The Iceman

[revvinjim]

Terry Labonte may be one of the most famous athletes to come out of the big state of Texas.

The two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion and Corpus Christi native first raced quarter midgets in Texas when he was just seven years old. Labonte's father, Bob worked on race cars when he and his brother Bobby were growing up. His introduction of racing to the Labonte family helped spark both of the Labonte brother's careers.

After winning a national quarter-midget title, Terry made the move to stock car racing on local short tracks. In the mid 1970s, Labonte won local track championships all around Texas and caught the eye of Billy Hagan.

Hagan snatched the young racer from his Texas racing career to give him a chance with the big boys in NASCAR, putting him in his No. 92 Chevrolet for the first time in 1978. In that Sprint Cup debut at Darlington Raceway, Labonte qualified 19th but fought a hard race to finish fourth.

From even his early days of Cup Racing, one of Labonte's best stock car racing talents was evident. From that start in 1978 to his retirement, Labonte was known as one of the most consistent drivers on the circuit.

In his rookie year in 1979, when he battled with Dale Earnhardt, Harry Gant and Joe Millikan for the honors, Labonte posted 13 top-10 finishes in 31 starts and finished within the top 10 in the points for the first of 17 times in his career.


Leading up to his first championship title run in 1984, Labonte finished in the top five in points the three years prior. He won his first career race in 1980 at Darlington Raceway and second three years later at North Carolina Speedway.

Labonte only won two races in 1984 en route to the title, but as was the case throughout his career, it wasn't his ability to win that gave him advantage, but rather his ability to run consistently in the top 10. That year he posted 17 top-five and 24 top-10 finishes on a 30-race schedule.

At that time in 1984, Labonte was the youngest driver to win the Cup Championship. He was also the first driver from outside the Southeast to win the championship since New York's Bill Rexford in 1950.

For two more years, he continued to race for Hagan, capturing two more of his 22 career wins. In 1987, Labonte began driving for Junior Johnson, piloting the No. 11 Budweiser sponsored Chevrolet.

He remained with Johnson through the 1989 season, when the team ran with Ford, but then signed with Richard Jackson to drive the No. 1 for the 1990 season. Labonte only ran one year with Jackson before coming back under Hagan for the 1991 through 1993 seasons.

From 1990 through the 1993 season, Labonte was winless for the first time in seven years. He also finished 18th twice in the final points and 15th once during that time frame. In 1990 and 1991, the normally consistent driver only posted single digit top-10 finishes for the season, which was a rare mis-step that hadn't occurred since he began racing full-time in the Cup Series. He even went without a top-five finish in 1993 for the first time in his career and only time prior to his last full-time season in 2004.

But, in 1994 Labonte's career was given a second chance as he was signed to drive the No. 5 Kellogg's Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.

Twelve years after winning his first championship, Labonte won a second championship in the No. 5 in 1996 and still holds the record for the longest span between championships in the Cup Series.

That 1996 season was eerily similar to his first championship season. He only won two races in 1996, but his consistency paved the way as he posted 21 top-five finishes and 24 top 10s in 31 starts.

The season was also remarkable in a few other ways. In the final race of the season, while driving his second straight race with a broken hand, Labonte broke Richard Petty's streak of race starts (655 consecutive starts for Labonte when the streak ended in 2000).

He celebrated not only his title that day, which he won by 37 points over Jeff Gordon, but also his brother Bobby's race victory. For the first time ever in NASCAR history, two brothers won a race and the driver's title on the same day.

The brothers would continue to make history from that day on. In the 1998 Daytona 500, they became the first brothers to start the race on the front row. And when Bobby won the Cup championship in 2000, they became the first brothers to be champions.

Terry finished out his full-time career with Hendrick Motorsports in 2004. But with the series' past champion starting spot provisional, Labonte continued to race part-time into 2007, with the door still open for him to race currently.

In 2005, he helped Joe Gibbs Racing in its driver transition with its No. 11 FedEx Chevrolet, as well as racing a few races for Hendrick. The following year, he lended a hand to hometown team Hall of Fame Racing for its No. 96 driving duties. He officially retired from Hendrick that year with his last race being celebrated at his home track Texas Motor Speedway.

His last start came with Michael Waltrip Racing, as the struggling new team looked to him for three races in 2007.

The Iceman, as Labonte would come to be known for his cool demeanor on the track, was a strong racer on all kinds of tracks throughout his career, rather than just specific configurations like some drivers. He won at small tracks like North Wilkesboro and Darlington and on the high banks of Bristol, but also at Talladega Superspeedway and Pocono Raceway in the Cup Series.

In the Nationwide Series, Labonte conquered the Watkins Glen road course not once, but four times, and he also won at Richmond International Raceway driving in a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race to become the first driver to win a race in all three of NASCAR's major series.

Labonte was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 2001 and named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998.

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[Dirt track racer]

One of the toughest racers out there. Would race you like you raced him.Need more like him.imho

[revvinjim]

What impresses me is that he had seventeen seasons in which he finished in the top ten in points, two championships, and only 22 wins.

[24girl]

Originally Posted by Dirt track racer One of the toughest racers out there. Would race you like you raced him.Need more like him.imho

I have always admired him,one of the best IMO

[revvinjim]

Another thing I like about Terry Labonte is that his story makes good for trivia questions, especially if the question is asked about correct information.
imho