Bobby Labonte: A Heated Rival Turned Lifelong Friend

Summary

Summary of "Bobby Labonte: A Heated Rival Turned Lifelong Friend" - Herm & Schrader Podcast

Release Date: August 14, 2025

In this dynamic episode of the "Herm & Schrader" podcast, host Kenny Wallace engages in an in-depth conversation with NASCAR legend Bobby Labonte. The duo delves into their shared racing history, Bobby's current business ventures, his perspectives on the evolving NASCAR landscape, and personal anecdotes that highlight their enduring friendship.

---

1. Warm Welcome and Introduction

Kenny Wallace [02:39]: Opens the episode with enthusiasm, welcoming Bobby Labonte and expressing admiration for their shared racing experiences. He highlights Bobby as a "dear friend" and a "hero," setting a friendly and appreciative tone for the discussion.

"Well, Kenny, conversation just keeps on rolling. And this next guest, dear friend, hero of mine... How you doing?" ([02:39])

Bobby Labonte [02:39]: Responds warmly, expressing gratitude for the invitation and excitement about the conversation.

"I'm doing great, Kenny. I hope you're doing well. Thanks for inviting me to be a part of this. Really excited about this." ([02:39])

---

2. Bobby Labonte’s Current Business Ventures

Kenny Wallace [05:08]: Shifts the conversation to Bobby's current business endeavors, specifically his company, Breaking Limits.

Bobby Labonte [05:08]: Provides a comprehensive overview of Breaking Limits, detailing its focus on public relations and hospitality for clients such as Universal Technical Institute and IndyCar Aero Electronics. He explains the company's evolution, including mergers and strategic partnerships that have expanded its reach and services.

"So, we own Breaking Limits for years... So we have clients like Ferrari, we've had Cola Vita olive oil..." ([05:08])

Kenny Wallace [08:08]: Clarifies the nature of Breaking Limits, emphasizing its role in hospitality and event activation rather than driver representation.

Bobby Labonte [08:14]: Elaborates on the company's operations, showcasing how they enhance event experiences with high-end services, including gourmet food and professional staff.

"Everything we do not represent drivers. It's more of a hospitality and activation... We fancy it up and we have chefs..." ([08:14])

---

3. Challenges and Growth in Business

Bobby Labonte [09:38]: Discusses the challenges of scaling a business without a fixed office space, highlighting a decentralized team structure that allows flexibility and growth.

"We don't have an office. This is just a place for me to sit sometimes." ([09:38])

Kenny Wallace [09:38]: Commends Bobby's adaptability and proactive approach to business management.

---

4. Transition from Racing to Business

Kenny Wallace [04:15]: Teases Bobby about his hands-on and decisive nature in business, likening it to his racing characteristics.

Bobby Labonte [10:07]: Shares a personal story about renovating his workspace, removing old racing memorabilia to create a more organized and professional environment. This anecdote underscores his proactive and action-oriented mindset.

"I took all my pictures and brought them over here." ([10:07])

---

5. Longhorn Chassis and Contribution to Dirt Racing

Kenny Wallace [73:40]: Highlights Bobby’s involvement with Longhorn Chassis, recognizing it as a top-tier manufacturer in the dirt racing world and expressing surprise at its success.

Bobby Labonte [33:31]: Narrates the inception and growth of Longhorn Chassis, detailing the initial challenges faced in building quality cars and the incremental learning process that led to eventual success. He emphasizes the collaborative efforts with his nephew Justin and the dedication required to establish a reputable brand in dirt racing.

"We started building cars... We sold four cars and we learn more from the people that buy them." ([33:31])

---

6. Emotional Stories and Racing Incidents

Kenny Wallace [34:16]: Asks Bobby about his relationship with fellow racer Steve Arpin and recalls a significant incident involving Arpin's accident.

Bobby Labonte [35:28]: Shares a heartfelt account of responding to Steve Arpin’s severe burns resulting from a racing accident. Bobby describes the urgency and teamwork involved in getting Arpin the necessary medical attention, highlighting his commitment to fellow racers.

"So we took him that night maybe or the next morning and flew him to..." ([35:28])

---

7. Perspectives on NASCAR’s Evolution

Kenny Wallace [59:40]: Initiates a discussion on the current state and future of NASCAR, seeking Bobby's insights.

Bobby Labonte [60:09]: Reflects on how NASCAR has transformed over the decades, particularly focusing on changes in sponsorship dynamics, technological advancements, and the increased financial demands of running a team. He contrasts the past ease of securing sponsorships with today's more challenging environment.

"We could have done it on $800,000... but we were all there just working together." ([18:43])

---

8. Views on NASCAR Penalties and Fines

Kenny Wallace [71:36]: Expresses frustration regarding the rising penalties and fines within NASCAR, suggesting they overshadow the racing itself.

Bobby Labonte [72:45]: Agrees, critiquing the stringent regulations and their financial impact on teams. He advocates for a more balanced approach that prioritizes the integrity of the race over excessive bureaucracy.

"Yeah, it's that new. It is a... It's... What... we're not racing a 65 Ford rear end with truck arms on it." ([78:19])

---

9. Thoughts on the Next Gen Car

Kenny Wallace [74:24]: Discusses NASCAR's introduction of the Next Gen car and its implications.

Bobby Labonte [77:18]: Shares his hands-on experience with the Next Gen car, from simulation testing to actual races. He acknowledges the car's improved racing capabilities but also points out areas where he wishes for more flexibility and reduced costs.

"The biggest thing I see is it does race good. I wish it was a little more flexible, easy." ([78:13])

---

10. Concluding Thoughts on NASCAR’s Future

Kenny Wallace [84:04]: Reflects on NASCAR's resilience and current standing in the motorsports world.

Bobby Labonte [81:13]: Emphasizes the steadfastness of NASCAR's leadership and their ability to adapt and sustain the sport through challenging times. He credits the organizational efforts for maintaining fan engagement and operational continuity.

"What is good about NASCAR is they love it because it'd be easy for them to have said, ah, okay, we're just... It's not something." ([83:12])

---

11. Final Remarks and Friendship

Kenny Wallace [85:14]: Wraps up the episode by expressing gratitude for Bobby's participation and their enduring friendship, acknowledging the memorable moments they've shared in NASCAR.

"Well, Bobby, listen, this is my opinion. You and I were blessed because we were in the greatest time in NASCAR history." ([85:14])

Bobby Labonte [85:24]: Returns the sentiments, thanking Kenny and reaffirming their close bond.

"Thank you, Herm. I appreciate it. Kenny, we'll talk to you next time." ([85:24])

---

Notable Quotes:

• Kenny Wallace [10:39]: "Yesterday, what'd you learn from a dear life coach of mine?... 'Do not let the old man in.'"

• Bobby Labonte [11:17]: "Clint Eastwood is the one that came up with the 'don't let the Old man in.'"

• Kenny Wallace [74:06]: "We’re pushing the down button."

---

Key Insights:

• Adaptability in Business: Bobby emphasizes the importance of evolving business strategies, as seen with Breaking Limits' mergers and diversification.

• Collaboration and Teamwork: Success in both business and racing is attributed to strong teamwork and collaborative efforts with family and colleagues.

• NASCAR’s Financial Hurdles: Both hosts discuss the escalating costs in NASCAR, highlighting the struggle for teams to secure sufficient funding amid increasing sponsorship demands.

• Emotional Resilience: Personal stories, like Steve Arpin’s accident, showcase the community and support system within the racing world.

• Technological Integration: The adoption of simulation tools and new racing technologies signifies NASCAR's shift towards modernization, while also presenting new challenges.

---

Conclusion: This episode offers listeners a rich blend of nostalgia, personal anecdotes, and critical insights into the current state of NASCAR. Through Bobby Labonte's experiences and perspectives, the conversation underscores the evolving dynamics of racing, the necessity for adaptability in business, and the enduring friendships that sustain the motorsports community.

---

Note: Advertisements and non-content segments from the transcript have been excluded to maintain focus on the substantive discussions between Kenny Wallace and Bobby Labonte.

