Davey Hamilton finished second, for second straight
season, in '98 IRL Pep Boys series. Runner-up at
Atlanta, third at Orlando, three fourths (including Indy)
made him 40 points shy of title. Lost '97 crown by six
points to Tony Stewart. Owns numerous
supermodified championships.
Hamilton ran strong for most of the 1996-97 season
before a few DNFs dropped him behind Tony Stewart in the IRL championship
race. Hamilton, driving for AJ Foyt Enterprises, still had a chance at the title at
the season finale in Las Vegas, qualifying on the front row. But he could only
muster a seventh-place finish, falling six points short of Stewart in the end. His
third-place finishes at Phoenix, Texas and Pikes Peak were his top finishes of the
season. He finished 6th at Indianapolis, just one lap off the pace.
Davey Hamilton is a second-generation championship driver. He started in the
local 6-cylinder class at Firebird Raceway in Boise in 1979, winning Rookie of
the Year and season championship and setting the track record. He continued in
6-cylinder ranks and made supermodified debut in 1980. He grabbed the Rookie
of the Year title in the CAMRA supermodified series in 1981 and continued in
the supermodified ranks.
By 1992 Hamilton added USAC Silver Crown events at Phoenix and
Indianapolis Raceway Park to his schedule. He won poles for both the
supermodified and USAC Silver Crown events at Copper World Classic and
took championships in the California SMRA and WSST series.
He passed the final phase of his driver's test at Indianapolis on Day 2 in 1995.
Wheel failure on Day 5 sent him into the Turn 4 wall, breaking his right ankle.
However, with 46 minutes left on final qualifying day, Hamilton had two laps of
226-plus before an undertray broke on the car and he slowed and waved off.
Hamilton made three USAC national midget starts in 1995, with a best finish of
second after getting the pole at the Copper World Classic in Phoenix. He also
made four USAC Western States midget starts with wins at Madera, the former
breaking Billy Boat's 11-race winning streak; and three USAC Silver Crown
starts with a best finish of fifth at Indianapolis Raceway Park.
Hamilton returned with the Indy Racing League to Indianapolis in 1996. Running
for A.J. Foyt, he started 10th and finished 12th in the 500. He ended up ninth in
the short first IRL season.
Sources: Star/News and SpeedNet staff reports.
