Bobby Hamliton Jr. pulls gun: Race car driver Bobby Hamilton Jr. is in the middle of a controversy involving a gun. Members of a race crew said Hamilton pulled a gun on them Saturday night at the Highland Rim Speedway in Greenbrier, TN. Anthony Walker had entered a super stock car in the race. Walker and Scott Thompson, a member of his crew, said they got into a heated argument with Hamilton, who runs the track, about whether their car was the proper weight. They said Hamilton disqualified them from the race, and Walker and Thompson wanted a refund of their entry fee. That's when Thompson says Hamilton pulled a gun out of his back pocket. "He ****ed it back and started waving it around. Saying, I'll pop it, I'll pop it. I'll pop it," Thompson said. "I've never had a gun pointed at me, and I definitely didn't like it," Thompson said.
Hamilton's story is different. He said he was going to his truck to refund the crew's entry fee, when the members of the crew followed him. "I was almost surrounded," Hamilton said. He said he felt threatened when he saw the men reach into their pockets. Hamilton said he saw that the men had pocket knives. Thompson said no one had knives or guns. Hamilton said he was well within his legal rights. "I kept watching their hands, watching their gestures, they kept getting more frustrated, about the time their hands go in their pockets, about the time they were coming out, they charged, and that's when I said, 'not today, not today,'" Hamilton said. Hamilton said he lifted his shirt to show the men the gun in his pocket. That contradicts the statement he gave police. It quotes Hamilton as saying that he took the weapon out of his pocket. Walker said Hamilton had no right to point a gun at the crew. "In no way could he have felt threatened from me, because I never once told him I wanted to hit him. I never acted like I was going to hit him. I never did anything of that fashion," Walker said. Hamilton said he's married, with a young child, and he wasn't going to risk his life that night. "I'm going to protect my business. And I'm going to protect my life," Hamilton said. Millersville Police Chief Ronnie Williams said Hamilton does have a carry permit and that no charges were filed because it's a 'he-said, she-said' situation. The chief said either side can go to before a commissioner and swear out a warrant for a private prosecution.(wsmv.com)(11-30-2010)