Until he recorded his first top-5 finish in nearly three seasons at Las Vegas last Sunday, I’d not be too shocked to find out that some casual fans thought he’d retired years ago. Camera time has been hard to come by for the 2000 NASCAR Cup champion for the past couple of seasons. What little time on TV he got seemed to have as much to do with the fact he had been driving around in Richard Petty’s old ride- the famed #43.
That has- at least for the moment- changed for a driver who always has seemed to be a man of fewer words, a kind of “anti-D.W.” of sorts. At least from this observer’s point of view, Terry Labonte’s little bro has favored the elder Labonte’s “Iceman”-like demeanor. If Bobby Labonte has ever been caught up in controversy, it’s buried deep in yesterday’s news, and it always seems he’s on one setting…steady. In a world of sport that given us the likes of T.O., A-Rod and Ryan Leaf, the first driver to win titles in two of NASCAR’s top touring series has been a breath of fresh air.
If I dare put my “fan” hat on for a moment- it’s good to see the man who had no ride back in January in the news again.
Robert Alan Labonte was born May 8, 1964 in Corpus Christi, Texas. 7 years younger than 1984 and 1996 NASCAR Cup champion “Texas Terry”- the younger Labonte was another driver who seemed to be born into it. At age 5, he got his start racing quarter-midgets- blazing a path similar to Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart. By age 7, Labonte won his first national race. In 1978, the season before Terry’s rookie year, he started racing go-karts.
Around that same time, the Labonte’s moved to North Carolina as the older of the racing brothers started trading paint with the likes of Dale Earnhardt. After high school graduation, Bobby began working for the Hagan racing team as a fabricator on Terry’s cars. While most other guys his age were making college plans or going into the military, Bobby Labonte made his Busch Series debut in the Autumn 150 at Martinsville in 1982.
Getting as much seat time as he could, racing Late Model cars around North Carolina,
Bobby Labonte continued working for Hagan and building his own Busch Series car. In 1985, he would make his second and third Busch Series starts- both at Martinsville. In the second of the two races, Labonte finished 17th.
At Caraway Speedway in Asheboro, NC, Labonte won 12 out of a possible 23 races and a track championship for good measure. The following year, he was racing at Concord Motorsports Park- winning 6 races. In 1988, Bobby Labonte also competed in 6 more Busch races, and he would score a finish of 4th at Darlington in 7 more starts the following season to go with 3 top 10s
You old schoolers have to love the fact that Bobby started out a racer’s racer-doing all the work on his own car and being a single team driver/owner a la Alan Kulwicki and Robby Gordon. By the turn of the decade, Bobby fielded his own full-time Busch Series team after he scraped enough money to do so, running the #44 Oldsmobile sponsored by Slim Jim. In his first full-time season (1990), Labonte came in 4th in the points, with 2 poles, 6 top 5s and 17 top 10s. Though he had no wins, he led laps in 6 events and Labonte caught on well enough with the fans to be voted “Most Popular Driver.”
In 1991, Bobby Labonte got the breakout season he had been working for. With a solid finish that enabled him to re-take the points lead from Kenny Wallace, he won the Busch Series title with 2 wins (the first of his career came at the Bud 250 in Bristol, the second at Indianapolis), 10 top 5s, and 21 top 10s. It was also the year Bobby would make his Cup debut in his own car- June 2, 1991 at Dover- finishing 34th after qualifying 33rd.
Labonte completely focused his efforts on the Busch Series, and darn near pulled off a repeat. He won a career-high Busch Series total of 3 races- taking the checkereds at Lanier, Hickory and Martinsville. It was a photo finish in the points between Labonte and Joe Nemechek. Front Row Joe topped the Texan by 3 points in the closest points race ever.
The big break for Labonte came when he landed a Winston Cup ride with Bill Davis in 1993. He got his first career pole at Richmond, and though Labonte didn’t see victory lane, he landed 6 top 10s- good for a 19th place finish in the points. Labonte finished second in the Raybestos Rookie Of the Year race to a kid named Jeff Gordon. The dreaded sophomore jinx hit in 1994, and he slid back a bit in the standings to 21st. A bright spot came when achieved his career top 5 to go with a pair of top 10s. A lot of people know that David Green won the Busch Series title that season, but fewer know that Green’s boss was Bobby Labonte. Bobby came back to the second tier level to run 12 races and pick up a win at Michigan.