Transcript

[Kenny Wallace]

You know we love Trumba Casino, the free online social casino that offers over 200 games from slots to blackjack. How about Bubba Wallace's big win at the Brickyard 400? Man, he went head to head against the best Kyle Larson. Not one restart, but two or three times. Bubba Wallace lined up against Kyle Larson and out running that at the Brickyard 400 and he is now a Brickyard 400 champion. First win for Chumba Casino in the sport. This marks Bubba Wallace's third career Cup Series victory. The win secures a spot in the 2025 NASCAR playoffs. Chumba Casino, proud partner of 23xi Racing is always fun and always free to play. Chumba Casino has an in house game team called Golden Feather that designs exciting fun games that can only be found exclusively on Chumba. Check out fan favorites like Stampede Fury, Imperial Koi or Star Catch Jackpots and get in on the fun anywhere anytime. Play for [e-mail] free welcome bonus at sign up 2 million free gold coins and and 2 free sweets coins. Follow Chumba Casino on social or log in every day for free daily coins. No purchase necessary. VGW Group Voidworth Prohibited by law. See TNC's 21 plus sponsored by Chumba Casino. Sometimes an identity threat is a ring of professional hackers. And sometimes it's an overworked accountant who forgot to encrypt their connection while sending bank details.

[Bobby Labonte]

I need a coffee.

[Kenny Wallace]

And you need Lifelock. Because your info is in endless places. It only takes one mistake to expose you to identity theft. Lifelock monitors hundreds of millions of data points a second. If your identity is stolen, we'll fix it. Guaranteed. Or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year at lifelock.com specialoffer terms apply. Hello everyone and welcome back to the Kenny Wallace show, brought to you by jegs, the leader in high performance aftermarket car parts. Remember to go to Jags.com for everything and anything you need. Well, Kenny, conversation just keeps on rolling. And this next guest, dear friend, hero of mine. I don't want to. I don't want to embarrass him. But to me, the great Bobby, the bonnie Bobby. How you doing?

[Bobby Labonte]

I'm doing great, Kenny. I hope you're doing well. Thanks for inviting me to be a part of this. Really excited about this. This is good. Thank you, my friend.

[Kenny Wallace]

Well, let's. Let's be light hearted like you and I usually are. You know, we've raced so many races together. Enough of that. Kicked my butt all those years so where are you at? I. I think I see a Martinsville clock. And I think, is that your brother Terry in the background?

[Bobby Labonte]

So that's a Martinsville clock. It just needs a little TLC on. It needs to be charged up. Ring those bells that down. And then back there is a me driving the 43 car. Oh, for the pedis, the fame petties. And this is a picture from our bicycle ride that I dropped and broke the frame, broke the glass of the day. So, yeah, so we're at my studio B, which is a. Just a storage building, and I put up my. It was funny. My. I have all these pictures of Earl Pearson. Earl Pearson, Me and Dale Jarrett, Jeff Gordon, Harvick. Last time I run that 18 car. And they were over at the other. At Longhorn chassis. And my brother said, hey, I'm fixing to. We're fixing. We sold Longhorn chassis. We need to move all this stuff out. He said, so you might want to take down all these pictures, because I had them in the hallway for years back, years ago, just to make it look like there's something there, right? So I said, okay. So I walked outside and I went to my truck and I got my Dewalt drill, got my screwdriver bit. I walked back inside, I took them all off. He come walking back there, he says, well, I didn't mean today. I said, no, today's the day I'm gonna fix up my studio B. So I took all my pictures and brought them over here.

[Kenny Wallace]

You shocked him because. Yeah, you're like the Wallaces. You're a man of action. We don't wait. We do now. Yes.

[Bobby Labonte]

We gotta go now. Right?

[Kenny Wallace]

Wrap it up. Well, hey, yesterday I missed you at the srx, you know, media day. And. Yeah, that was a lot of fun. You're talking about your studio. Be there. One thing I see that's happening in the racing world is you NASCAR drivers are getting much smarter with your money. We were in Joey Logano's studio, so I think he's looking at his future, creating income when his racing life is over. I don't know everything about you, so I know that you and your wife are on the road doing things. What. What other business? What other things are you doing?

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah, well, that's a great question. And people ask me, like, you know, when I have to fill out something, it's like, what's your job, occupation? And I said, oh, God, here we go again. Race car driver, fabricator, catch can guy. Maybe a. Sometimes mechanic. Right? So, yeah, I mean, and. And I mean, there's. There's just a lot of things happening. And so for me, I mean, the racing. Racing is. I enjoy it. And, you know, we, you know, that's kind of our business on the side. I mean, we kind of. We make a business out of it. So that's, you know, that's a. You know, we, yeah, we're. We're having fun with that. So that, that business is low on the totem pole, but it's fun and we get to enjoy being together, my wife and I, and I get to go race. So it's. It's kind of. I feel kind of guilty because I feel like I'm the one having all the fun. But anyway, so that's. That's what that is. And then. So, so anyway, so. So we own. I own Breaking Limits for years. And we started it back when I was driving the Petties that long ago. So it was kind of like, yeah, Jeff Denison and I were like. Or Jeff was like, man, we need to do our own PR instead of getting this other guy to do it that he worked for. And it's kind of, you know what, we just do our own. So we kind of just started it through public relations and General Mills was our sponsor. So I still have the first dollar. That break they gave Breaking Limits. And so we did. They hired us to do work for them. And a quick, fast story is Laura Rather, that worked there through General with General Mills, works for us today. So that kind of came full circle years later. So anyway, so Breaking Limits, we grew it and we moved to offices in Charlotte. Luckily, we sold our offices in Charlotte right before we, you know, at the right time, we got rid of them. And just because people were gone all the time, so nobody was there. So when I met Kristen, she had a marketing company. So we kind of. We just merged them together. It makes sense, right? I mean, why should I be doing this over here and you'd be doing the same thing over there? Just. We put them all together. So, you know, she had some clients of hers that she brought to the, you know, you know, say we just put them all together. So throughout all that, you know, for, For Breaking Limits, we have. We do pr. We work for Universal Technical Institute, NASCAR Tech. So we do PR for them. And then we have a client at IndyCar Aero Electronics. We've had clients Ferrari, we've had Cola Vita olive oil. My wife's redone some stuff for. For Ray hall and their group. And then, you know, we, we, you know, we. We have smaller things that kind of float throughout and in and out through whether it's, you know, you know, pizzas.

[Kenny Wallace]

And limits is like a hospitality and then you represent drivers a little bit.

[Bobby Labonte]

Everything we do not represent drivers. It's more of a hospitality and activation. So what we do is the structure is already built when we get there. And then what we do is we fancy it up and we have chefs and we have employees that come in. Eight people come in, hire more local staff. You make sure food is prepared for 120 to 200 guests at eight different events. And so it lasts for about three days. And we come in there with, with fine china, with real silverware, real food.

[Kenny Wallace]

I love the detail. Yes.

[Bobby Labonte]

I mean, stuff. Yeah. Real liquor, you know, no fake stuff. And I mean, it's, it's all professional, you know, I mean, I mean, I say it's all top end, high end stuff. And we, we can, you know, we can do, you know, we can do smaller stuff as well. And we have, we did an event for, for pit boss grills and arctic coolers the other day. So we just did a one off for them, trying to get more business with them. So a lot of little things like that happen. But, but so our company has grown and so we're trying to grow it and grow it and grow it. And yeah, so we got, you know, like I said, we've got probably seven or eight full time people and they're all over the place. We don't have an office. This is just a place for me to sit sometimes.

[Kenny Wallace]

So you're moving and shaking all the time. And Bobby, you know, I have learned that fans and people have this vision. They ask me all the time, what's your brother Rusty doing? I'm like, oh, he owns nine dealerships.

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah.

[Kenny Wallace]

What's your brother Mike doing? Oh, he buys property and sells it. Sometimes people have this vision that when us redneck racers are done, like we live under a bridge in a cardboard box or something.

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah, right, right.

[Kenny Wallace]

It could have happened. That could have happened.

[Bobby Labonte]

But sure. Well, and then, you know, and you know, this obviously, you know, for me, and we run through this, all this through a business, of course. But, you know, the TV thing for me is a lot, you know, I mean, because they're not like what you did, but I do something every week. Every week, every week, every week, something. And then, you know, at Christmas it's, you know, I mean, nothing for a couple months, but, you know, I mean, at the same time. So that's a part of a, you know, part of when you say, when somebody says, hey, yeah, what do you do for a living? It's like, oh, okay, hold on a second. You know.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yesterday, what'd you learn from a dear life coach of mine? My CPA account. His name is Ashok Chadgar, and. And he's my hidden hero. And I was telling him that I had these aches and pains, and he said something that I want to share with you and I will share with everybody. He says, do not let the old man in.

[Bobby Labonte]

True. Absolutely.

[Kenny Wallace]

You're staying young because you're. You're doing it all. You got. You got Breaking Limits. You're doing tv, you're running srx, you're running your mod Charlie.

[Bobby Labonte]

So it's, it's. So Clint Eastwood is the one that came up with the don't let the Old man in.

[Kenny Wallace]

Oh, yeah, he told me that.

