Native Texan Terry Labonte said he knew Texas Motor Speedway was going to be a success on the April day 10 years ago when entrepreneur O. Bruton Smith presided over the groundbreaking ceremonies in far north Fort Worth.

"They had more people there for the groundbreaking than they had for the last [NASCAR] race at Texas World Speedway," said Labonte, referring to the one-time Cup track in College Station. "I saw the people riding the buses and picking up the dirt [as a souvenir]. That told me that it probably was going to work. I don't think the people had any idea of what they were going to see. It's a showplace."

Now firmly entrenched on the Nextel Cup Series landscape with two race dates, TMS officially kicked off activities surrounding the Samsung/RadioShack 500 Race Week on Wednesday night with the second annual induction ceremonies for the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame.

Labonte, a native of Corpus Christi and two-time Cup champion, was welcomed into the hall along with the late Lee Shepherd, a Fort Worth native and four-time NHRA Pro Stock champion.

Labonte and Shepherd joined inaugural hall inductees Johnny Rutherford, a three-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 from Fort Worth, and four-time Indy 500 champion A.J. Foyt Jr. of Houston.

Labonte, the Cup champion in 1984 and 1996, was introduced by his son, Justin, a regular in NASCAR's Busch Series. Terry Labonte is running a reduced 10-race schedule this season that includes both Sunday's Cup race and the inaugural Dickies 500 at TMS on Nov. 6.

"When they called and said you've been inducted into the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame, I thought, 'God, they think I'm already retired. I'm semi-retired!'" Labonte joked. "Growing up in Texas, I do have a cool nickname, Texas Terry. And it's easy to pick out the fans from Texas at tracks [around the circuit]. Because they say, 'Hey, I'm from Texas.' They're proud of it."

Labonte has scored 22 Cup victories in a career that dates to 1978, including the Cup race at TMS in 1999.

Shepherd teamed with Arlington residents David Reher and the late Buddy Morrison to form the pre-eminent team in Pro Stock beginning in the early 1980s. Shepherd won four consecutive National Hot Rod Association titles from 1981-84 in the team's trademark tri-colored Chevrolet Camaros. From 1980-84, Shepherd reached the finals in 44 of 56 NHRA national events, winning 26 of them.

In 1983, Shepherd became the first driver to win both the NHRA and IHRA Pro Stock championships -- despite different rulebooks -- a feat he repeated in 1984. He won every race on the NHRA tour at least once, compiled a 173-47 won-loss record in NHRA competition and still is ranked fourth on the lists of all-time Pro Stock winners and finalists.

"We ran Modified and felt like we did all we could do there, and moved to Pro Stock," said Reher, who accepted Shepherd's award. "Lee was kind of intimidated to start with. I got on him because he was way, way better than that. It was like, 'Lee, what are you doing here? Why are you letting those guys get in your head?' And he went from being timid to being the best Pro Stock driver of the era, like instantly."

Shepherd was killed during a crash while testing in Ardmore, Okla., on March 11, 1985.

Also honored were veteran Indy-car driver Lloyd Ruby of Wichita Falls, who received the Bruton Smith Legends Award; Dr. Dean Sicking, a native of Muenster and graduate of Texas A&M who developed the SAFER (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) Barrier for oval racetracks; IRL IndyCar Series champion Tony Kanaan, Texas Motor Speedway Racer of the Year; and Kyle and Pattie Petty, Texas Motor Speedway Sportsmanship Award for their charity work in founding the Victory Junction Gang Camp for seriously ill children in North Carolina.

The ceremony took place during a dinner at The Speedway Club benefiting the at-risk children of Happy Hill Farm in Granbury.

Source: www.hendrickmotorsports.com

Date: 4/16/2005 7:15:34 AM