Bobby Hamilton Racing

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Bobby Hamilton-Racing Virginia

Dana, Square D
Manufacturer	Dodge
Opened	1996
Closed	2008
Career
Drivers' Championships	1 (2004 Trucks)
Race victories	20

Bobby Hamilton Racing-Virginia is a disbanded

The company was last run by Bobby Hamilton, Sr's widow, Lori Hamilton.

The company, formerly based in

as its new owners were based in the Virginia area, with Mac Bailey, Stacy Compton, Clay Campbell, and Joey Arrington all being Virginians.

History

BHR was originally started by Hamilton and a friend in 1996 in the fledgling Truck Series as an after hours project for Hamilton as well as to serve as development program for Bobby Hamilton Jr.. The elder Hamilton debuted the team in 1997 at

Busch Series

.

Cup Series

The team made its first start in the Cup Series at the

Allstate 400

.

Truck Series

Truck No. 04 history

The No. 04 truck made its debut as a brand new team in

drove at Bristol in 2008 for one race. He finished 26th after a late crash.

Truck No. 4 history

Hamilton began racing the No. 4 in

The Milwaukee Mile

, finishing 33rd.

In 2002, the No. 4 team began running full-time with Brian Rose as the driver. He began the season with four top-tens in the Perry Construction truck, but was released midway through the season. Hamilton, Hamilton Jr., Joe Ruttman, Rick Bogart, and Ryan Hemphill finished the season in the truck, allowing the team to finish seventeenth in the standings. In 2003, Hamilton Sr. left his Andy Petree Racing Winston Cup ride to drive the No. 4 full-time with sponsorship Square D. He picked up two wins and finished sixth in points. The following season, he won an additional four races (including one at his "home track", Nashville Superspeedway) and was named the Craftsman Truck Series champion.

Hamilton moved to the No. 04 team in

with sponsorship from various Dodge dealerships across America. After the fall Bristol race, the No. 4 team closed due to a lack of funding.

Truck No. 8 history

The No. 8 truck debuted in 2001 with

at the end of the year.

Chase Montgomery was hired to drive the No. 8 in 2004, which now ran under the moniker BHR2 as Montgomery's father Ray had purchased an ownership stake in the team. Montgomery failed to finish in the top-ten that season and finished 21st in points. He was moved to the No. 18 truck and Deborah Renshaw took his place, bringing sponsorship from Easy Care. She had a best finish of twelfth and earned a 24th-place points finish. A lack of sponsorship would cost her the ride. Montgomery returned to run the 8 at Daytona, and finished 19th. The team was then sold to Julius Curry, and attempted the spring race at Atlanta with Montgomery, but failed to qualify.

Truck No. 18 history

The 18 truck became the team's first full-time entry into the Truck series. In 1999,

. Miller had posted four top-tens when he was hired to drive in the Busch Series. Joe Ruttman took over and had nine top-tens in the remaining sixteen races of the season. He opened the 2000 season with three straight poles and a win, and finished sixth in points. In 2001, he won an additional two races and ended the season third in points.

Ruttman left with Dana at the end of 2001, and

and finished eighth in points with five top-fives and eight top tens.

Demise

At the close of the 2008 season, Dodge and Tahoe decided to no longer sponsor BHR-VA due to the struggling economy. During

pit reporter Ray Dunlap reported that Setzer was looking for a ride for 2009. Lori Hamilton confirmed on November 24 that BHR-VA would cease all operations at the end of the week.

References

External links

• Bobby Hamilton Racing/Virginia Owner Statistics