Speed Calms Me: “I don’t even realize it when I am running 180 miles per hour around a race track. Speed really calms me. The only time I realize how fast I’m going is when I come up behind or beside someone. Then you feel the speed. I can really tell it when I pass someone on a race track because their truck pulls me around so much. You know how when you drive down the interstate by yourself you can be going 80 mph without ever realizing it? It doesn’t bother you until you go by someone running 70 that you notice a difference. The closeness of the cars or trucks on the race track is what makes it hard to stay calm. When your truck is out there moving around because wind in going over and around it, then you can tell what speed feels like.”
Computers: “Jeff White, our team engineer, has written this computer program that we use on a regular basis now. He started the program and then got into my head a little bit to add things that I like to it. He tells Danny (Rollins, Crew Chief) how the truck needs to be for practice or the race. We set it up accordingly and tweak it from there. It has given us tremendous results. We run it every week now. I’m not a big fan of computers, but when it comes to this program, I am a big fan.”
Box of Chocolates: “Kentucky was the first race that I didn’t think about points until it got to the green-white-checkered flag ending. Jack Sprague passed me right there at the end and that is when the owner in me came out; I thought I’ve led the most laps and if I finish second it’s been a good points day for me. But the racer in me told me to go for the win. Sprague is really good at the three-lap endings; he has a ton of experience at it. He’s like the movie Forest Gump and the deal Tom Hanks said about a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get with Sprague. I didn’t know what to expect once I got in front of him. I could have been turned around backwards or kept going. But people like Jack, Mike Skinner and Rick Crawford have raced me clean the whole time, but some people out there have problems with them or problems with me I’m sure. Jack told me after Kentucky, I will race you as clean as you race me. I feel the same way.”
Notes:
• Hamilton has won two of the last four races. The BHR team has won three of the last six.
• He is the series-leading winner right now with three wins to his credit (Atlanta, Memphis and last weekend in Kentucky)
• The truck Hamilton is racing in St. Louis is Slim Shady. He has won two races driving this particular Dodge (Memphis and Kentucky).
• The last four weekends in a row, Hamilton has raced this truck finishing 6th or higher each time.
Like a Clock: “Racing is like a clock. You put yourself at 12 o’clock and another competitor at one. Then put one at two, and three, etc. When you do that, you’ll finally end up back at yourself at 12. It all runs full circle. So instead of blaming someone else or something for a problem, look to yourself to find the answer.”
Scheduling: “In Kentucky we didn’t have a lot of practice time due to rain and I think that hurt a lot of people. It actually helped us because we unloaded so well and it didn’t give other teams time to catch up. I don’t understand the schedule a lot of times. At most of these places we go to we practice in the day time and race at night. It’s hard to get a handle on any of these vehicles, regardless if it is Nextel Cup, Busch or Craftsman Truck Series, so it would really help us to practice at night. A lot of times teams just get lucky and stumble across something that is pretty good and it makes a difference in the run. It’s just hard to guess what you think will work on a race track when temperatures make a big difference on a race surface.”
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