[Bobby Labonte]

And Toby Keith wrote a song about that because he played golf with Clint Eastwood. And Clint Eastwood said that on the golf course because he asked him, said, how in the heck do you do this? You're 98, whatever, years old. And he said, you don't let the old man in. So he wrote a song on that. So three or four years ago, we were in Idaho going to bird hunting, and we listened to it on the way because we talked about it with some group of guys and we talked about not let the old man in. So, yeah, there you have it. So my wife has to remind me because sometimes I come, I will and complain and she'll say, don't let the old man in.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah. You know, for. For the people that are listening. Don't let the old man in means myself and Bobby are close to 60 and you get an ache and a pain. Don't let the old man in. Don't be old. Well, Bobby, listen, let's. Let's change it up a little bit. I want to apologize something because something you're going to go, what? But years and years ago, when you were. You and I were like the ultimate competitors. I just, you know, you were who. You were my target. I wanted to outrun you. And we were going at it. You called me out of nowhere probably 30 years ago or more, and you invited me to a Jimmy Buffett concert and I couldn't go. But I was so shocked because there is this image of you. You are studious. You are. I think you're a little shy. I think you're a little soft spoken. But I see it from your family on social media. You are the funnest, wittiest person I know. Of I'm like, just wait. They're like, herman, what do you laugh for all the time? I'm like, bobby just said something funny. I know it doesn't come from your dad. He's a badass, Right?

[Bobby Labonte]

Right.

[Kenny Wallace]

One side of you come from. You know, that's.

[Bobby Labonte]

That's a great question, I think, you know, it's funny as the story. When we were used. We used to race quarter midges. I was five or six, seven years old, right? And we'd go to the races in a 72 Chevy pickup truck pulling this plywood trailer my dad built, right? And there's four.

[Kenny Wallace]

Four.

[Bobby Labonte]

We just back in the back of it, and we're driving along. And I remember my mom telling me, because I'd be in the middle of the two. I was the monkey in the middle of the. In the back of the pickup truck and in the. In the shell of the truck, right? So you think about. We're laying in the shell of the truck, right, with the camper. And this is not like a big camper. This is just the small shell, right?

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah.

[Bobby Labonte]

So I remember laying there, and I would say something or do something funny. And of course, my dad be like, shut up. And then my mom, she told me. She said. She tells people. She goes, and we say this today. She said, yeah, they kept me around for entertainment. So I was there for. I was there for entertainment. Now I. I did. I get it from my mom. I don't know. You know, Terry and I are seven and a half years apart. So, like, today's generations are, you know, my kids four years apart. They're totally different. So Terry and I are different in some ways. Not every way, but we're different. And I. I would say I got it from my mom, you know, more or less than my dad. I mean, we sit there and we laugh. She'll call me. The first thing she does is laugh. So I'm like, okay.

[Kenny Wallace]

But you. You appear so with me. You know, they ask my children, what is your father, Kenny? Is he really like that all the time? And they're like, yeah, but you. You come across very reserved. Yeah, but you're not.

[Bobby Labonte]

I'm like. I'm like. I'm like, the postman man might go postal on you. I might do something. You might not know. You might think one thing, but it might be something different coming out of my mouth.

[Kenny Wallace]

In your. Like I told you earlier, this is not a life interview. We're. We're having fun. I think it's awesome that we do share a Little in common. Our brother Rusty. My brother Rusty's seven years older. You just said yours. Seven and a half year older. Your great brother, Terry Labani. Both of our brothers kind of showed us the way, and we're like, hey, we want to do that. I still remember you in your Piedmont uniform as a crew member. Tell me just a little bit about that.

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah, I mean, you know, I was in high school, moved to North Carolina, you know, so we're already here and moved to North Carolina. And, you know, I'm in high school and, you know, I don't want to be in school, but I'm there, you know, okay. Same year.

[Kenny Wallace]

Why am I in school? I'm going to be a race car driver, right?

[Bobby Labonte]

I'm making. You know, if I can make Cs, I'm good, right? I'm like, all right. Right in the middle. So. So anyway, so after I. I was in an ICT class, I think it was called, so at. At. At lunchtime. At lunchtime, I'd go somewhere and go work. Right now in class, I took small engines. I took cabinet making. I did everything I could to get out of, you know, the big, you know, history class or math and whatever. I will tell everybody now. That would be great to do, though. You need more of that, right? Absolutely. That's a whole different subject. But anyway, so I would take. And it was funny. We. I would take. We would take the shop teacher's car to the barbecue place at lunchtime. He'd give us a key. We would drive. Sorry, we wrecked it. Barbecue place. And we get barbecue sandwiches. We bring him back his and ours, and we were like 17 years old. I'm like, dude, that's just going on 40, right? Oh, yeah. So Cadillac, you know. So anyway, so I would go to work at Hagen Racing. It was Budweiser at the time. And I would just go and do anything I could. So I was sweeping floors. I mean, I would sweep floors in the afternoons, and I would mop floors on Saturday when they were gone to the races. And then obviously, the Piedmont thing came along. And by then I had already talked myself into the. Hey, I'm gonna. Can I. Can I do more, right? Can I do more? Can I learn how to weld? I mean, I was probably the biggest. If you ask anybody, I was like, the biggest pain in the butt. Because I was like, hey, can I help you do this? Hey, can I do this? Hey, can I help you? Well, can I help you fabricate? Can I work? Can I. Can I learn rule centers? I want to Just, I mean, I'm sure I was that get away, you know, so as a p. As all that stuff went on, I learned how to do so many things. I mean, that was my college, right. So when I graduated from high school, I just went there to work and got a job there to work and made whatever little bit. And so I just learned everything about race cars while I was there. And then that's the Piedmont days that you saw.

[Kenny Wallace]

Hold on, hold on. Okay, look, you're. You're acting like you're in school. You're going over here to work, but for the people that have a dream, okay, you're in school and you're going on a side job for a NASCAR cup team that is so famous. I mean, did you realize that at the time?

[Bobby Labonte]

No. Yeah, I was doing. Was a side hustle. You know what I mean? It was just like. I mean, I. I had no idea. I mean, it wasn't like. I mean, it just wasn't what I. What I would have. What today's world is. It was just. It was, it was. Sure. I mean, when are. You remember Skip Manning? Oh, yeah, when. When Skip on the team. It was in Charlotte and it was two cars in a garage, you know, in a gas station garage.

[Kenny Wallace]

I get so, so.

[Bobby Labonte]

And you know, so it was so.

[Kenny Wallace]

Small, wasn't as big back then, you're saying.

[Bobby Labonte]

No. I mean, Junior Johnson, yes. The Wood Brothers, yes. The Petty's, yes. But then everybody else was all in the middle, you know, all there. So I mean, that was. But we weren't probably supposed to win a championship because there was no way that we did it on $800,000 or 400 or whatever the number was, you know, so that we won the championship in 84. But we were all there just working together and I learned so much and that was just my. That was my college degree. So.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah, you. One thing I've been lucky to know about you is one thing you and my brother Rusty have in common is you figure everything out. I. My nickname for you is a gadgeteer. You are a great heliocre. You told me. Well, I'm not saying you told me that, but I know you are. You're very good with electronics. Is Terry like that? Are you that much different from Terry?

[Bobby Labonte]

You know, Terry's the same in a lot of ways, I. I would say. I mean, I could. I'll call him. Hey, man, what are you doing? And you know, they're trying to figure he's got his head in some. Some type of thought process. Of figuring out something. So the deer feeders in, in the, at the ranch or the cameras, he's watching him on his phone, watching the deers. And you know, he's got to figure it out. Now his figure out on the old ranch was they were filling up, you know, feed, like tractor trailer full of feed right in the, in the, in this, like the silo thing. Not silo, but anyway, the bin. And so finally he told Kim, he says, I'm tired of this crap. So they found another ranch, that the people come out and fill up the bins for him. So he is smarter in that way than I am. Because I'm still trying to figure out. I, I spent yesterday, I, I finally pushed the button. I was like. In fact, I was talking to. After, obviously I didn't see you. And I was talking to Stuart, talking to Tony, and I talked to.

[Kenny Wallace]

At the srx. Media day.

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah, at the media day yesterday, I talked to somebody else. I talked to my nephew. And I said on the way down, I said, justin, I said, you're gonna, I know you're gonna hate me for this, but, man, I was just fixing to push the button on the Starlink and I just, I just, like, I just don't know if I should do it or not. And he just laughs because I've talked to him for like two months about it. And I said, my worry now is if I didn't push the button in time, I won't get it when I go to the mountains next week. And I said, so, but, but at the end of the day, I was like calling people as I ordered poles, ordered them out, and I figured out how to get it through the window with the right amount of foam so that they won't let hot air in and blah, blah, blah. So that's. So that was. I mean, that's like totally me. I'm like, man, I sat there, I woke up this morning at 5:00 clock going, okay, did I, did I get that mount right? I don't know. I hope I did. I got four poles, because that's over 14ft. That's what I need, you know, so that's me. That's just how I am.

