Davey Jay Hamilton Jr. (born March 15, 1997) is an American racing driver from Idaho who competes in pavement sprint car racing. He is the son of former Indianapolis 500 competitor Davey Hamilton.

Davey Hamilton Jr.
Davey Hamilton Jr. before the 2024 Little 500.
NationalityAmerican
BornDavid Jay Hamilton Jr.
(1997-03-15) March 15, 1997 (age 27)
Related toDavey Hamilton (father)
Ken Hamilton (grandfather)
Must See Racing Sprint Car Series career
Current teamKirk Morgan Racing
Southern Sprint Car Shootout Series
Years active2018, 2021–2024
Starts23
Championships1
Wins12
Best finish1st in 2022
Previous series
2017
2016
2022
2024
NASCAR K&N Pro Series West
Indy Lights
Stadium SuperTrucks
USAC Silver Crown Series
Championship titles
2016
2022
King of the Wing
Southern Sprintcar Shootout Series
Awards
2022
2023
Winningest Pavement Sprint Car Driver
Last updated on: June 3, 2024.

Hamilton has raced mainly midgets, sprint cars, and in the Stadium Super Trucks. He made his Indy Lights debut in 2016.

Racing career

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Hamilton started his racing career in karting at his local karttrack near Star, Idaho. The third generation racing driver made his debut in the USAC Midgets. In 2011 Hamilton finished eleventh in the Ford Focus Midwestern Pavement division.[1] For 2012, Hamilton improved to a sixth place in the series.[2]

In 2015, Hamilton won the King of the Wing's Western Sprintcar Series. Hamilton began testing an Indy Lights car with McCormack Racing in 2015. It was initially announced that he would compete in the full 2016 Indy Lights season with the team but the entry did not materialize until the season finale at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca where Hamilton finally made his series debut. He won the King of the Wing championship in 2016.

In 2017, Hamilton joined the Stadium Super Trucks, racing Always Evolving's No. 75 at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.[3] At the Beijing National Stadium round, Hamilton won the race, but did not take the joker lane and was disqualified.[4] He also drove in one NASCAR K&N Pro Series West late that year.

On April 30, 2018, after a rookie test at Kentucky Speedway, Team Pelfrey announced that Hamilton would be competing in that year's Freedom 100 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and that they were working to add more appearance in 2018 and 2019.[5]

 
Kirk Morgan racing with Hamilton after winning the 2022 Driver and Owner's Championships

His career was put on hold from 2019 to much of 2021 following his assault arrest.[6] He returned to racing in October 2021 in the USAC Silver Crown Series and won in his second race sprint car race with Kirk Morgan's Morgan Motorsports team. The performance promoted him to a full season with the team in 2022.[7] Hamilton won six races, as well as the Southern Sprintcar Shooutout Series championship in 2022.[8]

He also planned to race for that year's SST championship, but a ramp landing in the season opener at the Grand Prix of Long Beach caused him to reaggravate a T4 spinal fracture that he suffered in a sprint car crash in 2017. Although the SST schedule was dropped, he continued his oval racing.[9]

In 2023, Davey Hamilton, Jr. won his first career USAC Silver Crown race at Gateway in St. Louis, Missouri with Legacy Autosport.

In 2023, Hamilton promoted the inaugural Open Wheel Showdown at the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway[10] The $50,000 to win Winged Sprint Car race was the highest paying of all-time for the discipline and also included Midgets and Super Modifieds competing.[11]

Personal life

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In February 2019, Hamilton was arrested in Florida on charges of false imprisonment and aggravated assault after breaking into his ex-girlfriend's hotel room and holding her at knife-point.[12] He had been struggling with concussions for months prior to the incident that he sustained in race crashes. Hamilton was sentenced to five years of probation. While his driving career was on hiatus, he started a series of businesses and became an ambassador for the Brian Hamilton Foundation, which helps those with criminal records become entrepreneurs.[6]

