Hamilton Sr. Plans Double Duty At Open Wheel Showdown

LAS VEGAS — Davey Hamilton Sr. plans to do double duty during this year’s Only Bulls Open Wheel Showdown at the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway November 4-7.

In addition to the $10,000-to-win annual Larry Trigueiro Memorial supermodified event, he will also compete in the $10,000-to-win Elliott’s Custom Trailers Non-Wing Sprint Car event. He will be one of a handful of drivers who plan to compete in multiple classes during the course of the weekend.

Hamilton Sr. is a popular driver who cut his teeth running supermodifieds all over the West Coast including the Bullring. He would go on to compete with the IndyCar Series and finished second in the series points chase on two occasions. In addition, he has started the Indianapolis 500 11 times.

The 64-year-old continues to compete in pavement open-wheel events sparingly, and most notably, supermodified events. Hamilton Sr. got the itch to go non-winged pavement sprint car racing again after a competitive outing at California’s Madera Speedway last month.

Hamilton Sr. is no stranger to non-wing pavement sprint car racing. He is a multi-time USAC Western States Sprint Car Series winner. He competed in a NCMA sprint car event at Madera on Sept. 26 for the first time in more than two decades.

“I’ve talked to Kirk Morgan about racing for him every now and then,” explained Hamilton Sr. “It’s just never really worked out, or the right date’s never been available. A few weeks ago, I ran a sprint car at Madera. It’s the first one I’ve ran one in probably 25 years. I showed up and didn’t have a seat. I had to borrow one from Eric Humphries.

“I kinda did it half assed. But I ended up with quick time and ended up doing pretty good. I thought to myself, this was a lot of fun, and I wanted to do some more.

“When my son, DJ, decided he wasn’t gonna run the non-winged car at the Open Wheel Showdown, I called up Kirk Morgan, and he said, ‘let’s do it.’ So here we are.”

Despite the 25 years away from non-winged sprint car racing, Hamilton Sr. surprised himself.

“To be honest I thought I qualified bad at Madera. As a matter of fact, I told myself, ‘I’m glad there weren’t a lot of people here yet to see qualifying because it was early in the night.’ I was embarrassed because I drove like crap. But it was a while before I found out I has set quick time because I immediately hopped into my super. I didn’t really talk to the crew because qualifying wasn’t finished yet. They told me we ended up quick time a little later,” laughed Hamilton Sr. “I said no way.”

The weekend will be an emotional filled weekend for Hamilton Sr. His son Davey Hamilton Jr. is the event promoter, and his 85-year-old father Ken is slated to pace the $50,000-to-win winged sprint car race with his legendary 1968 Grant King built Pink Lady sprint car.

In addition, the supermodified race pays tribute to his good friend and former crew chief Larry Trigueiro. Hamilton Sr. has kept no secrets about wanting to win this race.

“We’ve had a chance to win that thing twice but just didn’t get it done. I was going there with my guns loaded and I’m still going to win,” Hamilton said “Unfortunately, my motor blew up at Madera. I don’t have a bullet really. We’re just putting a motor in. We’ll see how it plays out. The biggest motor doesn’t always win. But I’m down about 140 horsepower. These guys are getting pretty good. They’re getting hard to beat.

“I do wanna win during the weekend for sure. I wanna get that Trigueiro Memorial win for a couple of reasons. It’s my kid’s race, he’s the promoter, and I wanna get the win for my friend Larry (Trigueiro). The Open Wheel Showdown is the biggest open-wheel race in the country. Theres nothing any bigger as far as pavement is concerned. I hope this year plays out like I hope.”

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