[Kenny Wallace]

Two years ago, you and I are talking and you're like, man, I got, you know, camera on these deers out the back of your house.

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah.

[Kenny Wallace]

You still doing that? Is that therapy? Like watching deer?

[Bobby Labonte]

Oh, I don't know. The camera, the durn, the, the strap rotted. So now we just look through the binoculars and just look at them. It's not, it's not too far away, but it's like a picture for the.

[Kenny Wallace]

Fans that are listening. Bobby, they know you as the number 18 interstate guy, but this is good stuff. Hey, this is Dalenhardt Jr. And for the latest Herman Trader gear, you need to go to shop.dirtymomedia.com We've got plenty of options for everybody and we're adding new stuff all the time, so go to shop.dirtymomedia.com.

[Bobby Labonte]

For years, everyone thought Verizon had the best network because they did. But now the best mobile network in the US is T Mobile. T Mobile's network has the most advanced 5G with more towers and their signal reaches further than ever. So you can text an Insta talk and say, you won't believe where I am.

[Kenny Wallace]

T Mobile is the best mobile Network in the US based on analysis by Ookla of speed test intelligence data 1H.

[Bobby Labonte]

2025C T mobile.com Network this episode is.

[C]

Brought to you by Huggies Little Movers. It's fun having a baby that loves to move, but it can be challenging to find a diaper can keep up with them. Huggies Little Movers is designed to move with your baby with either the double grip strips or the new HugFit 360 degree waistband. You can be confident relying on Huggies Little Movers for your active little ones. Huggies Little Movers made with double grip strips or the new HugFit 360 degree waistband so your little double can keep moving. Like you, Huggies. We got you, baby.

[Bobby Labonte]

So yesterday, I mean, two days ago, so in my motorhome, I'm like, my storage building's not air conditioned. It's here it is, but not outside.

[Kenny Wallace]

You can't stop.

[Bobby Labonte]

It's like, no. So. So my motorhome gets hot and all the, you know, all the stuff in it gets like weird tasting, you know, like if you have cough drops, you know, it gets kind of like, you.

[Kenny Wallace]

Know, things get different the older they get.

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah. So I'm like, man, I don't like stuff going bad. Your wine, your ventilation. Yeah. So anyway, so I go to Home Depot and I text the guy and I said, I think this is what I need. Yeah, that's it. So I got it and I put it inside air conditioner, right? So I got it vented from the outside, put all the stuff around it. And so now it's like 71 degrees. Because I know that because I have an app on my phone that tells me the temperature inside of it.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah.

[Bobby Labonte]

I don't have. I didn't. I couldn't afford the high, the Mark Martin Motorhome. So I got one that I've converted into.

[Kenny Wallace]

You know, March Motor has got to be 3 million or more.

[Bobby Labonte]

More. Yeah, for sure. I love it.

[Kenny Wallace]

Loves it.

[Bobby Labonte]

I love that for him.

[Kenny Wallace]

So, you know, as we talk about what you're up to, I remember my very last day at, you know, NASCAR on Fox. I decided that I had had enough. I'd been there 15 years, and everybody at Fox was wonderful to me, and they had me in and they said, we want you on the desk for your very last day. Steve Craddock did. Gave me a really nice plaque. And as I was leaving, I just did a small segment. They were saying goodbye to me, and there you were. And I remember I told you, I said, bobby, I said, you are one of the greatest NASCAR drivers of all time. I said, tell these people when you get on tv, tell them what? You know, I've been watching you. You're. You're a lot of fun to watch. You just recently were in the booth and that was a big deal. Tell, Tell me about your tv. I mean, I know it's a job, like, but I think it's a hobby because you don't need the money. What is this whole TV deal about for you?

[Bobby Labonte]

Well, I can remember back, I don't know who I was driving for. Somebody asked me at Rich at Phoenix one time. They said, hey, man, would you ever want to do tv? Of course, you know, I mean, I've always been more friends with the camera guys and people behind the scenes. A reporter, you know. Right. It's just kind of how I roll. Right. So anyway, so somebody asked me to say, hey, would you ever want to do tv? And I was like, absolutely not. There is never I want to do that. Look at those guys. Why would I want to be like that? I'm going to be a racer. I'm like, yeah, yeah. So, so as it. As it turned out, I think NBC asked me if I would do a. Like a, you know, go to Connecticut, I guess, and kind of like, do it. Do something and, you know, just see if you, you know, see if it's worthwhile or whatever. So I did it. I did that for a little bit. You know, I was like, that's kind of fun. So obviously, the foxtail came out, came about, and through Daniel Trotta, actually, I think she's the one that probably put the. My work, my name in somebody's ear, Cradock or somebody. And Went down there and did like an interview show, right? And so I was like, you know, who knows, they'll call me back. And they did. So it's been game on ever since, it's like been five years ago. So. But I, I view it is, it's almost like it's, it's not therapy, but it's like to me, it's like getting in a race car, okay. It's getting prepared for a race in a lot of ways. And so in. And how I think about it is you think about a five gallon bucket, right? And there's. I've got five gallon buckets, I got breaking limits, I've got racing, I've got this and I got that. So. And, and if I'm not racing, how can I fill up the racing bucket with something you enjoy, right? Because there's a, I mean I could probably plant a garden, may learn about that, right? I could probably, you know, you can do anything. I can do. Do whatever you want to do, right? But to me, what happens is the TV thing for me, the way I look at it, the way I feel about it and the way I, the way it comes about for me is it's like, hey, this is. Gets my juices flowing because there's, you know, this, you know, I mean I, I consider it, you know, pressure. I consider it, it's live. Can't screw up and do the best you can. So if you had a race car, you know, hey, it's live in front of people, you gotta go out there and do the best you can. You can't screw up. So to me, it's the same type of like getting strapped into a race car and butterfly racing, trying to just be the best you can, right? And so I kind of look at it like that because even though I've had people say, man, you come across so you look like you're pretty laid back. I'm like laid back as you think. But that fills up my, you know, my juices as far as, like, hey, I like, you know, I mean this is not going to Rockingham and racing, but it's also like I get to do this and it's fun, you know, I, I totally enjoy it. I totally enjoy the pressure of it. I totally enjoy the, the hey, it's live and we're going to do this and we can rehearse or we can just run with it, you know, I mean it. And it's so different and so I view it like that and it is. And, and then you think about the Team aspect of it. So everybody there, you know, makeup directors, people that are so. There's so many people there that put it all together. And they're your team, right?

[Kenny Wallace]

It's their race team, right?

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah. And so there's your race team, you know, and you appreciate again, like so much that they put into it. So you're on the phone call and you're like, somebody speaks up and they're gonna work. It's like, I never thought about that, you know, I mean, so anyway, and to me, it just, it's a. It fills up my excitement bucket of when I'm, When I can't race. I mean, that's exciting. It's exciting for me to be able to do it.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah. So you, you have Breaking Limits, which is your company. You, you're doing tv. And one thing that, it shocked me years ago and I know a lot of people don't know it. There's a big dirt racing world out there, super late models. And you started Bobby Labonte. Not, not a dirt racer. And your brother, Terry Longhorn chassis, one of the top dirt chassis in the world right now. Superman. Jonathan Davenport, last year won $2 million. What did you. That just shocked the ever living crap out of me. The bot that Labani's owned, Longhorn, now I know you sold it. How come none of us knew about that? I mean, is everything you do under the radar? Your name wasn't even on it, just Longhorn.

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah, right, right. Yeah. You know, I mean, and how all that really, you know, it was, trust me, I was at Talladega and, okay, Jonathan Sherman says, hey, let's go to Talladega. Short track work for Gibbs, right? So we go over there, he knows Earl Pearson. I'm like, I don't know who Earl Pearson is. You know, I have no idea who Earl Pearson is. Right.

[Kenny Wallace]

Great dirt, right?

[Bobby Labonte]

So I, I go there. Hey, how you doing? So we talk a little bit. So this is the fall race, right? So as time goes on, we go to. We talk a little bit on the phone. And he comes to the Daytona test probably in December, maybe January. Right? So he comes down from Jacksonville and we have conversation together and blah, blah, blah. So then I'm not sure how at all when I did it, but I bought the team that he was driving for, so I bought a dirt late model team. You know, of course, Tony's got his.

