the 2004 title with Bobby Hamilton and scored 19 race wins and 22 poles.
Lori Hamilton said Stacy Compton and Joey Arrington are in the shop daily working with her to organize the team.
"They're on the competition side and I'm more to the office," Hamilton said. "These racers, they don't follow budgets very well."
"As Bobby would say, it's just time to kick their butt," Joey Arrington
Motorsport.com
The newly reconstituted Bobby Hamilton Racing Virginia (BHR VA), with the full support of manufacturer Dodge, expects the year to be fruitful. Dodge, a three-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Manufacturers' champion with 64 victories, hasn't seen Victory Lane since the late Hamilton won at Mansfield Motorsports Park in May 2005. As newly minted team co-owner, Joey Arrington had the final words.
"As Bobby would say, it's just time to kick their butt," he said.
" DAYTONA BEACH -- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Dennis Setzer came to NASCAR Preseason Thunder testing on the red eye. It wasn't an early-morning flight that had Setzer's eyes red -- Setzer actually got up at 4 a.m. Saturday to drive here from North Carolina. It was because of the emotions of leaving behind his ailing mother. The 11th-hour commute was necessitated by the illness of Tommie Setzer, who suffered a stroke Wednesday night during emergency surgery for kidney stones.
"I've been with her all day and all night, and her mind's very good right now. The next couple of days are really critical, but there's no decline and she's doing OK," Setzer said. "Her left-side motor skills are paralyzed right now and we'll see how that comes back. We don't know how much the recovery will be or how long the term will be."
He contemplated not coming to the test, but it was at his mother's urging that he finely decided to come.
"She told me, 'You've got a job to do. You go do it,' " Setzer said. "Being here may make it easier on her because she's not there worrying about me having a job to do."
The test in Bobby Hamilton Racing-Virginia's No. 18 Dodge is a new start for Setzer, a winner of 17 truck races during the last decade.
"(Wood Brothers Racing) wanted (Ken) Schrader in the 21 car because they were back in the top 35 in points, and we had looked at Dennis the year before," BHR-V co-owner Lori Hamilton said. "Dennis and (crew chief) Jeff White just clicked and it was just a carryover from what he and Schrader had started."
"We've got some great racers behind this deal," Setzer said. "They're doing everything for BHR-Virginia." "
The day before Bobby Hamilton died was a happy one. He rested on the couch at home, watching an Elvis documentary on television, tapping his foot to the beat of the good songs, shaking an ol' ornery finger in disapproval of the ones he didn't like. He'd battled head and neck cancer for an entire year but was in great spirits. He never lost that dogged determination that had long defined him, never lost hope he'd overcome. Hamilton's gruff exterior concealed a warmth and caring from most folks.
But it was there, deep within. And it was present until the moment he died. "His spirit never faded," said Lori Hamilton, Bobby Hamilton's wife and chief caregiver throughout his cancer battle. "I didn't realize he'd die that day."
Bobby Hamilton died Jan. 7. He was 49 years old. Throughout the previous year, if he was even remotely physically able, he was at the Bobby Hamilton Racing shop in Mount Juliet, Tenn.
Some days he'd head to the doctor for chemotherapy in the morning and be in the shop that evening. The next day he'd do his best to rest in the morning, then knock off the dust from the chemo and mosey on into work in the afternoon. Chemo was manageable. Radiation was not. "Radiation knocked his socks off," Lori said. "It took him a couple months to recover from that."
Still, he worked. "If he felt good, whether it was for six hours or one hour or eight, he was at the shop," Lori Hamilton said. "If Bobby wasn't at the shop, there were phone calls made to him, conference calls from the shop. People came to the house. He was extremely hands-on.
"A lot of times he wouldn't feel good and I'd bring him to the shop, and in the conference room we put a couch and a recliner, and he'd sit there and the guys would come in and talk to him. Most people would be in the bed. He'd say, 'Take me to my couch at the race shop.'"
As his battle with cancer worsened, the trips were less frequent. But that didn't mean he wasn't running the show. In December, from home, Lori Hamilton said her husband made the decision to replace crew chief Danny Gill with Jeff White. "He was hands-on up until about three weeks before he died," she said.
Now the team is focused on 2007. Factory-backed by Dodge Motorsports, BHR will field a pair of trucks, and has pieced together a four-man management team, hand-picked by Hamilton before his death. They will announce that group formally during Speed Weeks at Daytona.
Ken Schrader No. 21 Air Force Bud Shootout Race Recap
Ken Schrader drove the No. 21 Air Force Ford Fusion to an 11th place finish in the 29th running of the Bud Shootout Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway. Although the team just missed out on their first top-10 finish of the year, Schrader gave them plenty to smile about during the event.
After rolling off the starting grid from the 7th position based on Thursday night’s random draw, Schrader lined up low and tucked in tight in the draft. He didn’t stay low for long and on the second lap was shuffled out of the draft, dropping back to 14th place by lap eight. Schrader clawed his way back into contention and the No. 21 Air Force Ford Fusion responded time and time again. By lap 11, he was right back in the top-10 running order. His steady climb continued until he reached fifth place on lap 16, just four laps shy of the 20-lap mandatory 10-minute caution break.
By that break, Schrader was running seventh and his only complaint was that the car was slightly tight off the corners. The team utilized their lengthy stop to take a half a round of wedge and place a spring rubber in the right rear suspension. As the cars began rolling again, many teams contemplated returning to pit road on the pace lap in order to top off their fuel tanks—as fuel mileage would be close with 50 remaining laps. The Wood Brothers/JTG Team elected to stay out and gamble on making it without a stop if necessary.
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