Stacy Compton (No. 4 Dodge), like a number of drivers, returned to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series after several recent seasons in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series.
Then, he had to beat the likes of Ron Hornaday Jr. (No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet), Jack Sprague (No. 2 American Commercial Lines Chevrolet) and Dennis Setzer (No. 18 Dodge).
When Compton returned this year, it was a case of NASCAR déjà vu. Same series; same rivals.
“It proves just because we are getting older, doesn’t mean we can no longer drive,” said Compton, now age 41. “You take me, Ron, Jack and (BHR-VA teammate) Setzer. We’ve seen this sport go through a lot. We are who we are as race car drivers because of the ups and downs of the sport.
Which is it truckseries.com? One of your reports says...
For Dodge driver and defending Ohio 250 race winner, Dennis Setzer, the scenery through his windshield was looking very familiar when took the lead on lap 72. Setzer maintained a solid lead for several laps before an impatient second place driver, David Starr, punted him in the rear left side corner of the No. 18 Dodge. Setzer showed off his stellar driving skills by keeping the spinning Dodge Ram off of the wall and away from all other competitors.
Another report says...
Being in the back half of the field, David Starr used patience to work his way back up to the front, while being reminded to save as much fuel as possible. By lap 77, all 36 trucks had made their one scheduled pit stop, putting the No. 11 PIT Corporate Training Toyota Tundra in the second position.A quick caution came out on lap 81 as Starr made slight contact with the leader, which relinquished the lead to the Houston, Texas native.
You can't have it both ways. Patient or impatient?
Whatever! Back to my man Setzer.
After receiving four fresh tires Setzer returned to the track in 30th position and was on a mission. In just 84 laps he raced his way back into the sixth position. It was under the 11th caution of the day that Setzer radioed in saying, “I have smoke in my cockpit.”
Immediately, following the restart it appeared Setzer’s engine expired when a cloud of smoke bellowed from the rear. After pulling the No. 18 truck behind the wall it was determined a lower radiator hose busted draining out all the water out which resulted in a blown engine. Setzer finished in 34th position and dropped to 12th in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver point standings.
"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, Fla. -- Any doubt about the future of Bobby Hamilton Racing began to be dispelled Thursday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway, when a pair of BHR transporters arrived for the Craftsman Truck Series portion of Jackson Hewitt Preseason Thunder. They unloaded Dodge trucks for veteran Ken Schrader -- a former Truck Series winner -- and Georgia youngster Chase Miller, who made his first eight Truck Series starts last season for BHR. Any concern that existed about how competitive the Dodge Ram trucks brought to Daytona by the followers of the team's namesake -- who died from cancer three weeks ago at home in Mt. Juliet, Tenn. -- vanished Friday. BHR's Dodges, the only ones among more than 35 trucks in Daytona's garage Friday, warmed up in single truck runs that morning, then were seventh (Miller) and ninth (Schrader) on the sheet in the afternoon, when drafting runs dominated the action.
"We've got to still work on it a little bit, but it's not bad at all," Schrader said. "But see, I've never run a truck down here, so they're a handful [in the draft]. It's fun, but they're a handful. "That big old body is what gives 'em all that drag, even if the front ends are getting slicker. And you've got better guys working on 'em, but it's still a big old block to move [through the air]."
Schrader, the motorsports mercenary who is probably the leading current example of a racing lifestyle made famous by Bobby Allison, i.e., racing anything, anywhere, anytime on any surface, is testing the truck with which Hamilton won the 2005 Daytona opener. In fact, the truck's won three Daytona openers, wheeled by Joe Ruttman (2001),Robert Pressley(2002) and Hamilton. "I'm going to be driving this truck every time that my Nextel Cup schedule will allow me to," Schrader said of his program with BHR. "I'm looking forward to going to all of 'em, whether I've been there in a truck before or not."
The team's commitment to its former owner is shown by the visible displays of his name -- on the hauler, on the No. 18 Dodge on the hauler's side and even above the window on the truck that Schrader tested. And Schrader said that, despite having heartfelt pain that would probably never dissipate, there was no question the team would be in Daytona, would be competitive and would move on with its collective heads up. "Well, I was thrilled last fall when Bobby asked me to drive his truck," Schrader said after taking a few seconds to gather his thoughts. "But then I got to thinking about it and I said, 'What the hell is he asking me to drive his truck for -- he should be driving it by then?'
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