[Kenny Wallace]

Eldora thing, NASCAR money. It's a joke. They always tease me.

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Kenny Wallace]

Was that that money?

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah, yeah. So, so, yeah. So anyway, so we so I bought the whole team, lock, stock and barrel, employees and everything, right? So Jason, Matt Divine came with it, right? So they came up in from Dunn, North Carolina, and moved up to my shop that I had and race out there for, I don't know, five or six, seven, eight years, whatever. And we, we started, we were buying chassis and Earl always only liked one. We had five sitting there, but one of them was the best. I was like, why don't we build our own? You know, so Justin, he's the. Justin is the main part of this. So. So he was racing a little bit. And Terry, his wife, Terry's son, his wife Miranda, had breast cancer. So it kind of curtailed his racing part. And she's obviously great now, but, you know, that took a year off of like, hey, I gotta, you know, do what. You gotta do what he has to do, right? So he wasn't racing as much. So we said, why don't we build these cars, right? So we had a jig and I think the old shop and we started building cars. And I'll never forget. So we built cars. It was awful, you know, they were terrible. So we had, you know, we started building, you know, getting better cars. I mean, you know, learn. You learn a little bit, right? Every time you build one, you learn something right?

[Kenny Wallace]

Cut. You weld so months.

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah. So it wasn't overnight. So I'll never forget Justin called me one day, he says, hey, Uncle Bobby, he said, we sold four cars today. I said, damn, Justin, that's pretty good. Four cars today. Yeah. I said, that's great. He said, you know, we sold four cars last year in one year. 365 days. We sold four cars. But they finally, you know, they, they evolved them. And, and, and Earl, you know, he was a crash test dummy per se, you know, trying them, trying this, trying that, and, you know, I mean, so it just kind of evolved. And so you sell four cars and you learn more stuff. You sell four more, you learn more from the, the people that buy them and then you learn more. And it grew and grew. And I think we had it for like 10 years, maybe 8 or 10 years old. So Terry and I and Justin were, you know, we're all, you know, in it together. Terry shop. I started the thing. Justin was always involved. And so we all were in it together. And it just, I mean, I don't know. I called Justin one day because I saw where they built like number 800 and I suggested I would. I wish I'd have known I'd have ball. I'D have bought that car just so I can have 800. He said, that's all right. He said, I already sold it. I saved you some money.

[Kenny Wallace]

I mean, you know, I just, I think for the people that don't. For me, dirt racing saved my life. So when I, you know, we all had our business. I had my rental properties, you got breaking limits. And we're all juking and jiving. We're doing, hey, Wallace, what are you doing? You know, and of course some people I'm a little. I'm much more mouthier than you. So people know about me. But Bobby, you're. You've always been a gem, but I mean, you're. You're this hidden diamond. Everything you do does good. And you know, I just want to give you an attible. I mean, longhorn chassis right now is, you know, I know you sold it, but it is the number one chassis for dirt super late models and. Well, let me just ask you.

[Bobby Labonte]

Steve Arpin as, you know, bought it, he and his group of people and you know how we met Steve. How I met Steve. Right. Or into meeting, but met him indirectly through you. The time when he got hurt in at Volusia, we flew back to, back to Minnesota to the.

[Kenny Wallace]

Oh, my God. Okay, I got to tell that story real quick. Let me tell it. So, yeah, I'm learning how to race dirt, but I'm doing good. Put the effort into it. I win one night at Volusia, 100 something cars. I'm like, oh my God, I want to race. It was a big deal. And I became friends with this Canadian named Steve Arpin and he kicked my butt more than I kicked his. But he was a legend. Well, so the next year he's taking the radiator hose, he's trying to cool his car down, and the radiator hose blows off. This is when you're using hose clamps. You know, a lot of people still use those clamps. Upper radiator hose blows off and burns him bad. Now he. He's burnt so bad he's got to get up north and. And I thought of you because you had an airplane and so you're telling me that's how it started? Kind of.

[Bobby Labonte]

Well, that's not how it started. That's how I knew Steve Arpin from day one.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah.

[Bobby Labonte]

Right. And then, you know, so as time, as time goes on, you know, he, you know, he. Yeah, yeah. Bought that. And I mean, you know, not that that matters, but I thought it was cool because, I mean, you call me, it was late at night. It was right after it happened, I guess. And I was like, yeah, let me call Tim, let me call Tim and Clyde and see if I can get him ready to go. And we took him that night maybe or the next morning and flew him to.

[Kenny Wallace]

I mean, the skin, the skin's peeling off the kid. It was that type of burn, you know, I mean, we got to get him in the hospital. He's down Daytona.

[Bobby Labonte]

So. But, but I gotta correct you on one thing. Is that for everything that looks that went good on paper or went good, there's a lot that didn't go good.

[Kenny Wallace]

Bobby there, I can just.

[Bobby Labonte]

This I can, I can vouch for, I can vouch for those days. I'm like, there's a picture over here with a sponsor audit that never paid. Right on Earl's car. We thought, hey, that's going to be big deal. Them never paid. You know what I mean? So I had, I have more deals that didn't go good, as many deals that have gone good. So that is part of life, I think.

[Kenny Wallace]

So yesterday there was a great promoter up here in Jacksonville, Illinois. Friend of mine, not a good friend, but a friend, Kenny Dobson, he did something that no promoter has ever done. He had finally had enough. And it shocked me because, I mean Kenny, I don't, I didn't know he was like this. But he did adjust us to all promoters, business people. What he did is he says, you know, he says, I feel like it's one of those days, he said. So on Saturday night in Jacksonville, Illinois, little bitty quarter mile racer lot, really good looking crowd. And by the time he gets done with this paragraph, he had lost $300 that night, but he sold hamburgers and cheeseburgers and he had some billboards. So what you're telling me is what I already know, but I want the fans to know. People go, oh man, them stands were packed. Buddy had four, 10 sprint cars. He had to pay them a lot of money. The actual race itself lost money, but the only way he made it was from selling food and billboards. And. Are you telling me. I know you're telling me that. I just want the fans to know and the people to know. That's business.

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah, yeah, that, that is, that is a part of this business. You know, that's. That is for sure. You know, I built, I have, I get reminded every now and then. I built this quarter midget track in Salisbury. That's a 501C3. It's not Millbridge. We don't charge people to come In. And I mean, it's, you know, it. It doesn't make any money. It doesn't go under. And your brother Mike called me about the other day actually, but for the real estate part, you know. But.

[Kenny Wallace]

So Mike is a real estate guru.

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah. Right. I figured that out for about three seconds. So. Yeah, so, I mean. Yeah. So, you know, I mean, so, I mean, if I could do it over again, I'd do something different with that, you know. I mean, I do a different plan. Right. So. But yeah, I mean, in. In. In. In all kinds of business. I'm sure it's not just racing, but, you know, race promoters and drivers and owners and I mean, you know, there you do, you know, things. Things have hap. Things happen that you. You expect that it to work out good and sometimes they don't. Right. So did Long was.

[Kenny Wallace]

Was Longhorn chassis one of the top.

[Bobby Labonte]

Your.

[Kenny Wallace]

Your top dirt? I mean, this is the mega company and you own it. Did it turn out in the black or was it always black? Red. Black, Red. I mean, did you. I mean, did it do good financially?

[Bobby Labonte]

I mean, it. It. It did good, you know. It did. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and it was, you know, but you'd always have to, you know, you'd sell cars and you'd buy equipment. You'd sell cars, you'd buy equipment. You know, so you're always going back and forth. Yeah. I mean, and, you know, you start up more parts and then you got that inventory and then you sell and you know, so, I mean, it was always bumping on the good side, you know, but, you know, you're always. You weren't. Nobody was just taking it all in and pocketing it. It was just, you know, it was just bumping its way up good at the end. But, you know, it was still for Justin that worked every day at it. I mean, he's the one that did the labor. I didn't really think. We just tweeted about it, you know, so it was simple for us other than. Other than the investment to start, you.

[Kenny Wallace]

Know, maybe I should ask your brother Terry, but. So Justin is your nephew. He's Terry's son. I thought he was going to be a race car driver. Didn't he win Chicagoland or somewhere? Nashville?

[Bobby Labonte]

Yep. He wants you. Yep, he did.

[Kenny Wallace]

So he's a NASCAR winner and he just quits racing. What's that about?

