Conversation: Terry Labonte

LOUDON, N. H. -- Few drivers in the NASCAR Winston Cup garage area have earned more respect, or are more worthy of every shred of it, than Corpus Christi, Texas, native Terry Labonte.

Labonte has fashioned a 26-year, hall of fame career punctuated by 21 Winston Cup victories and a pair of series championships. The fact that his titles were earned in 1984 and 1996 speaks to the high level at which Labonte has maintained his career.

AUDIO CLIPS Listen to the conversation 1.29 MB / 10:46 Listen

While preparing for the recent New England 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway, Labonte sat down with NASCAR.com's Dave Rodman to discuss retirement, safety developments in racing and his son, Justin's career.

Q: With the way you ran last season, and with the injuries and other things that have happened to a number of drivers, has retirement ever crossed your mind?

Terry Labonte: Well (laughing), yes and no. I know that I'm definitely closer to getting to that point than before, but I'm not ready to retire just yet. This year, it's been a lot of fun again and our team is really doing great, and bringing really good cars to the race tracks.

This is like we should run. We've had a lot better season so far than we had a year ago and it's been a lot of fun and exciting to know that we're close to getting back into Victory Lane. We think we're getting close to where we can finish in the top 10 in points.

When you have a first half of the season like that, it kind of really puts the retirement issue on the back burner. This season has really been a lot of fun because we really struggled last year.

Q: Statistically this season looks like a real revitalization of your career. Do you look at it that way or were you trying just as hard last season, and just not getting the results?

Terry Labonte: I told the guys when we were out in Texas, "You would not believe how much easier it is to drive these cars than it was last year." We hired Jim Long as our crew chief. We wanted someone to come in from the outside and tell us what we were doing wrong.

Jim, I think has done a good job at that. He came in and looked at everything we had and I'll tell you -- there were some things that we were definitely messed up on. It took us a while to get it fixed.

The biggest thing that has helped us this year is the new body style, because that has allowed us to redo the bodies on all the cars. If you can put your finger on any one thing, that's probably made the biggest difference. That's not the only thing. We looked at every little thing we could, trying to make everything better.

Q: Would you say a guy that's running 25th to 30th is working just as hard to hold that position as a guy fighting to run in the top five?

Terry Labonte: He's working harder, I'm telling you what. Believe me, it's a lot harder when you have a 30th place car than when you have a 10th place car. People don't realize that but that's definitely the case and the way it is.

Q: You have said you've got more good cars at your disposal this season. Have you maintained that diversity or have you settled on a favorite chassis?

Terry Labonte: We have not really settled on a favorite car. I think in all the good runs that we've had, they've been in different cars. So I don't think we have a favorite one by any means. It's really put us in a position where we can go back and work on some of our cars that weren't quite as good as the others and try to get them equal to the others. That's been a big key, having consistent equipment. You can't just have one good car that you run all the time. You've got to have several cars that run good.

Q: Across the board your crew has stepped up and is giving you well-prepared cars and popping off great pit stops. Is it a case where the momentum you get from running good transfers across the whole organization?

	Credit: Autostock

Terry Labonte: There's no question about that and it's very important. We made some changes on our pit crew this year. We moved just a couple people around and it's made a huge difference. We have really got a good pit crew and they're making great stops. It's been a big difference over a year ago.

Last year we might could make one good pit stop during a race -- we just weren't very consistent. This year we've been real consistent and real fast. It's been like a different pit crew. You don't even have time to get a drink of water (on a pit stop), now (laughing).

Q: Over the space of your career, what's your take on the changes we've seen in the sport, from schedule changes to aero matching to escape hatches to soft walls?

Terry Labonte: I think the soft walls are something that down the road we're going to talk about and people are going to say, "You mean you raced at tracks that didn't have soft walls?" I think that's something that's going to be (at all tracks) across the board eventually and I think it's going to be something that is going to be a big part of our safety issue.

TERRY LABONTE  •  Driver Page  •  Hendrick team page  •  Crew Chief Jim Long  •  Store: Terry Labonte gear

Escape hatches could be something that could be beneficial, there's no question about that. I look at the wreck at Chicago that my brother had, when he backed into the wall and caught on fire. If that car would have stayed up against the wall he would have had to use that escape hatch to get out, because a lot of times up against the wall you can't get out the driver's side (window). We have so much (safety) stuff on it's hard to get out the right side (window), so that could be something that's beneficial.

The thing that has really impressed me with NASCAR recently is the fact that they have looked at so many different things, and that's really unheard of. They've really done a good job, and they've kept the competitors informed on what they're working on and the progress of it.

It's really an open door situation there, and I know the new guys in the sport don't realize it, but that 10 or 15 years ago, that was unheard of -- you didn't talk about stuff like that. But today, it's a priority and they've done a real good job on the safety issue.

Q: From your perspective what is the most significant development we've seen?

Terry Labonte: I think it's going to be a combination of everything. I think there's not any one thing that is going to make everything safer -- it's going to be a combination of things. I think the head-and-neck restraint was a big development and the soft walls are going to be big.

There are going to be some other things down the road, but it's going to be a constant deal where you're going to have to work on every little thing. You can't just expect one or two things to remedy everything, because that's just not going to be the case.

Q: From a brother's perspective, how do you deal with racing with Bobby in general, and when something like his fiery accident in Chicago happens, is it worse for the people watching than it is for you?

Terry Labonte: You know, actually I was ahead of that when it happened. I guess I was coming off of Turn 2 when my spotter told me about the wreck. They made it a point to tell me he was already out of the car and Bobby was OK. They know that I'm concerned about him and he's concerned about me, and they let me know immediately that he was fine.

As far as on the track, we treat each other with a lot of respect, but we're just competitors like everybody else is.

Q: Off the race track, what's your biggest pet peeve, driving around on the street?

Terry Labonte: Oh my God (laughing) -- I don't know. I don't really worry about it too much, but you see some idiots out on the highway. But, I've seen them on the track, too.

Q: Have you and Bobby maintained the race shop that you had your Busch operation running out of several years ago?

Terry Labonte: Actually, I have the one that we ran our Busch cars out of and that's where Justin runs his Late Model cars out of, now. We still have the engine shop there and it's still building engines for customers. Bobby has a shop of his own where he keeps (son) Tyler's Quarter Midgets and things.

Q: Is your father working with Justin on his Late Model program, and how is that going? Will we see Justin back in the Busch Series any time soon?

Terry Labonte: Actually we're talking about running a Busch race or two later in the year. My dad is looking after his Late Model Stock Car and he's leading the points down at Caraway Speedway (in Asheboro, N.C.), which is the track that Bobby won a championship at (after he came from Texas to the Carolinas in the 1980s).

They're really having a lot of fun running down there and have really been doing very well. But he wants to run a Busch race or two, so we're trying to look at where we think would be a good place to go. We haven't decided where we're going to go, yet, but hopefully we'll run a couple before the year's over.

Q: With the racing connection, everyone looks at Tyler and Justin, but how are your wife, Kim and your daughter, Kristen doing?

Terry Labonte: They're doing fine. My daughter is going to be a junior in college. I'm not sure that she likes racing that much or not. Sometimes she goes to races and sometimes she doesn't.