Joe Gibbs Racing picked up Labonte to take over the #18 ride from Dale Jarrett- who left
to go to Yates Racing. It was in 1995 that he got his first big swig of NASCAR Cup success. He piloted his car to poles at Martinsville and Michigan and won his first Winston Cup race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in the Coca- Cola 600. Labonte also recorded a sweep of Michigan and the trio of wins- as well as 7 tops 5s and 14 top 10s placed at 10th in the final standings.
1996 proved an especially proud year for the Labonte family. Terry won his second Cup title after a 12-year dry spell and Bobby got his lone win- the first of 6 he’d get in Atlanta- on the day his big brother lofted the Cup above his head. Bobby finished 11th in the points, and captured pole awards on 4 occasions- Lowe’s Dover, Phoenix, and of course, Atlanta. That great Labonte trait of consistency enabled Bobby Labonte to finish 7th in the 1997 points with just one win- that, too- came in the season finale at Atlanta.
Besides yet another win at Atlanta in 1998, he got his first restrictor plate win at Talladega. With a pair of wins, 18 top 10s and a new career high of 11 top 5s- Bobby moved up to 6th in the season standings. All three of his poles came that season on super speedways- one at Talladega and twice at Daytona. In fact, Labonte came oh so close to winning the “Great American Race”- but he would settle for second on a day that belonged to Dale Earnhardt, as “The Intimidator” won the 500 on his 20th try.
A career high 5 wins came to Labonte in 1999. He visited victory lane at Las Vegas, swept Lowe’s, won at Dover and…….Atlanta. At season’s end, Bobby ended up second in the standings to the man he replaced at JGR- Dale Jarrett. Labonte never missed a start- though he broke his shoulder during a Busch Series practice in March at Darlington.
With wins at Rockingham, Indianapolis, Darlington and Lowe’s, to go with a stout run of 24 tops 10s and 19 top 5s- Bobby Labonte won the Winston Cup Series championship in 2000. This achievement puts Bobby and Terry Labonte in a special place that the Flocks, the Petty’s, the Allison’s and the Waltrip’s never got to- they’re the only brothers to win a Cup title.
Labonte was able to follow up with another strong season in 2001, though he would settle for 6th. Bobby won two races- Pocono and Atlanta. He also registered 20 top 10s.
The beginning of the end at Joe Gibbs seemed to set in around 2002. Teammate Tony Stewart was making his first championship run, and Labonte fell off to 16th at season’s end. After two consecutive years of 20 plus top 10s, the usually consistent Labonte fell off to just 7.
Labonte’s last really good season at JGR was highlighted by two wins: a 6th career win at Atlanta and the season finale at Homestead.
Bobby Labonte hasn’t won a Cup race since then.
After a 12th place run in 2004 and a 24th place finish in 2005- Labonte’s career ended at Joe Gibbs Racing. Before the 2006 season, he would get the call from a King. Petty Enterprises brought Labonte to help revive the organization with the fame #43, once used by NASCAR’s all-time Cup Richard Petty.
While cracking the top 20 would prove difficult for the champion, Labonte made the most of the situation and equipment he had, and he drew praise from Petty before being granted his release at season’s end in 2008.
It was a winter of discontent for Labonte in 2008. For a time, it appeared Bobby would be headed to take over the “41″ ride at the newly minted Earnhardt- Ganassi group. Later, talk surfaced that Labonte might replce Aric Almirola in the #8 once occupied by the likes of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and later Mark Martin.
Weeks went by. Nothing happened. Speculation loomed Labonte might not find a ride, when suddenly, word surfaced that Labonte would pilot the #96 for Hall Of Fame, now aligned with Yates Racing by way of Roush- Fenway. The car also had a new sponsor, Ask.com.
After a pair of respectable runs, Bobby Labonte looked as though he might become a surprise winner at the Shelby 427 in Las Vegas. A near-miss with Jimmie Johnson on pit road slowed Labonte up a bit, but he would go on to record his first top 5 since 2006.
There’s way too much season left to know how 2009 will play out for the former champion. One thing is for certain though: Labonte has sent out word by his driving that he is far from done, and that the #96 has already enjoyed unprecedented success.
Labonte and his wife Donna make their home in Trinity, North Carolina with their two children: Robert Tyler and Madison. When Bobby isn’t driving cars, he can often be found in a fishing boat somewhere.
PHOTO CREDITS- Top photo by mulsanne, Labonte’s 96 car by jd016, lower left photo by XSPimages, Labonte Bros by cg_nascar, Bobby n Donna by s54901. More from these photographers, many of whom have a great variety of photos of NASCAR drivers may be found at flickr.com- or click on the hyperlinks.
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