[Bobby Labonte]

So the whole thing, you know, was at the Longhorn was out. Ended up being at Terry, the shop that we raced our bushcars out of years ago, same place Right. So it went from this first brand new building. I raced, Terry raced, David Green race, Mike Cope race. Justin raced. And you know, obviously, again, it's the, the, the world that's, you know, I mean, not, you know, sponsors and deals. The world changed.

[Kenny Wallace]

You need more money.

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah, yeah. And so that we were going through that, I mean, and Coast Guard was there and then, you know, they're going to go somewhere else. And so you have all that. That, you know, I mean, you know how it is. I mean. Yeah. And it just, you know, not, not. It doesn't always work out perfect for everybody, but. But again, Justin, you know, transitioned to some dirt racing and, you know, I, I don't know if I got him involved in that. Maybe I did, but he has a little mini sock he'd run Madison with and, you know, I mean, just, Just, you know, he grew up in it just like. Yeah, just like we did. So his son, his son won at Talladega this weekend in the quarter midget race in a B rookie, I think, B plate rookie, a little Honda. So anyway, he's moving up. So anyway, so, I mean, you know, it's, it's, it's obviously our life. But yeah, for Justin, it was. He won Chicago. I remember we were going to an appearance somewhere and I got off airplane and it was like, hey, Justin won Chicago. And I was like, what? What? Really? Yeah. I didn't see that coming. You know, I mean, you figured a top 10, top 15, but not a win, you know, so. But yeah, I mean, but yeah, things. And then, you know, obviously, like I said, sponsors and, you know, our team, you know, I mean, it was harder for, you know, at the time, Labani racing over Childress, racing over Roush racing over him. You know, other. These, these teams are not going to be like, we were at one, not like we were at one time with Carl Wagner building our motors. It was all of a sudden you had to beat all Roush's cars, all of Hendrick cars, all of whoever, you know, all the R. You know, all those big teams and, you know, that's what. He got kind of caught up in that too, because he didn't go drive for somebody else that had more money. We were just trying to do it out of, you know, family. Family racing.

[C]

Did you know Tide has been upgraded to provide an even better clean in cold water. Tide is specifically designed to fight any stain you throw at it. Even in cold butter. Yep. Chocolate ice cream. Sure thing. Barbecue sauce. Tide's got you covered. You don't need to Use warm water. Additionally, tide pods let you confidently fight tough stains with new coldzyme technology. Just remember, if it's gotta be clean, it's gotta be tied. Whenever I need to send roses that are guaranteed to make someone's day, the only place I trust is 1-800-flowers.com with 1-800-flowers. My friends and family always receive stunning, high quality bouquets that they absolutely love. Right now, when you buy a dozen multicolored roses, 1-800-flowers will double your bouquet to two dozen roses. To claim this special double roses offer, go to 1-800-flowers.com Pandora that's 1-800-flowers. Com Pandora.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah, I find it really interesting that my brother Rusty, his boy Steve, my brother Mike, his boy Matt, and I'm gonna tell you, I love them both equally. But Matt, my brother Mike's boy Matt is incredibly talented and was winning down at New Smyrna during speed weeks. And I'm in victory lane with him in the, you know, late model stocks and over in a super late model Stevens win, even, you know, wins. And then all of a sudden, I'm just kind of comparing this to Justin. It's like one day they said, I'm out. I'm not gonna race. In our day, I'm not speaking for you, but I'm saying in my day, I beg, borrowed, stole. I was going to be a race car driver come hell or high water. And it seems like, and this is a compliment, a Justin, a mat, Mike's boy, they just said, man, it's just ridiculous. I'm gonna do something else. Is that a fair assessment?

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah, I don't know that. I mean, I think Justin was, when his choice, it was handed to him, like, got it. We're, you know, we're. We don't have a sponsor. So what are you going to do?

[Kenny Wallace]

Right?

[Bobby Labonte]

I'm gonna do something different.

[Kenny Wallace]

You know, we're gonna do this right now. No money. Right.

[Bobby Labonte]

We're out. So. So, yeah, so there's that's, you know, that that's a little bit different in some ways. But, you know, but, but I think to your point, and, and what we did probably 10 years prior to that, it was a little bit easier to beg bar and steel. Yeah. And then for him, it was harder to beg bar and steel on. On to that, to get to that level because you can go run a Xfinity car, bush car, still very cheap it. When Justin was doing it. So. But you can run a late model a lot cheaper.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah.

[Bobby Labonte]

So, you know, you kind of have to pick your battle Right. So it's like, well, I could do this.

[Kenny Wallace]

Right. You know, me and Charlie Marlowe are. My YouTube manager, my friend. We talk about. People love to know about money. And so I. I like Rusty says, herman, you take that, you never puncture the skin. But. And I don't. But I will tell you, Bobby, that, you know, when I was racing you, we had Cox treated lumber. Rusty had Xerox, we had Miller. These are all very small associates, you know, I mean, we did everything we could do, but we spent $600,000 racing you, you know, in the V6 days. You know, I mean, I don't. You know, I mean, we spent 600 grand. Now, if you're running the Xfinity series. The same series, yeah. You know, if you don't got 6 million and drivers are driving for nothing nowadays. I mean, I think Rusty paid me $25,000 back then, but me and you were crew members. Yeah, we were set the toe. And then getting in the car and qualifying to Daytona.

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah, it was just different.

[Kenny Wallace]

So.

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah, just different. Yeah.

[Kenny Wallace]

You know, so we're coming down to the end here, by the way. You know, we've done Tony Stewart, we've done Mark Martin.

[Bobby Labonte]

I've heard that.

[Kenny Wallace]

Kevin Harvick. We're getting ready to do Harvard. But this is what these interviews are about. It's an. It's about just everything, people. What started Kenny conversation is everywhere I go. What's Bobby the Bonnie doing? You know, so that's what Kenny conversation is about. So we're coming down to the end here. Want to wrap up the race in just a little bit before we get your opinion on nascar. You're driving for Hermes Sadler in the Smart Tour, the modifieds, is that right?

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah. Smart Modified Tour, Southern modified auto racing, NASCAR National Auto.

[Kenny Wallace]

So tell me about that mod. You're a badass in it.

[Bobby Labonte]

Well, I mean, you know, we started off, you know, kind of a. The. The way the funny story goes is I'm. I'm just cruising along back prior to Covid and Chris Williams. You know Chris Williams, souvenir legend. Yep. And so he's racing Bowman Gray. So I'm in a place in my life where I'm. I ain't doing crap. Okay. I ain't doing nothing. I mean, I'm doing TV stuff, but I'm out racing.

[Kenny Wallace]

No, I get it.

[Bobby Labonte]

So I did a. I think I did a vintage race with Scott Bruschetta. Did one at Indy with Gary Clut. I think it's Gary. And so, yeah, that's about it, right? I mean, yeah. So Chris calls me one day and says, hey, come, let's come over here to Bone Gray. Help me with this modified. You know, I've never been to bone gray, and it's 18 miles from my house.

[Kenny Wallace]

Bowman Gray. You've never been. I've never been there, but 18.

[Bobby Labonte]

Never been there. Next time you're in town, we should go watch. Watch, Right. So I go over there. So this is. This is honest. Honest Scott Street. I walk in there, I pay $5. I have my helmet, my uniform. Walk in there. This like four years ago. Yeah. So I saw Chris. So he's with Bert Meyer. So I know Bert. Know of Bert. You know, kind of everybody. Yep. I know his dad a little bit, probably more, you know, Bert, maybe to a point. Jason's there. So anyway, I walk up there and I watch Chris go out and run a few laps. And he said, all right, man, once you get in it and run a few laps, you can help me out. Because he's trying to drive. He's driving it. Okay. So I'm. I'm not sure where he got the, you know, hey, I want to drive a race car. But he. That's what he wanted to do. He's a big modified guy, but he wanted to drive Bow McGregor. Let me.

[Kenny Wallace]

Let me say something. Keep your thought for a minute. I want the people to know this is the real modified, the bad boy, the big wide tires like the baddest modifieds there are.

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah. Boma Gray runs smaller tires because it's such a truck.

[Kenny Wallace]

Still big.

[Bobby Labonte]

So big. Right? So. But they have. I mean, Bobber Hill's there building motors. I mean, they're all cheated up. Everybody's cheated everybody. So.

[Kenny Wallace]

Absolutely.

[Bobby Labonte]

Anyway, so I get in it, push the seat in. I go out, run about 20 laps. I come in, I'm like, you know, it's. You know, I got on the gas sooner. Drove in a little deeper than Chris. It's a little tighter. I don't know, you know, it's okay. So I think I might drove one more time. He drove it, I drove it. Okay. So I got ready to leave. All right. You coming back tonight to run, to watch? I said, nah, probably just sit at home, watch tv. My wife's at school. She went to Duke to get her mba, so she's been gone every other weekend.

