Bobby Hamilton now hopes to be back driving his Craftsman Truck Series entry by late October after starting radiation treatments to treat his head and neck cancer sooner than expected. Hamilton, the series’ 2004 champion, turned his truck over to his son, Bobby Hamilton Jr., after the year’s third race of the season at Atlanta to begin chemotherapy and radiation treatments for the cancer. He was initially set to begin radiation treatments on May 30, but he’s now on his second week of treatments. “As far as my return, I said in my press conference in Atlanta that I would love to make my comeback the last race of the season [at Homestead in November],” Hamilton said Wednesday. “That would just mean so much to me, and this is the first time I’ve said this … the rehab for this thing is two to three months. Until this past week, I probably could have raced every week – there haven’t been that many races, I wouldn’t have had to step out of the truck. But for the safety of my competitors, the welfare of my business and my race teams and all the people surrounding me, I just felt like the best guy to do the job would be Bobby Jr. The next best thing for me, when I get done with all these treatments and they say everything is okay, is that I would love to come back at Atlanta where I got out of the truck.” (scenedaily.com)(5-4-2006)
