Bobby Hamilton, Jr.

Hamilton Jr. tries to lift Marines' spirits by racing

Troops are interested in Corps-sponsored car

by Chip Cirillo
from the Nashville Tennessean, April 12, 2003

Bobby Hamilton Jr. hopes any success he has on the race track will offer encouragement to the Marines in Iraq.

"It gives the guys fighting over there right now or the ones that are training something positive," said Hamilton, whose car is sponsored by the U.S. Marine Corps. "They see their car up front all the time and that helps. We get e-mails at the shop all the time about how they watched it from somewhere crazy."

The 25-year-old driver from White House ranks 19th in the Busch Series points standings entering today's Pepsi 300 at Nashville Superspeedway.

Before Operation Iraqi Freedom began, from 10-15 Marines would attend Hamilton's races. He met a lot of servicemen who are now in harm's way.

"We have a couple good friends that are over there," he said.

Hamilton has kept an eye on television, looking for reports about casualties or prisoners of war. But from meeting so many Marines he said he learned that they understand the risks.

"It was said a long time ago this land ain't free because somebody went over there with a piece of paper and asked somebody to sign it," Hamilton said. "They went over there with machine guns and took care of business."

"That's how it will always be because not every country is as great as ours. They've got to do what they've got to do to keep us free."

Although there have been stirring pictures of Baghdad's fall in recent days, there have also been reminders that the war is not over. Nashville Superspeedway got one of those reminders yesterday.

Five Army soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky., attended last night's PFG Lester 150 as guests of ARCA driver Deborah Renshaw depsite receiving their orders to deploy to Iraq earlier in the day.