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Denny Hamlin's parents faced the brunt of a fatal fire at their North Carolina home. Hamlin's 75-year-old father, James Dennis Hamlin Sr., died from the house fire, while his wife, Mary Lou, 69, is getting treated under critical condition.
On Sunday, December 28, the Lucia-Riverbend Fire Department received a phone call from Hamlin's parents about a supposed fire. When the firefighters and EMS personnel reached the spot, both of them were found with 'catastrophic injuries', while 45 per cent of the house was already on fire.
Gaston County EMS later confirmed Dennis' death, while it was revealed that Mary was transported to the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Burn Center in Winston-Salem. Extensive structural damage and collapse have obscured the cause of the fire. Nonetheless, investigations are going on to determine the origin.
Hamlin built the 3,724 square-foot home in 2015, after buying the property through his Won One Real Estate entity. Notably, Hamlin's parents had to finance their family home multiple times to support his racing interests.
After a 20-year career in the Cup Series, Denny Hamlin had his best shot at the title this year. He publicly acknowledged that his father was battling a life-threatening ailment, and that this was his last chance to become a Cup champion in front of him.
His eventual loss marked a heartbreaking end to a record-setting season for the JGR driver. Hamlin later shared that Dennis viewed him as a champion irrespective of the outcome.
Denny Hamlin details parents' sacrifices in pursuit of his NASCAR career
In an interview with Annie Cooper, Denny Hamlin outlined his parents' sacrifices to help him land a NASCAR seat. Hamlin's parents came from humble roots, as his father owned a trailer and a hitch store in Virginia, while his mother worked in insurance. They had to pool their resources to fund Hamlin's aspirations beyond the grassroots level.
"The biggest hurdle that most young kids will find when they get into motorsports is that it costs money...You have to buy a car and the tires and the fuel and the engine when it blows or you crash—you gotta keep fixing it. So it takes a lot of funding," he said. (4:19 onwards) "And the challenges we had when I was growing up was, my parents had very normal jobs. My dad worked at Great Dane Tractor Trailers, my mom worked at AAA Travel, and they could only take me so far in the racing world. And so it was more me pushing them to keep me going. We risked a lot as a family," he added.Denny Hamlin eventually grabbed the eye of the late J.D Gibbs, the son of Joe Gibbs, who fast-tracked his career for putting up impressive numbers in a test with JGR's diversity program.
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Edited by Vignesh Kanna
English (US)