{"id":1169,"date":"2011-08-24T08:00:09","date_gmt":"2011-08-24T12:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspiringathletes\/?p=1169"},"modified":"2011-08-24T20:46:28","modified_gmt":"2011-08-25T00:46:28","slug":"a-conversation-with-nascar-cup-champion-bobby-labonte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/08\/a-conversation-with-nascar-cup-champion-bobby-labonte.html","title":{"rendered":"A conversation with NASCAR Cup champion Bobby Labonte"},"content":{"rendered":"

Click “Like” to share this with your friends!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Bobby Labonte, driver of the #47 NASCAR Sprint Cup Toyota (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images for NASCAR)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There\u2019s no question, Bobby Labonte has earned his place as one of NASCAR\u2019s modern day giants. He\u2019s the only driver to have won both the Sprint Cup (in 2000, then sponsored by Winston) and the Nationwide Series (in 1991, then sponsored by Busch) championships. He and his brother Terry are also the only brothers to have both won a Cup title.<\/p>\n

Although he\u2019s approaching the tail end of his career, Labonte was hired by JTG-Daugherty Racing to continue developing its #47 car program. According to Brad Daugherty, Labonte\u2019s championship experience was just what the team needed.<\/p>\n

And while Labonte still has plenty of competitive drive left in him, he\u2019s much more reflective these days upon the importance of faith and family in his life. He share those thoughts and more in a one-on-one conversation that took place at Kansas Speedway:<\/p>\n

Chad Bonham: How often do you think about what you and your brother Terry have accomplished and what your last name means to the sport?<\/p>\n

Bobby Labonte: I don\u2019t think about it a whole lot. It\u2019s just not one of those things that we sit there and dwell on. We\u2019re proud of it but we don\u2019t think about it. We don\u2019t play off that. We\u2019re glad we\u2019ve done what we\u2019ve done. Its kind of one of those things where in 10 years you might realize it\u2019s bigger than what we think today.<\/p>\n

Bonham: You\u2019ve gone through a lot of changes and driven for various race teams over the past few years. How do you deal with it?<\/p>\n

Labonte: The competition is a big part of it\u2014the passion you have for the sport and the knowledge you have. You\u2019re not just going to wake up one day and say, ” think I\u2019ll do something different.” This is what I\u2019ve done my whole life. My competitive nature and my passion for the sport, those are the things that keep you wanting to do better each and every Sunday.<\/p>\n

Bonham: What did you learn from Joe Gibbs when you were over there driving in the #18 car?<\/p>\n

Labonte: There\u2019s not one thing, obviously. There\u2019s hundreds of things that I learned like where you put yourself in life and what\u2019s important and what\u2019s not important and how to conduct yourself with not just employees and press and fans but with your family which is the most important thing. You learn how to be a better person not just on the track, but all around.<\/p>\n

Bonham: How challenging is it to balance the demands of this sport and still make family a priority?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Bobby Labonte driving the #47 Toyota during Daytona 500 practice (Photo courtesy of NASCAR)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Labonte: That is tough. Yesterday I played golf in Hickory. I drove home for 45 minutes and then turned around to Statesville to fly out here. But I figure 45 minutes at home is way more important than sitting around somewhere for three hours. It is hard to balance. I do struggle with that and I think everybody does to a certain extent. I was looking at my calendar today. It\u2019s crazy, but sometimes it gives me structure to know how much time I\u2019m going to have at home. It keeps me from goofing off too much. I\u2019ve got a great wife that takes care of our kids. That\u2019s good but it\u2019s still not enough. When I\u2019m at home, I try to be a better parent. It\u2019s hard because my mind is still on this sometimes and it needs to be on my family. I try to work on that every day. If you come to the race track and you\u2019ve got problems at home, it\u2019s not going to bode well for you. It\u2019s hard to focus on this when you\u2019ve problems there. When you\u2019ve got a better perspective on what\u2019s going on at home, it makes this more enjoyable.<\/p>\n

Bonham: How much do you rely on ministries like Motor Racing Outreach and consistent Christian fellowship?<\/p>\n

