BURKE & HAMILTON FORM MULTI-GENERATIONAL DUO FOR 2023 USAC SILVER CROWN SEASON
Speedway, Indiana (April 21, 2023)………The USAC Silver Crown National Championship is chock full of racing heritage that’s been passed down from one generation to the next.
Few families, however, can boast a third or fourth generation, but that’s what Davey Hamilton Racing/SRG teammates Trey Burke and Davey Hamilton Jr. both have in common as they get set to contest the upcoming 2023 USAC Silver Crown season.
Fourth generation racer Burke (Alvin, Texas) is competing for USAC Silver Crown Rookie of the Year honors as he chases the full dirt and pavement slate this year for the DHR/SRG team. Trey’s grandfather, Ronnie Burke Sr., competed in the third Silver Crown race ever run in 1971 at the Du Quoin (Ill.) State Fairgrounds, where he finished 10th.
The Burke name has been associated with the Silver Crown series for nearly its entire 52-year history. Ronnie Sr. made 34 career starts between 1971-1997 while Trey’s great uncle, Jackie Burke, made 18 series starts between 1996-2016. Trey’s father, Ronnie Burke Jr., competed extensively in midgets.
Despite being just 18 years old, Burke possesses a resume that includes a wide variety of machinery, divisions and surfaces. In 2019, at the age of 14, he earned IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car Rookie of the Year honors, then competed on the USF2000 trail for car owner Joe Dooling, who is familiar to USAC fans as the successful team owner of sprints and midgets driven primarily by Bryan Clauson. But the pull for Trey has been to go Silver Crown racing, and that’s just what he intends to do in 2023.
“Silver crown is the top level,” Trey exclaimed. “That’s what my grandad did when he was running and that’s what my dad has always wanted to do. So, being able to do this is an honor. My grandfather is especially excited about this, and several of the tracks on the schedule, he’s run at before. He’s given me advice throughout my career, and I know a lot of (the advice) will be from track-to-track, but he’ll be there alongside me, and even if he’s not present, he’ll be the first one I call for help.”
Trey routinely competed on road courses in the rear-engined cars, recently garnering a 7th and a 6th last month with the USF2000 series on the Streets of St. Petersburg (Fla.), while also making time for a NASCAR Truck Series run at Mid-Ohio’s Sports Car Course and even a midget start at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
But now he arrives in the Silver Crown series with an array of experience which he’ll use to attack a variety of racetracks, the bulk of which he’ll be experiencing for the first time in his career this coming year, with more than a half-century of family history behind him.
“I’m really excited for the bigger dirt tracks,” Burke noted. “Those have always been my favorite throughout any kind of racing that I’ve done, and I feel that I’ll be very comfortable there; the speed doesn’t bother me. The hardest part of it, for sure, will be managing the tires, the fuel and trying to learn from the really good guys like Kody (Swanson), Justin (Grant) and (Logan) Seavey. If they do something, how quickly can I pick up on it and add it to my list of things to do? Being with Davey Hamilton, he and his crew will be super beneficial to me and making sure that when I show up to all the tracks, we’ll be ready to go.”
Davey Hamilton Jr., meanwhile, became the first third generation USAC Silver Crown competitor in 2014, following the foot tracks of his grandfather, Ken Hamilton, and father, 11-time Indianapolis 500 starter Davey Hamilton. Davey Jr. will return to the series in 2023 in a pavement only role for the team, one year after his best performance in the series.
Like Burke, the 26-year-old Hamilton from Boise, Idaho has a somewhat similar background of experience in the Road to Indy program and sprint cars as well as Silver Crown machines. Hamilton performed at his best on the WWT Raceway’s 1.25-mile with the Silver Crown series in 2022, finishing as the runner-up after going to the high side to lead 15 laps.
“I think I was the first guy to try that outside line and it stuck, and it worked,” Hamilton Jr. recalled. “I went from tenth to first really quickly. It was cool having my spotter tell me where Kody Swanson was because that’s the guy you’re trying to beat. I think we would’ve given Kody a better run for his money in the end if I hadn’t used up my tires too early.”
Hamilton Jr. has been on a tear in the winged pavement sprint car ranks of late where he is the current Southern Sprint Car Series point leader. He knows he and the team have speed and are getting closer to moving himself up another spot to be on top with the Silver Crown series.
“I’m still somewhat new to Silver Crown racing,” said Hamilton Jr., a veteran of 10 career Silver Crown starts. “With all this added seat time, it’s only going to help the Silver Crown program as well and I’m eager to get back into the seat to see the changes we’ve made over the winter to see where we are. I feel we’ll be even more competitive than we were last year.”
NEXT UP:
The USAC Silver Crown National Championship season begins on the dirt with the 20th running of the Sumar Classic on Sunday, May 7, at the Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track.