In 2023, Davey Hamilton, Jr. explored a career in DJing as part of music duo 'Elusive' which released one original song and a remix[13]

Racing record

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American Open-Wheel racing results

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(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest race lap)

Indy Lights

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Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Rank Points
2016 McCormack Racing STP STP PHX ALA ALA IMS IMS INDY RDA RDA IOW TOR TOR MDO MDO WGL LAG
14
LAG
14
21st 14
2018 Team Pelfrey STP STP ALA
ALA
IMS IMS INDY
7
ROA ROA IOW TOR TOR MDO MDO GTW POR POR 12th 21

Stadium Super Trucks

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(key) (Bold – Pole position. Italics – Fastest qualifier. * – Most laps led.)

Stadium Super Trucks results
Year 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 SSTC Pts Ref
2017 ADE ADE ADE STP
6
STP
10
LBH
8
LBH
7
PER PER PER DET
7
DET TEX TEX HID HID HID BEI
121
GLN GLN ELS ELS 14th 76 [14]
2018 ELS ADE ADE ADE LBH
5
LBH
7
PER PER DET DET TEX TEX ROA ROA SMP SMP HLN HLN MXC
9
MXC
8
16th 58 [15]
2022 LBH
8
LBH
8
MOH MOH NSH NSH BRI BRI 16th 26 [16]

1 Although Hamilton led the most laps, his disqualification resulted in the bonus points being awarded to Bill Hynes.

NASCAR

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(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

K&N Pro Series West

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NASCAR K&N Pro Series West results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 NKNPSWC Pts
2017 Patriot Motorsports Group 38 Chevy TUS KCR IRW IRW SPO OSS CNS SON IOW EVG DCS MER AAS KCR
15
52nd 29

References

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  1. ^ "Midwest Ford Focus Championship". USAC Racing. Archived from the original on November 13, 2011. Retrieved February 7, 2016.
  2. ^ "MIDWEST – IGNITE MIDGET SERIES POINTS". USAC Racing. Archived from the original on November 13, 2012. Retrieved February 7, 2016.
  3. ^ "Stadium Super Trucks St. Pete". Always Evolving. March 27, 2017. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  4. ^ "Round 18 – Beijing, China – 7/29/17". Stadium Super Trucks. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  5. ^ "Hamilton Jr. Returns to Indy Lights with Team Pelfrey for Freedom 100".
  6. ^ a b Hunsinger Benbow, Dana (January 28, 2022). "Davey Hamilton Jr. transforming his life: 'I made a mistake. I am not that person anymore'". The Indianapolis Star. Retrieved March 25, 2022.
  7. ^ "Busy Season Ahead For Davey Hamilton Jr". Speed Sport. January 5, 2022. Retrieved March 25, 2022.
  8. ^ "HAMILTON EXTENDS STREAK; TAKES SOUTHERN SPRINT WIN AND TITLE". TJSlideways.com. December 4, 2022. Retrieved June 3, 2024.
  9. ^ Hoffman, David (June 30, 2022). "Injury Not Slowing Down Hamilton Jr". Speed Sport. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  10. ^ "Open Wheel Showdown Brings High Stakes to Las Vegas". November 15, 2023. Retrieved December 22, 2023.
  11. ^ "Dominant Willison Banks $50,000". December 3, 2023. Retrieved December 22, 2023.
  12. ^ Ayello, Jim (February 25, 2019). "Racing driver Davey Hamilton Jr. arrested on false imprisonment, aggravated assault charges". Indianapolis Star. Gannett Company. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
  13. ^ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved June 3, 2024.
  14. ^ "2017 Overall Point Standings". Stadium Super Trucks. Retrieved January 28, 2019.
  15. ^ "2018 Overall Point Standings". Stadium Super Trucks. Retrieved January 28, 2019.
  16. ^ "2022 Overall Point Standings". Stadium Super Trucks. Retrieved April 20, 2023.
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