Labonte: You\u2019ve got your friends and this is extended family. I\u2019ve got more friends here than what I have around where I live. When you talk to (former chaplain) Tim Griffin or Dale Beaver who was there for years, you always have them to fall back on to discuss your episodes with. Having someone you can talk to that you can trust is important. We use that a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bonham: How are things going with your new job driving in the #47 car for JTG-Daugherty Racing?<\/p>\n

Labonte: It\u2019s obviously good to have the security and it lets me work with some great people. It\u2019s a great organization with a lot of resources. They\u2019ve got all the stuff that\u2019s going to make them get better and better and they have the drive to get better and better. They have people that work there who are focused on that goal.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Why do you think they chose you to fill that seat?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Bobby Labonte of Corpus Christie, TX appears with Governor Rick Perry at a press conference at Texas Motor Speedway on April 17, 2010 (Photo courtesy of NASCAR)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Labonte: I hope its stability on my part. I want to be stable for them so they can build towards whomever the next guy is to drive that car. That time is going to come. But for right now, I want to get them in a position where they can give me their confidence and then hopefully I can give them stability and success that they can build upon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bonham: Charitable work is pretty commonplace in NASCAR. Why so?<\/p>\n

Labonte: It\u2019s not like monkey see, monkey do. When you have a group that\u2019s together every weekend, we\u2019re always comparing notes and seeing how we can make our individual charities better. It helps to be in a community where everybody gets along and makes it easy to do the right thing. We\u2019re blessed to have what we\u2019ve got. We make more than we should. When somebody says they\u2019ve been following you for years, it makes you want to give back to the fans.<\/p>\n

Bonham: How do you feel about the strong faith element within NASCAR and how does that separate racing from other sports?<\/p>\n

Labonte: It should be the contagious part of our sport for others. It should be in other sports. We shouldn\u2019t be different from other people. Everybody should be like us. That should be more prevalent in other sports. My wife\u2019s family is very tight knit family. We\u2019re kind of used to that so we don\u2019t see it as abnormal. I know that we\u2019re thankful that Darrell Waltrip and Lake Speed started it with Max Helton. They started it and we kept it growing and it\u2019s been a great way to enjoy our weekend. Without them, I don\u2019t think it would be right. There needs to me more MRO\u2019s of the world in other areas of sports. If you\u2019re going to hope for a change, you\u2019d better start to pray for a change. If you\u2019re just hoping, you ain\u2019t going anywhere.<\/p>\n

