Bobby Hamilton poses with his 2004 championship trophies (High Sierra Photo)

Racers accept death on the speedway. It's mortality off the racetrack they have trouble dealing with. Such is the case today as the motorsports community struggles with the passing of Bobby Hamilton, Sr. Hamilton, 49, died Sunday around 3 p.m. at his home in Nashville, TN losing a year-long battle with cancer.

An accomplished driver who got his start at the Nashville (TN) Fairgrounds Speedway, Hamilton broke onto the NASCAR Winston Cup scene when he drove one of the camera cars for the movie 'Days of Thunder.' Piloting the No. 51 Exxon Chevy fielded by Rick Hendrick for Paramount Pictures, Hamilton qualified fifth for the for the 1989 Autowerks 500 at Phoenix (AZ) International Raceway. His car, several hundred pounds heavier than those of his competitors because of the additional camera equipment, provided many of the shots that eventually were edited into the runaway success movie that introduced the sport to millions of people.

Hamilton's Cup career started in earnest a year later when he qualified Gary Bechtel's Diamond Ridge Racing No. 68 Pontiac eighth at Charlotte for the Coca-Cola 600 eventually finishing 39th after crashing out of the event on Lap 102.

Eventually, Hamilton would make 371 NASCAR Cup Series career starts posting four wins, 20 top-5, 67 top-10 finishes and more than $15 million in earnings. Included in his career highlights were winning the 1991 Cup Series Rookie of the Year award and giving Richard Petty his first win as a team owner in 1996 at Phoenix.

Meanwhile, Hamilton's NASCAR Busch Series career totaled 86 starts and featured a win at Richmond (VA) Fairgrounds Raceway in 1989.

Bobby Hamilton's 2004 No. 4 Dodge. (High Sierra Photo)

In recent years, Hamilton became synonymous with the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series - his efforts culminating with winning the division's 2004 championship. In all, Hamilton totaled 102 Truck Series starts scoring 10 victories - the first at Martinsville (VA) Speedway in 2000 and the last at Mansfield (OH) Speedway in 2004. His biggest win in the Truck Series came in the 2004 season-opening Daytona 250 - the first-ever night race for the trucks at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.

All his statistical accomplishments aside, Hamilton will long be remembered as a hard-nosed competitor on the track and a 'regular guy' off it. Never afraid to challenge NASCAR authority, Hamilton passed through pit road on three consecutive laps at the appropriate speed to protest a pit road speeding penalty imposed during a Truck Series event a couple years ago. Hamilton could care less that the action dropped him down in the final running order - he had already lost the race because of the infraction and there was a point to be made.

While Hamilton could be one of the division's most vocal critics in the garage area, it was never offered in malice and always directed for the betterment of the sport. In that spirit, he helped countless individuals - including this writer - gain a foothold in NASCAR giving them a chance to work on his race teams or suggesting them to someone else.

In the end, Bobby Hamilton loved racing - especially the home he found in the Truck Series at the end of his career. In an interview this writer conducted with Ted Musgrave at Daytona last February, Musgrave stated "I asked Bobby Hamilton why he decided to come to the Truck Series and he told me 'It's a place where you can wear your jeans and your T-shirt, hang out with your guys, go to the track, practice, qualify, race, go out for a burger, and bench race afterward. This is the way it should be.'"

At just age 49, Bobby Hamilton shouldn't be gone from our ranks. He should be at Daytona next month giving it his all behind the wheel on the track and mixing it up with "his guys" off it.

Sadly, that won't be the case.

Auto racing has lost a champion driver and - more importantly - a quality person. Bobby Hamilton will be sorely missed and fondly remembered by all whose path he crossed.

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