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…