[Kenny Wallace]

You're a bachelor by yourself?

[Bobby Labonte]

I miss. I. I just hang out by myself. I ain't gonna do crap. So about 6:30, and I was like, I might as well ride over there. So I go over there. So I paid 15 to get in. So I get my armband and I go over there and see Chris and they qualifying here and blah, blah, blah. And I talk to them and I go over here and I go up with Terry hall and watch from the spotter stand, watch. And I'm like, holy crap. It's like, get back down there after race, is there. There's like two fights going on over here. I'm like, this is great.

[Kenny Wallace]

Why did I get rid of that show? It was so good.

[Bobby Labonte]

And I'm like, man, this is awesome. I said, so. Everybody asked me. He says, what do you think? I said, this is the best 20 bucks I've spent a long time. You can't buy. You can't buy this adventure for 20 bucks anywhere else, right? So we started going on. This is. I don't want to run out of time here. Start going on.

[Kenny Wallace]

You're fine. That, that, that track was on. What was it called? Mad House on History. It was. I can't believe they got rid of it.

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah. So. So anyway, so I. I go back over there after a few weeks and I get with Burton, we had. He had extra car. I got a sponsor and they put it together and I go test one time and then I go race, right? So I go over there one night to race and I'm like, oh, we qualified, you know, fair. And we're running, running the race. Of course, I get in the car before the race starts. I line up on pit on the racetrack. There's 14, 000 people there. I mean, it's not like your normal Saturday night racing. Yeah, it's not like 4,000 or 2,000. It's 4.

[Kenny Wallace]

Wednesday or Thursday night, Saturday nights. Okay, Saturday night.

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah. So we. I pull out there and I first thought I was, what am I doing? Because you're gonna have to run into somebody. And I usually don't spin people out, right?

[Kenny Wallace]

So I'm going along there, going along.

[Bobby Labonte]

And I'm running along, and finally I get spun out by John Smith, right? And which. That is nothing at the time. It just happens, right? I mean, it's just racing, you know, So I get to the infield, come back out, blah, blah, blah. So then we go back another night. I'm running, And Tony Yuri Jr. Is my crew chief. Right. So now this is always funny because when we set the toe, you know, they paint the tire and they put the screwdriver up. Grinder.

[Kenny Wallace]

Dale. Dale C. Dale junior's posse crew chief.

[Bobby Labonte]

Right, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Kenny Wallace]

Not everybody knows these names, Bobby. I gotta remind people.

[Bobby Labonte]

Yep. To Tony Erie Jr. He's crew chief. So we, we work on the car, we get a little bit better, blah, blah, blah. We go out and run and I don't remember what lap it was. There's a caution come out and we got a little bit of, you know, bumper tag. And I said, hey, man, I, I think I gotta park it. He goes, why? I say the a frame's loose. He goes, well, how you know? I said, I can see it. The A frame is right there in front of me. And I'm like, I can see all fenders. Yeah. It's like, okay. So I pulled off and we were done. So fast forward a little bit. I think that might have been. I can't remember now. I think it's covet happened or something like that happened. So I get a call from Terry hall and, and Andretti, Mike Smith and said, hey, can you drive our modified at Florence? Because his brother, John Smith, a year and a half ago, you know, whatever, you know, and yeah, yeah. And it, you know, but again, that wasn't funny other than the name. So. And the person. So anyways, so I went down to Florence and I'm like, all right, this is going to be interesting. So I drove down there, drove back, because I thought, well, if they don't want me to come back, I'm not going to get a hotel room, right? So I go down there, practice the car, come back, I go back the next day, qualified first, finish fourth. I'm like, I like this, this is okay. This is okay. So, you know, it's one of those things too. When I left pit road, I went, okay, I got to break my left foot. This is gonna be difficult, right? I mean, you know, you know how I am. Herman is like, yeah, that was a little chore for me to figure that out. Like on lap three, right. So anyway, so I. That's it. All worked out. All worked out. So that's so this. So this year, driving.

[Kenny Wallace]

So sorry, but I've always talked to you because you and the late, great Dick Trickle were the only fast one foot drivers that want it all. So Dick Trickle would say, my boy, either on the gas or off of it. So your whole career in the cup series, you won everything on the gas, taking that same foot over on the break. Am I right?

[Bobby Labonte]

That's correct. Yep.

[Kenny Wallace]

That's unbelievable.

[Bobby Labonte]

I. I tried both sometimes it didn't seem like it was any faster. So I was like, why should I do that?

[Kenny Wallace]

Right, Bobby, You Downplay such a big deal. That's huge.

[Bobby Labonte]

So. So anyway. So now just gloss right over. It flopped over. Yeah. So anyway, so you. So it's. The series has grown so much and this year Ryan Newman and I are both teammates for. Yep. For Hermes Adler and Yeah, I mean they're a blast. And, and so you know one reason.

[Kenny Wallace]

Why you've won it. Not in that car, but you won.

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah. A couple years ago. Won two in a row and we finished third points. You know, I mean just consistently consistent wise always seem to miss Victory Lane by just a skosh. But we're always pretty quick. I mean, you know, we never were out of the, out of the hunt. So this year started off a little slow. I mean qualified second. Running second with a few laps to go. Fell back, got loose. You know. So we're trying to find our way. But our best race so far this year was at Richmond. Okay. On the big track. Right? Oh yeah, yeah. So we ran with. On the Wheeling Tour which is what was the, the excitement about driving for Hermes. So we're going to get to do that four times this year. So Richmond was one. We'll do Martinsville, we'll do Langley and we'll do North Wilkesboro. So, so excited about that opportunity and you know, we still, we're fast everywhere. We, we can't seem to close the deal to get the top three or a win yet. But I feel like that's coming. I talked to Ryan a little bit yesterday. I was like, I'm really excited about every race that we go forward. He's got as a couple tracks coming up he's gonna love. I just, I know how he is. It's gonna be great for him and so, but for me, like Richmond, you know, we qualified eight, had a couple pit stops, we lost some spots, drove back to six.

[Kenny Wallace]

A lot of cars there.

[Bobby Labonte]

Yep. Past. Past cars and I mean great drivers.

[Kenny Wallace]

Good.

[Bobby Labonte]

Yep. So, so great driver. So anyway, so we finished there and we ran to South Boston that night and yeah. So yeah. Heck of a. Heck of a deal and you know, Herman gave us this opportunity and yeah, I mean it's, it's, it's real.

[Kenny Wallace]

So a little bit about life. I feel like I'm always interjecting because you downplay everything. I. You and Schrader are a little bit the same. You, you are incredibly good. I feel like both of you, I mean, Bobby, this is me saying this. This is a compliment. I feel like although you try, you're. You have a God given talent. You're incredibly Good. And so I think that's why when we're having fun with this conversation, I'm. I'm always interjecting because I. Do you know that you downplay your abilities? Do you? I mean, listen, you've won an Xfinity championship, you've won a cup championship.

[Bobby Labonte]

You.

[Kenny Wallace]

You've won an SRX race. I mean, you literally have done it all. Do you know you're that good? Do you know you have a God given talent? And, and don't. Don't downplay the answer. Do you ever ride along in your passenger car and go, damn, I have a God's gift?

[Bobby Labonte]

Well, I, I didn't. I don't. You know, two things that come to mind. No two things come to mind when I got my ARCA license and my. And my IMCA license.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah.

[Bobby Labonte]

This winter and I got my IMCA stickers. I mean, that. I thought that right there put me over the top. Schrader told me, he said, if you keep it, keep at this, you're gonna get somewhere in.

[Kenny Wallace]

In, in same fashion you downplay everything, you know, the qualified eighth and a normal racer would go, Look, 62 cars showed up at eight. That's dirt racing. So we're gonna wrap this part.

[Bobby Labonte]

So I was. I was at GoPro the other day because all my stuff broke. So I got the rental carts and I, I looked up and I'm like, All right, I'm 10th quick for the week, and there's all these kids up there. And I'm like.

[Kenny Wallace]

So you, you still you great.

[Bobby Labonte]

Internally. I need to come back in the morning when the track's cooler and cool quicker. Right. Instead of the afternoon when it was hot.

[Kenny Wallace]

Road trips are all about the sights, the sounds, and the snacks. So pack the ultimate road trip fuel. Blue diamond almonds. This summer, they're your chance to win a new car. Buy any 12 ounce or larger bag. Enter the [e-mail] and you could score thousands of prizes, including a new set of wheels. Hit the road with blue diamond. No Purchase necessary. End September 15th. Open to 50 US and DC 18 years or older. For rules including free entry method, visit bdroadtrip.com void where prohibited. Grand prize awarded as $50,000 cash via PayPal. This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by or associated with PayPal, Inc.

