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Charles Robert Hamilton Sr. (May 29, 1957 – January 7, 2007) was an American stock car racing driver and racing team owner. A driver and owner in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series circuit and the winner of the 2004 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship, Hamilton owned Bobby Hamilton Racing. Hamilton's son, Bobby Hamilton Jr., was also a NASCAR driver.
Hamilton may be best remembered for two of his Winston Cup Series wins. His first career victory at the 1996 Dura Lube 500 at Phoenix was the first win for the No. 43 Petty car since Richard Petty's last win in 1984. He also had a memorable win at the Talladega 500 in April 2001 driving the No. 55 car for owner Andy Petree. The entire 500-mile race was run caution-free and was under intense scrutiny from both NASCAR and the media at large, being the first superspeedway race run since the death of Dale Earnhardt at the 2001 Daytona 500 two months earlier. A physically and mentally exhausted Hamilton slumped to the ground after exiting his car and was given oxygen from a tank before giving the standard post-race Victory Lane interview while sitting on the ground, leaning against the drivers door.
In 1992, Hamilton had two top-tens and finished 25th in points. He began 1993 with Tri-Star but was released early in the season. He spent the rest of the season in the Cup and Busch Series, posting two top-tens for Akins-Sutton Motorsports. Hamilton also made five Busch Series starts in the No. 05 Key Motorsports Chevrolet. In 1994, he joined SABCO Racing to driving the No. 40 Kendall Motor Oil Pontiac Grand Prix. He had just one top-ten finish and left at the end of the season.
Hamilton then signed with Morgan-McClure Motorsports in 1998 and in their eighth race together, he won from the pole, leading 378 of 500 laps at Martinsville Speedway. He ended the season, finishing tenth in the points. He had another ten top-ten finishes in 2000 and finished that season off thirtieth in points. He left for Andy Petree Racing to drive the No. 55 Square D Chevy. He won his final Cup career race at Talladega and finished eighteenth in points. He posted three top-tens in 2002 but suffered a broken shoulder late in the season, causing him to miss several races.
Although his Cup Series run in 2000 was not successful, Hamilton made history regardless as he joined Ken Schrader, Terry Labonte, and Mark Martin as one of the drivers to, at that point, win a race in each of NASCAR's top-three series when he won a Craftsman Truck Series race at Martinsville.
In 2005, Hamilton started his Truck series season with a bizarre finish. He led the final laps of the 2005 Dodge Dealers 250 at Daytona International Speedway when Jimmy Spencer got by with a few laps left and the white flag flew just before a crash occurred in turn 1. During the accident, Hamilton passed Spencer for the lead. Due to the scoring-loop rules, before the accident it was initially believed that Spencer won. Spencer drove to victory circle, but not long afterward it was determined that Hamilton won; Hamilton was at the final scoring loop as he was in the lead.
Hamilton later won at Mansfield and went on his way to another sixth place points finish.
Hamilton drove the No. 18 Fastenal Dodge for the first three races in 2006, but was diagnosed with cancer and never raced again, with his son finishing out the season.
He finished chemotherapy and radiation treatments on June 7 and retained his goal to make it back to his truck at Homestead–Miami. Hamilton added that he wanted to be back at the track, but his doctors told him his white blood cell count had to rise before they would allow it. He also began working on Craftsman For a Cure, a charity designed to help multiple other organizations, including Victory Junction and Relay For Life. Hamilton returned to the track on July 8 to watch the Truck Series race at Kentucky Speedway. By August 2006, Hamilton returned to his shop to perform everyday duties and returned to the track at Nashville Superspeedway on August 12 to watch his son race and answer questions to the press. Hamilton's doctor, Barbara Murphy, added that a recent scan had shown forward progress and no sign of the cancer advancing.
Kyle Busch paid tribute to Hamilton two months later for the Truck race at Lowe's Motor Speedway by driving a truck painted to resemble the Rowdy Burns car in Days of Thunder, complete with the No. 51 and "Rowdy" decals, a tribute that Busch continues today in late model and truck racing.
Hamilton decided to sit out the season finale race at Homestead–Miami on November 17, 2006, citing that he was dealing with medical treatments for a sore throat. He added that he would look at the opening race of the 2007 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season at Daytona International Speedway for his return. Bobby Hamilton Jr. would return to the NASCAR Busch Series for the 2007 season.
With his health in flux, Bobby Hamilton Racing announced on December 8 that they would hire Ken Schrader to race the No. 18 truck for the 2007 season on weekends where the Nextel Cup Series and Truck Series would be together. At races where Schrader's Cup schedule took priority, a driver would be determined later on. However, later in December, Hamilton returned to chemotherapy due to the return of cancer cells in his neck.
Hamilton died on January 7, 2007, at his home in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, with his family by his side.
| 1991 | Tri-Star Motorsports | Oldsmobile | 20 | 10 |
| 1992 | 22 | 32 | ||
| 1993 | Ford | 27 | 27 | |
| 1994 | SABCO Racing | Pontiac | 23 | 12 |
| 1995 | Petty Enterprises | Pontiac | 25 | 18 |
| 1996 | 39 | 20 | ||
| 1997 | 39 | 15 | ||
| 1998 | Morgan-McClure Motorsports | Chevrolet | 22 | 12 |
| 1999 | 16 | 29 | ||
| 2000 | 37 | 43 | ||
| 2001 | Andy Petree Racing | Chevrolet | 35 | 8 |
| 2002 | 32 | 32 |
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