Beginnings
Bobby 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 older brother Terry's advancement to the Winston Cup Series. After competing in several different divisions, Bobby 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.
While he continued to run races in the Busch Series, Labonte's main success came driving late-model stock cars. In 1987, Labonte won twelve races at Caraway Speedway, clinching the track championship, in addition to working for Jay Hedgecock. The following season, he competed at Concord Motorsports Park, winning six times, and ran six more Busch races, finishing 16th at Darlington Raceway. The next season, he ran seven races and had his first top-five finish at North Carolina Speedway. He had two more top-tens that year.
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