‘Iceman’ Terry Labonte shows emotion in induction – Nascar

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For one wintry Saturday afternoon at least, the Iceman almost cracked.
 
Terry Labonte struck the perfect blend of class and appreciation in his NASCAR Hall of Fame induction speech Saturday afternoon, joining four additional worthy members of the Class of 2016. His accomplishments were celebrated, but so was the manner in which he achieved them — with a steady, understated style that earned him the Iceman nickname.
 
There was plenty of ice in the Charlotte area with accumulation still lingering from the fringes of Winter Storm Jonas, which delayed the ceremony from its original Friday date. But the two-time premier series champion, rarely given to heavy doses of emotion, nearly melted during his heartfelt 12-minute, 15-second acceptance speech.
 
“Well, if I ever have to give another speech or anything like that, I’m not going to let my wife sit on the front row because I looked at her and she was crying, and I looked at my mother and she was crying, and I thought, ‘Oh, God, I’m going to cry, too,’ ” Labonte said after the ceremony, the seventh induction gala for the NASCAR shrine. “I can’t look at them no more. I don’t know, I wasn’t anticipating that at all.


“But you know, my family is very excited about it, and it’s quite an honor to be in the NASCAR Hall of Fame.”
 
Provided with a tough act to follow after Bruton Smith’s entrancing speech before him, Labonte welcomed the crowning accolade with exceptional grace. The soft-spoken Texan showed his appreciation for the NASCAR Hall of Famers who preceded him in enshrinement before thanking NASCAR for their devotion to the sport of stock-car racing.

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When Labonte’s speech turned to his family — many of whom were in attendance at the Charlotte Convention Center — the emotions hit home.
 
“He was telling a story about his parents and he knew they hadn’t heard that, and he told me that he might get a little emotional at that point,” said Kim Labonte, Terry’s wife of 37 years who sat front and center for the ceremony. “I was trying to keep it together. It means a lot when you look back at his career and just the things he’s accomplished and sacrifices that people made, like his parents. It just brings all the memories back closer this last week, getting ready for the Hall of Fame induction.
 
“I kept trying not to tear up, but they were just there and I couldn’t stop them. When he saw me, it triggered the same response in himself.”
 
For Bobby Labonte, who joined his brother as a premier-series champion in 2000, the quiver in his older brother’s voice resonated as he mentioned the measures his parents took to further their racing careers.
 
“It probably didn’t hit me until his speech just how big it really is,” Bobby Labonte said. “I kind of came in here like, this would be a nice little dinner or lunch, so anyway, when it was all said and done, I was watching like, ‘Holy cow.’ I’m looking around and going, ‘This is pretty big.’ It’s exciting to see.
 
“Being his little brother and watching him all those years, good gosh, I got to see all that stuff. So it really is cool to see his accomplishments and what all he’s done and being able to follow right behind him watching him. It gave me goosebumps when I was listening to him.”

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The elder Labonte’s on-track prowess did much of the talking for him. His 22 wins and 27 pole positions in NASCAR’s top division were only surpassed by the two championships, spread a record 12 years apart in 1984 and ’96. He transformed from Iceman to Iron Man by setting the sport’s longevity record with 655 consecutive premier-series starts, a mark that stood until 2002.
 
Asked to pull a favorite memory from his 37 seasons behind the wheel, Labonte actually recalled a race where he finished fifth. The 1996 season finale came on a chilly November day at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where Labonte led 28 laps and recorded his 21st top-five result in 31 races. It was enough to make him a two-time champion.

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His younger brother joined the celebration in Victory Lane, but his attendance there was compulsory. Bobby Labonte led a dominant 147 of 328 laps to win the season-ending race from the pole position, touching off a brotherly bash in one of the sport’s most memorable moments.
 
“For our parents, they’re standing there and kid No. 1 and kid No. 2 are both in Victory Lane on the same day, at the same time, the moment, in the same race,” Bobby Labonte said. “How does that work? How many times does that happen? That was a pretty surreal moment that that all took place for me to be able to win, he was able to win — all in the same day. It was like, wow — that kind of blew us away. Our emotions don’t get too high, but that blew us away.”
 
The emotions ran high for most of the two-hour ceremony for Terry Labonte, his family members, and the estimated two dozen “rowdy friends” who made the long-distance trek from his home state. Labonte ended his speech by saying that he’ll fondly recall being introduced as a champion two times over, but that recognition as a NASCAR Hall of Famer trumps all.
 
“You don’t start out saying, ‘I want to be in the Hall of Fame someday,’ ” Labonte said. “It’s something that, you know, when you look back and you kind of race from week to week and season to season and you win some races and win some championships and when it’s all over and said and done with and you’re selected to be in the Hall of Fame, then that’s quite an accomplishment.”