BOBBY HAMILTON, 1957-2007.(Competition)

Bobby Hamilton, the 2004 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion and one of a handful of drivers with victories in NASCAR's top three series, died from cancer Jan. 7, surrounded by his family in his home near Nashville, Tennessee. He was 49.

Hamilton was diagnosed with head and neck cancer in February 2006. He raced in the year's first three CTS events before yielding his self-owned Dodge to his son, Bobby Hamilton Jr. He then began chemotherapy and radiation treatment at several hospitals in Nashville. He returned to work at his shops in August amid talk that the cancer was in remission, but took a serious turn for the worse in the fall.

Hamilton won four Nextel Cup races in 371 starts, one each in 1996 and 1997 for Petty Enterprises, one for Morgan-McClure in 1998 and the other for Andy Petree Racing in 2001. He won a Busch Series race in 1989 and 10 Craftsman Truck Series races between 2000 and 2005. He is survived by his wife, Lori, son Bobby Jr., and a granddaughter.

Litigation threatens F1

The latest Formula One controversy: whether the 2007 race cars from Scuderia Toro Rosso and Super Aguri F1 will be of their own design or merely thinly disguised "customer cars.'' The 2007 season will be the last in which rules demand that all F1 teams must design and build their own cars; "customer cars'' will not be allowed until 2008, when Prodrive will enter the series with such a strategy.

STR says its 2007 car is being built by a new, purpose-formed company, Red Bull Technologies, which is not a signatory to the Concorde Agreement. Rival teams claim the car will be no more than a development of sister-team Red Bull Racing's RB3 car, designed by Adrian Newey.

Similarly, they claim that Super Aguri's SAF1 car will be a development of the 2006 Honda RA106; the design is technically being done by PJUU, an independent engineering consultancy in Granborough, England, by former Jordan designer Paul White. The FIA has yet to approve both designs, and some of the other teams have threatened litigation should the cars be ruled legal.