Follow Bobby Labonte\u2019s racing season by clicking HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Click “Like” to share this with your friends! There\u2019s no question, Bobby Labonte has earned his place as one of NASCAR\u2019s modern day giants. He\u2019s the only driver to have won both the Sprint Cup (in 2000, then sponsored by Winston) and the Nationwide Series (in 1991, then sponsored by Busch) championships. He and his…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":418,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,382,388,5],"tags":[16,572,23,573,574,571,577,199,198,401,10,25,576,567,575],"class_list":["post-1169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-athletes","category-qa","category-racing","category-sports-features","tag-bobby-labonte","tag-brad-daugherty","tag-darrell-waltrip","tag-joe-gibbs","tag-joe-gibbs-racing","tag-jtg-daugherty-racing","tag-lake-speed","tag-max-helton","tag-motor-racing-outreach","tag-mro","tag-nascar","tag-nationwide-series","tag-rick-perry","tag-sprint-cup-series","tag-terry-labonte"],"yoast_head":"\nA conversation with NASCAR Cup champion Bobby Labonte - Inspiring Athletes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/08\/a-conversation-with-nascar-cup-champion-bobby-labonte.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A conversation with NASCAR Cup champion Bobby Labonte - Inspiring Athletes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Click “Like” to share this with your friends! There\u2019s no question, Bobby Labonte has earned his place as one of NASCAR\u2019s modern day giants. He\u2019s the only driver to have won both the Sprint Cup (in 2000, then sponsored by Winston) and the Nationwide Series (in 1991, then sponsored by Busch) championships. He and his…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/08\/a-conversation-with-nascar-cup-champion-bobby-labonte.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Inspiring Athletes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-08-24T12:00:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-08-25T00:46:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspiringathletes\/files\/2011\/07\/2011-NSCS-Bobby-Labonte-Headshot-200x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chad Bonham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A conversation with NASCAR Cup champion Bobby Labonte - Inspiring Athletes","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/08\/a-conversation-with-nascar-cup-champion-bobby-labonte.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A conversation with NASCAR Cup champion Bobby Labonte - Inspiring Athletes","og_description":"Click “Like” to share this with your friends! There\u2019s no question, Bobby Labonte has earned his place as one of NASCAR\u2019s modern day giants. He\u2019s the only driver to have won both the Sprint Cup (in 2000, then sponsored by Winston) and the Nationwide Series (in 1991, then sponsored by Busch) championships. He and his…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/08\/a-conversation-with-nascar-cup-champion-bobby-labonte.html","og_site_name":"Inspiring Athletes","article_published_time":"2011-08-24T12:00:09+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-08-25T00:46:28+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspiringathletes\/files\/2011\/07\/2011-NSCS-Bobby-Labonte-Headshot-200x300.jpg"}],"author":"Chad Bonham","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/08\/a-conversation-with-nascar-cup-champion-bobby-labonte.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/08\/a-conversation-with-nascar-cup-champion-bobby-labonte.html","name":"A conversation with NASCAR Cup champion Bobby Labonte - Inspiring Athletes","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/08\/a-conversation-with-nascar-cup-champion-bobby-labonte.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/08\/a-conversation-with-nascar-cup-champion-bobby-labonte.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspiringathletes\/files\/2011\/07\/2011-NSCS-Bobby-Labonte-Headshot-200x300.jpg","datePublished":"2011-08-24T12:00:09+00:00","dateModified":"2011-08-25T00:46:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/#\/schema\/person\/95c3e9443bb9bfa81645d8daef1193c1"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/08\/a-conversation-with-nascar-cup-champion-bobby-labonte.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/08\/a-conversation-with-nascar-cup-champion-bobby-labonte.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/08\/a-conversation-with-nascar-cup-champion-bobby-labonte.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspiringathletes\/files\/2011\/07\/2011-NSCS-Bobby-Labonte-Headshot-200x300.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspiringathletes\/files\/2011\/07\/2011-NSCS-Bobby-Labonte-Headshot-200x300.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/08\/a-conversation-with-nascar-cup-champion-bobby-labonte.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A conversation with NASCAR Cup champion Bobby Labonte"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/","name":"Inspiring Athletes","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Chad Bonham","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/#\/schema\/person\/95c3e9443bb9bfa81645d8daef1193c1","name":"Chad Bonham","description":"Chad has been working in mass media for over 20 years. Chad\u2019s professional journey began at the University of Tulsa where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (1993) while working extensively in athletic media relations and serving as a sports editor for The Collegian. Since then, he has written extensively for such publications as Relevant, CCM, Christian Retailing, New Man, Charisma, Today\u2019s Christian, Ministries Today, Breakaway, Brio, Sports Spectrum, Christian Single, Faith & Friends, Sharing the Victory and Gospel Today. He has authored, co-authored or ghost written and edited 13 books including Life in the Fairway (New Leaf Press), Glory of the Games (Cross Training), Wrestling with God (River Oak), Spiritual Journeys (Relevant) and the four-part Fellowship of Christian Athletes Core Value Series; Excellence, Teamwork, Serving and Integrity (Regal Books). Chad is currently working on five new books including Sooner Legacy, Husker Legacy and Lessons From Sooner Football (Cross Training) as well as The Faith of Stock Car Racing (Judson Press). When he's not writing, Chad lends his efforts to various independent television and film projects. He was the coordinating producer for Choosing Life (2010) and Life Happens (2011). Chad is currently serving as producer on a forthcoming documentary about Super Bowl champion Brian Kinchen. Chad and his wife Amy live in Broken Arrow, Okla., with sons Lance (September 2003), Cole (February 2008) and Quinn (February 2011).","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/author\/cbonham"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/418"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1169"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1436,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1169\/revisions\/1436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}