This article first appeared in the October, 2015 edition of SportsCar Magazine. SCCA members can read the current and past editions of SportCar digitally here after logging into their account; To become an SCCA member and get SportsCar mailed to your home address monthly in addition to the digital editions, click here.
George Hamilton
St. Louis Region
Member Since 2001
It’s too early to tell whether young St. Louis Region’s George Hamilton, who turned 18 in August, is the second coming of the legendary engineer turned race driver Mark Donohue, but he’s off to a good start in combining the two careers, especially on the engineering side.
“As soon as I understood how to use the Internet I began looking up videos of CAD models,” says George, “to watch videos of the inner working of engines of any kind, especially vintage Formula 1 engines. When I was 13 I was frustrated by the fact our power washer required a lot of work ‘pulling the rip cord’ to get started. So I researched the 110cc Kohler engine, removed the valve cover, and began tinkering. Whether it was adjusting the valve lash to proper specs or using a Dremel to port and polish the intake and exhaust side of the headers, you name it, I loved doing it. Sure enough, it starts up first pull to this day. This is a rather silly engine to work on, but it’s what taught me everything I know today.”
Fast forward to today and you’ll find George is essentially acting as his own crew chief, doing all the maintenance, tuning, and race prep on his 2009 Piper Formula F, which he began racing this year with promising early results (notably, firsts at three Double Regional events at Gateway). His only previous racing experience was a Skip Barber school, so he knows he has a lot to learn and has not been shy about seeking knowledge from veteran Formula F drivers.
His interest in motorsports was sealed in the fourth grade. “My father drove Formula Mazda in the ’90s,” says George, “and, as a fourth grader, my dad came in to our class and showed everyone his suit, helmet, and pictures of his car. It was at that point I knew I wanted to be ‘the guy in the helmet.’”
Steve Hamilton sold the Mazda in 1998 when his work in computer sales moved the family to England. “I fully intended to get another racecar when we returned from England in 2000,” Steve says, “but with a young son and other demands on my time, that didn’t happen. George and I did some autocrossing in 2013 after he got his driver’s license, and I think that was good driver education for him. But after seeing a JDR F1000 racecar displayed at the St. Louis Region annual banquet – the JDR was designed by St. Louis’ Jerry Hodges and Don Conner, and won the 2013 National Championship Runoffs with Lawrence Loshak at the wheel – I decided to order a car and get back into Club Racing. George helped with final assembly of the car and then worked for me as crew for the first few races before getting his own racecar.”
Working with Jerry Hodges suited George perfectly, allowing him to come to Jerry’s house and assist hands-on with all phases of production. “I learned the car inside and out,” says George, “and watching my dad and helping with virtually anything on the car at the races was a great experience. Fixing things, replacing engines; it all taught me how to effectively work under stress.”
While he was not busy learning the tricks of the racing trade building the JDR F1000, George assembled a computer that was powerful enough to enable Hodges to perform computational fluid dynamics, saving him thousands of dollars over the cost of a commercial unit. When Steve Hamilton bought an aluminum welder for his home shop, “George taught himself how to weld,” says Steve, “and used that skill to help build a robot for his school robotics team.”
That high school happens to be the renowned St. Louis Priory High School, the small (437 students) all-boy private Roman Catholic school run by Benedictine monks. While the school may teach classical Greek and Latin, along with the Zen of calligraphy, the monks also make it a point to emphasize the learning of modern tools. Their FIRST Robotics Team (FRT) is 70 boys strong; with George Hamilton as its president.
With 21 million dollars in college scholarships up for grabs, the FRC competition is fierce. “This year we finished fourth at our competition in Kansas City out of about 60 teams,” says George, “and at our competition in St. Louis we lost in the quarter finals.”
Asked for one word that best describes his son, Steve says, “In my biased opinion, one word can’t do him justice. He’s a very well rounded and mature young man with a great sense of humor, and I very much enjoy spending time with him. He’s an only child, and as a result he gets a lot of attention. But he’s earned the privilege of going racing by meeting high goals for school achievement that his mom and I set for him.”
George Hamilton has half a dozen colleges on his radar (an FSAE team is essential) and based on his resume, there’s likely to be a bidding war.
Words by R.A. McCormack
Photo Courtesy of George Hamilton
