Bobby Labonte

About Bobby Labonte

Robert Alan Labonte (born May 8, 1964 in Corpus Christi, Texas) is an American race car driver and drives the #43 Cheerios Dodge Charger for the Petty Enterprises NASCAR Racing Team in the Sprint Cup Series and the #21 Nationwide Insurance Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Richard Childress Racing in the Nationwide Series. During the mid-1990s, he was diagnosed with Graves Disease. He currently resides in Trinity, North Carolina. He is married to Donna and they have two children, Robert Tyler and Madison. He, and his older brother, Terry Labonte (who was also a prominent NASCAR driver, until he retired at the end of the 2006 season) are the only brothers to have both won the championship in NASCAR's top series. He is also the uncle of former Nationwide Series winner Justin Labonte.

As of 2007, Labonte is the only driver to have won both the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship (2000) and the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship (1991). He also won the IROC title in 2001.

Labonte was born on May 8, 1964 in Corpus Christi, Texas. He began racing in 1969 in quarter midgets in his homestate of Texas, winning his first feature race one year later. From then until 1977, he drove in quarter-midgets throughout the United States, winning many races. In 1978, he advanced to the go-kart ranks, but moved to North Carolina with his family following his older brother Terry's advancement to the Cup series. After competing in several different divisions, Labonte made his Busch Series debut in 1982 at Martinsville Speedway, finishing 30th. Following his graduation from Trinity High School, he worked as a fabricator on Terry's cars at Hagan Racing. After a few years of racing in various divisions, Labonte returned to the Busch Series in 1985, running two races in a car he owned himself at Martinsville. In his first race, he finished 30th, bringing home only $220. In his next race, though, he finished in 17th, his best finish so far. The next season, running his own Bobby Labonte Racing car, he won his first Busch pole position and finished second at Road Atlanta.