ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, December 7, 1996 TAG: 9612090054
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: Associated Press
THE WINSTON CUP CHAMP collects checks totaling more than $3 million for winning his second stock car title.
Terry Labonte is a country boy at heart. The big city normally holds no thrill for the Texas native now living in North Carolina.
But on Friday night, the 40-year-old Labonte was delighted to be in New York, where he collected checks totaling more than $3 million for winning the NASCAR Winston Cup championship - his second stock car title.
Labonte, team owner Rick Hendrick, crew chief Gary DeHart and the rest of the Hendrick Motorsports team were the stars of NASCAR's annual awards banquet in the ballroom at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.
``I never dreamed it could be so overwhelming to win the championship again,'' said Labonte, who first won the title in 1984. ``To be honest with you, this is the first time I've ever really looked forward to coming here. I'm not a city kind of guy, and I usually hate going to New York.
``When you sit out in the audience, it's not as much fun [as sitting at the head table]. I've sat all over this place. I can remember just barely sitting under the balcony in back. I was beginning to wonder if we'd ever get up on the stage again. But we finally did, and I'm really enjoying it.''
The biggest difference between that first championship and the second is the payoff. Labonte got $150,000 from the series points fund 12 years ago. This time, he collected $1.5 million from that fund.
``The checks are nice,'' the soft-spoken Labonte said. ``But if I had the checks and the trophy here in front of me and somebody said I had a choice between them, I'd take the trophy.
``Of course, since nobody's making me choose, I'll take the checks. The money is nice.''
Including prize money and contingency earnings, Labonte wound up winning just over $4 million this season.
Hendrick, one of the nation's largest auto retailers who was indicted this week for allegedly conspiring to bribe Honda executives to get more cars and dealerships, spoke only about the honor of winning the championship for the second straight year.
``As competitive as this series has become, for one team to win the championship in consecutive years is amazing,'' Hendrick said. ``It just shows that we've put the right people together, and it shows their dedication to the sport.''
The top 20 finishers in the final points also were honored at the banquet, with the top 10 invited to the stage to pick up the checks for the points payoff.
Among the other big winners Friday night was Tom Higgins, the longtime motorsports writer for The Charlotte Observer, who was given the Bill France Award of Excellence. Higgins, who has covered stock car racing for more than 35 years, retired at the end of the 1996 season.
The award is named for the founder of NASCAR, and is given for outstanding contribution to the sport.
A new award, the True Value Man of the Year, went to Jeff Gordon, the 1995 champion and this year's runner-up. Dale Jarrett, Kyle Petty and Ricky Craven were the other finalists for the award, which pays the winner $25,000 and also earns $25,000 for the winning driver's favorite charity.
In awards that were given out in New York on Thursday, Todd Parrott, the first-year crew chief for Jarrett, accepted a check for $50,000 for the UAW-GM Teamwork of Excellence Award, while his father, Buddy Parrott, crew chief for Jeff Burton, was given a check for the same amount for the RCA Pit Strategy Award.
Ernie Irvan received $30,000 for the AP Parts Meet the Challenge Award, which rewards the driver who improves the most positions in each race. Irvan won the competition three times during the season, and totaled an improvement of 96 positions in those events.
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Terry Labonte holds a driving uniform he donated toby CNBthe Official All Star Cafe's collection of sports memorabilia at the
New York restaurant Friday. KEYWORDS: AUTO RACING