One of the most well known American race car drivers in NASCAR is the driver from Corpus Christi, Bobby Labonte. Born in 1964, this Corpus Christi resident named Bobby Labonte drives the #43 Dodge Avenger for the Nextel Cup Series and the #21 Chevy Monte Carlo in the race known as the Busch Series. How Bobby Labonte began his career and how he developed a love for speed and racing is due to the fact that he had been sitting behind the wheel of a race car since he was a little kid.
Bobby Labonte developed a love for the sport of racing when he sat behind the wheel of a quarter midgets while in his home state of Texas. Even at an early age, he was already a winner, winning his first ever race a year after he started racing and he kept on racing with the use of the quarter midget until he was 13. Bobby Labonte then proceeded to race go-karts starting 1978 and saw himself moving to North Carolina where his family relocated to help support his brother who was already racing in the Cup series. He entered the Busch Series a few years later in 1982 and finished in 30th place on his debut.
Bobby Labonte then tried racing in a few different categories after he finished high school and while he was working for Hagan Racing as a fabricator; working exclusively on the cars his brother drove. After 3 years, he went back to the Busch Series and slowly worked his way to the top with a pole position in the Busch Series earned the following season after his return. 1987 saw Bobby Labonte winning a dozen races on the Caraway Speedway and getting the track championship along with a few more race wins and top ten finishes in other races before the end of the decade.
Bobby Labonte | Carl Edwards | Dale Earnhardt | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Dale Jarett | Jeff Burton | Jeff Gordon | Jimmie Johnson | Kasey Kahne | Kurt Busch | Mark Martin | Matt Kenseth | Robby Gordon | Rusty Wallace | Terry Labonte | Tony Stewart | Michael Waltrip | Ward Burton