By Jane Smith
Pete Hamilton, the 1970 winner of the Daytona 500, was recently interviewed on “Inside Florida Racing”. Hamilton will join past winners of America’s biggest stock car race in February 2008 for a reunion in Daytona.
Hamilton, born July 20, 1942, in Dedham, Massachusetts, began racing street stocks in 1962 at Norwood Area where he went on to bigger and better things.
“I started racing at Norwood in the Street Stock division when I was 19. It did not take long before I moved to Hobby Stock and a few other divisions before I went to modifieds. I have been very fortunate in my racing career and believe that desire is the key in racing. It is absolutely crucial to have desire in racing and just hang in there which I did and won my fair share of races.”
In 1965, Hamilton was the Thompson’s World Series Twin 50’s Champion and won the NASCAR National Sportsman championship in 1967. At the end of the 67 season, Hamilton moved south where he won the Grand National Rookie of the Year and 12 and 26 Grand American Division races in 1969.
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“When I won the National Sportsman Champion, I was on the podium with Bugs Stevens and Richard Petty. That was something. Not many saw us but we were up there together.”
“It was my friend Bob who was racing Hobby Stocks at Norwood that got me into racing. He invited me to come and watch and I knew from then on that that was something I had to do. If people had not helped me, I would have never won a championship.”
“Some of the biggest events in my career was in winning the Daytona 500 in 1970 followed by both Talladega races in 70. I was the first driver who ever won both Talladega races in 1970 and that was something but, of course, the Daytona 500 was the best.”
It was not until 1999 that any other driver won both Talladega races and it was Dale Earnhardt who duplicated Pete’s wins. Pete also was the winner of the 1974 Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida.
“Eddie Flemke took me to my first Daytona race and it was a lot easier back then to get to the drivers. Fans today don’t get to have that pleasure mainly due to all the sponsorship promotions that they must do for their sponsors. But it was the fans who put us on that track and it is the fans who miss out today. Hopefully the racers someday will be more accessible to the fans but it is definitely not like it use to be for us drivers.”
“Back in July of this year, a number of us “ole timers” were at the Pepsi 400 and it was great having fans come up to us that probably were not even born when I raced. They were so nice and asked a lot of questions and we “ole timers” had a ball. We are supposed to do that again in February when Daytona celebrates their 50th anniversary plus I am going to try and making it to New Smyrna Speedway on February 15 for the reunion of drivers.”
“You know when Richard Petty and I raced, the racers were a lot bigger than today. We would weigh 200 pounds or better but we had no power steering back then and you needed weight and strength for those cars. Today’s drivers are much smaller and have power steering. Some of today’s drivers would need wooden blocks to reach the pedals in our old cars.”
Pete quit racing in 1974 when he found it too hard to find a ride. In Pete Hamilton’s Grand National career, he made 64 Grand National starts with 33 top tens, 26 tops fives, and 4 wins along with 3 poles. Pete Hamilton was the first driver to win $100,000.00 on a super speedway in a single season. Pete went on to become a successful car builder.
Jane Smith is Editor of Florida Stock Car Racing and motorsports writer for Florida Today. She has written over a thousand racing articles, not surprising as her dad Patrick Smith has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize several times.
