Jo’s Cafe

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Bobby Hamilton paid his early bills driving a wrecker, got his NASCAR break driving a car used in “Days of Thunder” and won the 2004 Craftsman Truck championship in his own truck.

Following his death Sunday of cancer at the age of 49, Hamilton was remembered for his love of the sport, kindness and blue-collar persona.

Nextel Cup driver Sterling Marlin, a fellow Tennessee native, said Sunday night that a lot of people didn’t get to know Hamilton well, but that the driver who started with nothing and never had the best equipment would be missed.

“He would give you the shirt off his back, and he helped me out a lot through the years,” Marlin said.

Born in Nashville in 1957, Hamilton got his start on local tracks and qualified fifth in his first Cup race at Phoenix in 1989 with a car used in the movie “Days of Thunder.” He drove in all of NASCAR’s top three divisions, making 371 Cup starts and winning four races in what is now the Nextel Cup series, including the 2001 Talladega 500.