All five inductees are no doubt Hall of Famers. But, there
is one snub – who like Bill Elliott was on the ballot for the first time this
year – that I thought should’ve been a no-brainer selection on the first
ballot. That person is two-time champion Terry Labonte.
I think Elliott, Weatherly and Scott are all no-brainers for
different reasons and would have included all three on my ballot had I had a
vote. However, I don’t think the selections of White or Lorenzen were merited
over Labonte.
It seems rather strange for a one-time champion in White to
get the call over a two-time champion in Labonte, especially when White has
only six more career wins. But, the reason likely lies in the fact that White
is the sport’s eldest champion at 84 and the voting committee wanted him to
have a chance to be inducted while he was alive. Labonte is merely 57 and
actually still competes in the occasional Sprint Cup Series race, despite
having been retired full-time for nearly a decade. This is a reasonable
explanation as to why White was chosen over Labonte, but I don’t necessarily feel
the age of a nominee should be a deciding factor over racing resume.
The selection of Lorenzen over Labonte is more curious.
Lorenzen is not a champion of the sport, but that likely has much to do with
the fact that he didn’t run a full season schedule in an era where many drivers
did the same. Lorenzen also only has four more career wins than the two-time
champion. The case for Lorenzen’s induction over Labonte has to do with his
importance in the sport as a very popular driver, his incredible winning
percentage (including winning half of the 16 events he entered in 1964) and
like White the committee might have wanted to induct him before his death.
Lorenzen is 79 and living in an assisted living facility.
I think Labonte’s two championships alone should have gotten
him inducted over White and Lorenzen. With the induction this year of Weatherly
this leaves Labonte as the only multiple time champion in NASCAR history who is
eligible for Hall of Fame induction that hasn’t been inducted.
Terry Labonte’s career is truly mesmerizing. His first race
came in 1978 and he has raced at least once in every single NASCAR season since
(that’s a 37 year span), including as recently as just a few weeks ago at
Talladega Superspeedway. At one point Labonte was the sport’s “Iron Man” for
most consecutive races with 655, before the record was later broken by Ricky
Rudd and eventually Jeff Gordon.
His first championship came in 1984 in the prime of Dale
Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip winning championships and his second title came
in 1996 in the midst of one of the sport’s greatest runs ever by Jeff Gordon.
This means Labonte won titles in the prime years of likely three of the five
greatest NASCAR drivers of all-time. The 12 year span between championships is
also the longest between titles in NASCAR history, by quite a margin, which
shows how consistent of a driver Labonte was for a long time. Labonte finished
in the top 10 in the season’s end points standings 17 times in his career (in
26 full seasons); including a top 10 season finish in four different decades.
If you need more evidence as to how Labonte was snubbed in
being left out of the 2015 NASCAR Hall of Fame class you need look no further
than his three closest peers who have recently been inducted. In the last three
years Rusty Wallace, Dale Jarrett and Bill Elliott have all been inducted into
the NASCAR Hall of Fame, all on their first year on the ballot, despite each
having one fewer career championship than Labonte. The one thing all three drivers
have in their favor is 10-plus more wins in their careers than Labonte (Wallace
and Elliott doubled Labonte’s career win totals). But, doesn’t championship
rings usually determine an athlete’s greatness more than anything else in
almost every sport?
I’m not saying that Labonte is an all-time better driver
than Wallace, Jarrett or Elliott, by any means, but what I am saying is that
his resume and hardware is proof that he should’ve received the same treatment
by the Hall of Fame voting committee as that trio of legends.
Terry Labonte is going to be a future NASCAR Hall of Famer.
This is a fact and thus might make this entire piece much ado about nothing in
the eyes of many. But, when you’re the sport’s greatest eligible champion and
you have to wait another year while arguably inferior candidates are chosen
ahead of you that’s a disservice to your career and legend. I hope and believe
that Terry Labonte will be a member of the 2016 NASCAR Hall of Fame class in
Charlotte, but in my book he’s already been enshrined.
