ARCHDALE, N.C. — Thirty years have passed since Terry Labonte won the NASCAR Cup Series championship with Hendrick Motorsports, a second title that pushed an already accomplished career to another level.
It seems hard to believe Labonte will turn 70 years old in November, particularly when, despite his gray-white hair, he still looks strong enough to wrestle a fast race car for 500 miles. He isn’t likely to try that again, however. When he competed for the final time in a Cup car in October 2014, he drove away from the competitive side of the sport.
Left behind were two Cup championships (1984 and ’96), 22 Cup victories, election to the NASCAR Hall of Fame and a driving career barely touched by controversy. Labonte was both the “Iceman” (ever calm and cool on track) and the “Ironman” (a then-record 655 straight Cup starts). He didn’t give himself those nicknames. Labonte isn’t that sort.
CLASSICS: Labonte celebrates 1996 title in Atlanta
Many of the photographs of Labonte at speedways show him in the familiar multicolored driver uniform bearing the sponsorship of Kellogg’s, a longtime partner of both Labonte and team owner Rick Hendrick. And it is that connection that remains the strongest from his driving days.
In a large back room of his SSG/Brandintense marketing company in Archdale, dozens of large tiger suits hang from a revolving clothesline, one similar to that at your local dry cleaning establishment. These are not tigers as in Louisiana State or Detroit or any of many other sports teams you might pick. These represent Kellogg’s, as in Tony the Tiger, the longtime cereal mascot known to describe his product as “Grrrreat!” in advertisements.
Labonte controls Tony and has for decades. Thanks to his strong racing connections with the brand, Labonte’s company plays a major role in promotional appearances the tiger makes across the country. A Tony the Tiger suit is shipped to the location where he’ll appear, then returned to Archdale for proper cleaning and repair, if needed.
One of dozens of clients of Labonte’s company, which specializes in marketing and promotion at events (including, but not limited to, motorsports), Kellogg’s might be the most visible, thanks to that familiar tiger.
A native of Corpus Christi, Texas, Labonte has residences in Texas (where he encounters the occasional rattlesnake — no tigers so far — on his ranch) and North Carolina and splits time between the two, piling up commercial airline miles between the states. If you see him in first-class seating, that’s probably why.
He’s often at his Archdale headquarters (near his home in Denton), where a variety of tractor-trailer rigs and vans are in and out daily, but he says that’s mostly because it’s a habit.
“I kind of come up here to hang out,” he said. “I really don’t do much. I’ve got some really good people who work here, and they do it all. Sometimes they call me to get my opinion on something, but otherwise it runs great.”
The business has largely recovered from a big downturn during the COVID pandemic, which cut Labonte’s scheduled events from 1,600 a year to 80. Now the company has as many as 75 events scattered across 32 states on a busy weekend.
What has been a very successful business began with a sponsor who needed a show car. Then a trailer and a truck were added, and things grew quickly. The company, floating along on Labonte’s excellent reputation, attracted clients big and small, from festivals to National Football League games, where a Labonte company bus offered fans a chance to play the Madden NFL video game.
Although Labonte retains an interest in racing and occasionally shows up at speedways and at Hall of Fame events, he has avoided the temptation to return to the driver’s seat, even in lower series.
“A guy called me a few years ago about driving one of our old cars at a vintage race,” he said. “I told him I would think about it and let him know. I did. Called him back and said, ‘I don’t think I want to.’ I knew I was going to go there and just sit around and wonder, ‘What am I even doing here?'”
Labonte had reason to ask that same question — “What am I even doing here?” — in September 1978 when he showed up at Darlington Raceway for his first Cup race. Cranky ol’ Darlington, particularly on Southern 500 weekend, isn’t the track most racers choose for their Cup debut, but Labonte didn’t really have a choice. Team owner Billy Hagan was making changes on his team and told Labonte he wanted him to drive the next race.
“I figured we’d start at somewhere like Martinsville or North Wilkesboro,” said Labonte, whose racing background was solidly short track. “Billy said, yeah, we’re going to go there, but we’re going to Darlington first.”
Labonte was up to the challenge. “I had never run anything over 200 laps,” he said. “I thought, ‘God, this is never going to end.'”
Only a handful of people around the Cup garage knew Labonte going into the Darlington weekend. By race’s end, he had stirred their interest with a fourth-place run, remarkable for a newcomer.
CLASSICS: 1978 Southern 500
Labonte steadily gained speed and won the Cup title with Hagan in 1984. He would tack on the second title 12 years later at Hendrick Motorsports. His two championship seasons are oddly similar. In 1984, he won two races, had 24 top 10s and failed to finish three races. In 1996, he won two races, had 24 top 10s and again had three DNFs.
Consistency and patience were hallmarks of Labonte’s career. And he was decidedly old school. Labonte’s last Cup win came August 31, 2003 in the Southern 500 at Darlington. He beat a kid named Kevin Harvick by 1.65 seconds. Labonte rolled into Victory Lane, passing up the opportunity to do a burnout.
Someone asked why. “I think they’re stupid,” he said.
