Peter "Pete" Hamilton (July 20, 1942 – March 22, 2017) was an American professional driver. He competed in NASCAR for six years, where he won four times in his career (including the 1970 Daytona 500), three times driving for Petty Enterprises.

Hamilton began racing in the street division in 1962 at Norwood Arena Speedway, where he quickly earned the nickname... "The Dedham Flash". In 1965, he was the Thompson World Series Twin 50s champion. He won the 1967 NASCAR national Sportsman division championship.

After that season he moved south to race in NASCAR. He started racing in the NASCAR Grand National (now Monster Energy Cup) division in 1968, and was the series Rookie of the Year. In 1969, he competed in NASCAR's Grand American division, a division of smaller pony cars. He won 12 of 26 races that year.

He had 3 wins in 1970 for Petty Enterprises in the #40 Plymouth Superbird with Maurice Petty as his crew-chief. He won the 1970 Daytona 500 and both races at Talladega Superspeedway. Hamilton won his Twin 125 mile qualifying race for the 1971 Daytona 500 driving Cotton Owens' #6 Plymouth., finishing the season with one pole and 11 top five finishes. He retired from full-time NASCAR racing after 1973 because of complications from a neck injury in a 1969 Grand American race.

Hamilton continued to compete in short track races, and won the 1974 Snowball Derby in his late model racecar.

Pete helped Chrysler's Larry Rathgeb develop their "Kit-Car", a weld-it-yourself Volare or Aspen late model stock car that any racer could order from Plymouth and Dodge dealers. He moved to Norcross, Ga. becoming a successful car builder and mentor to many drivers on the 1980's southern dirt tracks, launching successful racing careers for the likes of Marvin Oliver and James Shepherd.

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