Terry Labonte goes from racing quarter-midgets in Corpus Christi to NASCAR Hall of Fame
Terry Labonte won 22 races, two Cup championships and was among the elite drivers when NASCAR boomed in the 1990s. But, for whatever reason, Labonte has always seemed to fly under the radar.
The Corpus Christi native wasn’t a flamboyant personality, or known for his aggressive driving style.
As Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage said, “Terry was underappreciated because people equated his quiet nature and lacking flair and color for his competitiveness on the racetrack. … But, trust me, Terry was as competitive as anyone.”
Terry was as competitive as anyone.
TMS president Eddie Gossage
Labonte’s track record tells the story, after all. He won a championship essentially in two different eras, claiming his first in 1984 and another in 1996. Additionally, he had a streak of running 655 consecutive races in his 37-year career.
More important than that, though, may be Labonte showing the way for Texas drivers to get into the sport. At the time Labonte was moving up the racing ranks, the logical path would have led him from Texas and into the open-wheel IndyCar path.
Labonte, however, became the first driver to pave the way from the dirt tracks of Texas to success in big-time NASCAR racing. And he became one of the early draws for TMS, being on hand for the groundbreaking ceremony and competing in the track’s first 12 Cup races (including a win in 1999).
“You always want to have local guys do well, and Terry and his brother Bobby were competitive for a long time and had a lot of fans in Texas,” Gossage said.
It’s fitting that Labonte, 59, is earning the sport’s highest honor Friday in Charlotte, N.C., being inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. It’s quite an honor for a Texas kid who grew up racing quarter-midgets in South Texas.
The Star-Telegram caught up with Labonte earlier this week about being inducted.
Terry Labonte, NASCAR Hall of Famer. How does that sound? Oh, gosh, it’s just very exciting. What an honor. It’s something I never dreamed of. I look at all the drivers in here and these guys were my heroes growing up, so it’s really special to be inducted into the Hall of Fame with those guys.
I remember watching my first Daytona 500 in 1968 with my dad and Cale Yarborough won the race. I was just a 12-year-old living in South Texas, and I never dreamed I’d have the opportunity to do the same thing and race for as long as I did in this series
How proud are you to be a Texas guy who went on to have NASCAR success? To tell you the truth, I raced quarter-midgets and I honestly wanted to race full-size midgets, which leads toward the IndyCar stuff. But I went to Houston with my dad and we watched them race, and there just wasn’t anywhere close to race them, so we went the stock car route, racing at local tracks in Corpus and San Antonio. So I’m glad [IndyCar] tracks weren’t close by because I certainly wouldn’t trade it for nothing now.
How do you want people to remember you as a driver? I don’t really know. I’ve been asked that question before and I don’t have a good answer for you. I don’t know, I really hadn’t thought about it.
Then is it fair to say you may have been underappreciated by some? Well, I was just kind of somebody who showed up every week and that’s kind of all you can do. Sometimes you look back and some of those teams I was on were just fantastic some years. So I just really appreciate all the great teams, and the hardest thing to do in this sport is to have a good team every year.
Finally, what stands out most to you in your career? The two championships for sure. Those are the two biggest accomplishments of my career. The thing that’s neat is that it’s almost in different eras. I don’t think anyone has won championships that far apart, so that’s definitely the biggest accomplishment.
This story was originally published January 21, 2016 at 5:08 PM with the headline "Terry Labonte goes from racing quarter-midgets in Corpus Christi to NASCAR Hall of Fame."