Davey Jay Hamilton Jr. (born March 15, 1997) is an American racing driver from

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

who competes in pavement

sprint car racing Sprint cars are Open-wheel car, open-wheel race cars, designed primarily for the purpose of running on short Oval track racing, oval, circular dirt track racing, dirt or paved tracks. Historically known simply as "big cars," distinguishing them fr ...

. He is the son of former

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indian ...

competitor

Davey Hamilton David Jay "Davey" Hamilton (born June 13, 1962, in Nampa, Idaho) is a race car driver who competed in the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series and Stadium Super Trucks. He has made 56 series starts and while never winning a race, finished second thr ...

. Hamilton has raced mainly midgets, sprint cars, and in the

Stadium Super Trucks The Stadium Super Trucks (SST), formerly known as Speed Energy Formula Off-Road, also known as the Boost Mobile Super Trucks in Australia, is an American short course off-road racing series created by off-road racer and former IndyCar and NASCAR d ...

. He made his

Indy Lights Indy NXT (pronounced "Indy Next"), previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as INDY NXT by Firestone for sponsorship reasons. Indy NXT is the highest step on the Roa ...

debut in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Racing career

Hamilton started his racing career in

karting Kart racing or karting is a motorsport discipline using open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on full-size motor ...

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 The Ford Focus is a compact car (C-segment in Europe) manufactured by Ford Motor Company from 1998 until 2025. It was created under Alexander Trotman's Ford 2000 plan, which aimed to globalize model development and sell one compact vehicle worl ...

Midwestern Pavement division. For 2012, Hamilton improved to a sixth place in the series. In 2015, Hamilton won the King of the Wing's Western Sprintcar Series. Hamilton began testing an

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 Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for sponsorship reasons) is a paved Racing track#Motorsport, road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and Motorcyc ...

where Hamilton finally made his series debut. He won the King of the Wing championship in 2016. In 2017, Hamilton joined the

, racing Always Evolving's No. 75 at the

Grand Prix of St. Petersburg The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is an IndyCar Series race held in St. Petersburg, Florida. In most years since 2009, the race has served as the season opener (or at minimum, the first race held on U.S. soil). The race is held annually ...

. At the

Beijing National Stadium The National Stadium (), the Bird's Nest (), is a stadium at Olympic Green in Chaoyang, Beijing, Chaoyang, Beijing, China. The National Stadium, covering an area of 204,000 square meters with an 80,000 person capacity (91,000 with temporary ...

round, Hamilton won the race, but did not take the joker lane and was disqualified. He also drove in one

NASCAR K&N Pro Series West The ARCA Menards Series West, formerly the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West, NASCAR AutoZone West Series, NASCAR Winston West Series, NASCAR Winston Transcontinental Series and NASCAR Camping World West Series, is a regional stock car racing Sto ...

late that year. On April 30, 2018, after a rookie test at Kentucky Speedway,

Team Pelfrey Team Pelfrey is an American racing team in the F1600 Championship Series and F2000 Championship Series. The team is owned by Dale Pelfrey. Indy Racing League (1998–2000) John Paul Jr. replaced Danny Ongais as driver for the 1998 Indianapolis ...

announced that Hamilton would be competing in that year's

Freedom 100 The Freedom 100 was an automobile race held annually at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, as part of the Indy NXT, Indy Lights. The event was a Card (sports)#Undercard, support race for the IndyCar Series Indianapolis 500, and ...

Indianapolis Motor Speedway The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a motor racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400, and and formerly the home of the U ...

, and that they were working to add more appearance in 2018 and 2019. Hamilton with Kirk Morgan Racing 2022 Champions

His career was put on hold from 2019 to much of 2021 following his assault arrest. 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. Hamilton won six races, as well as the Southern Sprintcar Shooutout Series championship in 2022. 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 The Grand Prix of Long Beach (known as Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach since 2019 for naming rights reasons) is an IndyCar Series race held on a street circuit in downtown Long Beach, California. It was the premier race on the CART/Champ Car Worl ...

caused him to reaggravate a T4

spinal fracture A spinal fracture, also called a vertebral fracture or a broken back, is a bone fracture, fracture affecting the vertebrae of the spinal column. Most types of spinal fracture confer a significant risk of spinal cord injury. After the immediate tr ...

that he suffered in a sprint car crash in 2017. Although the SST schedule was dropped, he continued his oval racing. 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 Las Vegas Motor Speedway (track complex formerly known as Las Vegas Speedway Park from 1993 to 1996, Las Vegas Speedway in 1992, Las Vegas International Speedway from 1990 to 1992, as the Las Vegas International Speedrome from 1972 to 1990) is a ...

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. On May 14, 2025, it was announced that Hamilton will return to Indy Lights, now renamed

Indy NXT Indy NXT (pronounced "Indy Next"), previously Indy Lights, is an American Minor league, developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as INDY NXT by Firestone for sponsorship reasons. Indy NXT is the highest step ...

, driving for

HMD Motorsports HMD Motorsports is an American racing team in the Indy NXT series. The team is owned by Henry Malukas. Indy NXT (2019–present) 2019 The origins of HMD Motorsports traces back to BN Racing's Indy Lights operation as the team had entered the ...

at the four oval events of the season.

Personal life

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. 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. In 2023, Hamilton explored a career in DJing as part of music duo 'Elusive' which released one original song and a remix. In 2024, Hamilton announced his support for the LGBTQ community on his Instagram.

Racing record

American Open-Wheel racing results

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

Indy Lights / Indy NXT

Stadium Super Trucks

( key) (Bold – Pole position. ''Italics'' – Fastest qualifier. * – Most laps led.) ¹ Although Hamilton led the most laps, his disqualification resulted in the bonus points being awarded to

Bill Hynes William Hynes (born January 31, 1972) is an American professional auto racing driver and entrepreneur. He races full-time in the Stadium Super Trucks and has also competed in sports car and touring car racing. He is the founder and former CEO of ...

NASCAR

( 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

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Davey Jr. Racing drivers from Idaho Indy Lights drivers Stadium Super Trucks drivers 1997 births Living people People from Star, Idaho NASCAR drivers USAC Silver Crown Series drivers Team Pelfrey drivers Indy NXT drivers HMD Motorsports drivers