Indianapolis 500 veteran Davey Hamilton of Boise, Idaho will compete in this Saturday’s USAC Western Sprint race at All American Speedway in Roseville, Calif. He will pilot the familiar orange Western Speed Racing entry in his bid for a 10th victory in one of USAC’s most competitive racing series.
"I ran a BCRA Midget there (All American Speedway) about 15 years ago"— Davey Hamilton
The race will mark Hamilton’s initial USAC appearance at Roseville. Since 1997 he has competed in 22 Western Sprint races and won nine of them. He’s also had a pair of thirds, five fourths and a fifth! His series wins are topped only by Tony Hunt (25) and Michael Lewis (15).
His last series victory came at Madera (Calif.) Speedway in 2001 and his only Sprint races since were at Irwindale, Calif. on Turkey Night in 2007 and 2008, although neither resulted in a “top-10” finish.
Davey’s Indy Car career includes eight starts in the Indianapolis 500, resulting in a fourth-place finish in 1998, a sixth in 1997 and a ninth in 2007. His 50 Indy Car career starts have also produced three runner-up finishes and second-place point rankings in 1997 and 1998.
Coming off a sensational runner-up finish behind Bobby Santos III at last year’s “Turkey Night” Midget race, Davey is excited about his chances Saturday.
“I ran a BCRA Midget there about 15 years ago,” says Davey. “I finished second but I remember there was a full house and it was a fun track. I’m really looking forward to this Saturday. Plus, I’m back with some old friends, the Gerhardt family, and I’m looking forward to that too. Although we owned a racing team for a while, I’ve never raced for them, but the car is the one Shane Hmiel finished sixth in this year at Madera. The powerplant is a Toyota and with my experience I think we’ll do well. It’ll be a hectic weekend, since I’ll be commuting back and forth from Long Beach to serve as a commentator for the Indy Car race there.”