[C]

When it comes to delivering flowers for life's special occasions, trust the name that's been setting the standard for nearly 50 years. 1-800-flowers.com from breathtaking bouquets to one of a kind arrangements. 1800 Flowers is your authority on quality blooms. Always fresh, always stunning, always delivered with care. And right now, for a limited time, you can save up to 40% off your bouquet and make someone's day. Save up to 40% off today at 1-800-flowers.com sxm that's 1-800-flowers.Com sxm so it's.

[Kenny Wallace]

That time now where the way Kenny conversation works is we talk about it all, and then at the very end, we, we go for what we know and what made you popular. Bobby's a good person, but we got to talk about NASCAR for a little bit. We don't want to get you in trouble, and nobody's getting in trouble. Your opinion on NASCAR right now, what is it?

[Bobby Labonte]

Well, I think that it is, it is as good or better for the time than anything else. Fifteen years ago, it was as good as it was for the time, but times have changed, right? So it's, it's not easy. It, it was easy back then. And 95 to 2005, it just kind of happened. You know, the popularity, you know, the 75 million fans or whatever it was called. And, you know, Wendell Senior was alive, and we had all these drivers that were liked by so many, right. And we had sponsors that put everything into place to make a lot of people household names.

[Kenny Wallace]

Coca Cola, good point.

[Bobby Labonte]

You know, Interstate Batteries, you know, you had Jeff Gordon with dupont, you had UPS with Dale Jarrett. You know, you had so many sponsors and Mark Martin Folgers for Valvoline. You know, I mean, you just, you could rattle them off today, it's like, it's harder to do. So to me, I don't know that anybody could have predicted what took place in the last 10 years or since Earnhardt passed away, how this, how it was going to go. You all, you think it's going to get bigger and better and all that stuff. I mean, my gosh, TV and streaming and YouTube and blah, blah. I'm. Every lot, a lot of stuff has changed from what, when, in those glory years, right? So in my mind, I think that no different than then, it could have been better. No different than now. It can be better. But I think for what, what everybody is giving, given the circumstances of life, the circumstances of, you know, attention spans, attend, you know, phones or whatever. It could be, I think one hour.

[Kenny Wallace]

Show and they watch five minutes because they can't go anymore because the brain's messed up now, right?

[Bobby Labonte]

Everybody's saying what I want to say. Yeah. I mean, so I think in my mind, I view it as Every race is. I mean, I hate when people say, oh, it's a terrible race. I'm like, they know terrible races. They're all good. Just depends on what side of the fence you want to look at it. You want to look at it as great. Or if you don't like. If you don't like wrecking, okay, then that's your opinion. But if you. If. I mean, if you like wrecking, that's your opinion. If you don't like wrecking, my opinion is it was a great race. Dover's going to be a great race. I could tell you that before because there's going to be some things in it that I know about that sometimes the fan doesn't know about.

[Kenny Wallace]

Well, Jay, we know too much.

[Bobby Labonte]

We. Right. So. So saying that could it be better? Yeah, but I also think that not every idea is a great idea. Right? I have some. What I think is a great idea, not very good, but it happens that way. So. And you learn by your mistakes or you, you, you know, I mean, sometimes you just don't make those mistakes. Right? Because. And you. You have somebody to me. Somebody needs to be on your shoulder back here saying, you go, man, I think it'd be great if we change this to a glass bottle and blah, blah, blah, blah. And people like, so somebody needs to say, why would you do that? You know, I mean, that's a bad example, but, you know, why would you do that? And so somebody. Somebody needs to be in charge on some things to say. When some things in the whole sport says somebody says, hey, I think it's a good idea to do that. And somebody needs to step on the shoulder, say, what if we just didn't do that? We just left alone. Let's just say, say stage breaks, right? Yeah, like stages. Like, what if we just didn't do that? I think it'd be okay. We just need to not worry, you know, I mean, something that. That doesn't really. Everybody thinks it's going to be better, but sometimes they're not always better.

[Kenny Wallace]

Right. Let me comment on something.

[Bobby Labonte]

But. But there is a lot of things that are good, but it's just evolution of how it could be a little bit better here, a little bit better.

[Kenny Wallace]

There's you. You and I are in the same wavelength, and I have specific questions going on with nascar, but I want to talk about that for a minute. Ed Laucus, who was the president of Toyota, was a friend of all of ours. He's still doing great, but he's not in charge of motorsports at NASCAR anymore. He said something to me I'll never forget. He said as soon as those NASCAR cup cars change their paint jobs, they dilute everything. So all I have to do Bobby is see the color green and I think of Bobby Laponte. I like, I like what you said back then. And me and you aren't doing that. You know, I, I ran through the snow and foot, you know, foot of snow and we're not doing that. But what you're saying that I do want to comment on. I want to compliment you. You are brilliant. Because Ed Lauka said that. So we made superstars back then because Earnhardt was the GM good run Chevrolet. Rusty Wallace was Miller Miller.

[Bobby Labonte]

I mean Jeff Gordon, Kellogg's.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah, right. So it is a my opinion that we have this small circle now, the names. I mean Joey Logano is a two time champion. Yes, he's a legend. He kind of got in right at that. But I mean for me it is harder nowadays to make superstars because every race it's like okay, what cars? Ross Chastain driving. Oh, he's driving Fred's Towing now and then tomorrow he'll be riding driving moose car. Yeah. So you bring up a good point. It's very hard to make NASCAR superstars because we don't know what the hell car they're in.

[Bobby Labonte]

Right. And that, that is, that's where Interstate Battery Coca Cola put me up my name. You know when, when I had a stand up every weekend at the racetrack in a Walmart or in a food line or. Yeah, they knew you Krugers or whatever. And so yeah, I mean that, that's, that's one thing now saying that and, and let me just say it this way is I want, I would love to see Eric Jones, a Christopher Bell, a Ross Chastain just to name a few. It. To have that household name.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah.

[Bobby Labonte]

And, and be able to, to earn that money that you know, that you know you're known so much more not from the melon last lap deal but for, you know, being there consistently. And I can't do nothing about the sponsorship but I hope, I want those guys to be able to have that long career flourish and not and enjoy it like I did. You know, how do you do that?

[Kenny Wallace]

You didn't have to be a race fan. You just walked in somewhere and you're like, wow, there's a stand up Bobby the body. And when they saw you. Yeah, they made millions of standups.

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah, Kurt, Kurt Busch, you know, Sharpie, you know, I mean that was huge. Right. So so to Me, back then there was a. The connection was easy because of what you said, all the cars, the drivers, and it just made it easy. Right. Harder now. So it's tougher. So how do you bridge that gap or how do you help that gap out? Yeah, and I think, you know, obviously Jeff Gordon gonna be only or, you know, so big with Hendrick. I mean, he's running it. Right. Jimmy Johnson coming in. Absolutely. You know, Kevin Harvick going to the booth, Boyer in the Booth, Burton Dale Jr. On NBC. So the TV thing, so drivers are involved. But I think there's a way. I mean, there is. How can there be a way that I could say that I can promote not just one driver, but, you know, promote drivers. Because what happens to me is whenever I was in the mid-90s, I was a. People would say, man, I picked you because Davey Allison got killed and you're my next favorite driver. Yeah, right. Or I picked you because so and so retired, you're my next favorite driver.

[Kenny Wallace]

I hear it all the time.

[Bobby Labonte]

But you're. But what happens then is it was easier for the dad to bring the kid to the race and enjoy the weekend because it didn't cost so much and it was just, you didn't have to. You, you had to come watch it or you weren't going to get to watch it. Right. So then today there's a bigger disconnect in the kids being brought by the dads. So I see the dads, I see the dads now because he was a kid when he remembered me, he's bringing his kid, but it's just not quite the same. So if he can connect me with his, me and his kid and hopefully as impressionable as kids are today, that they'll go, oh, nascar. I remember my dad took me there instead of like I went to some race and I don't remember it because I was blah, blah, blah, and too busy doing, looking at my phone, you know. So how do you connect all that together? And I think everybody does a great job at grassroots racing. It kind of puts people out there. You know, the SRX gets the, you know, different, you know, I mean, I think it's all there, but it's just how, you know, I mean, it's just how do you keep up with that? And, and how do you keep the 55 year old guy with his 12 year old kid or 8 year old kid or whatever that, how do he, how does he get him involved in NASCAR where he's a fan? So how do you get that happening.

[Kenny Wallace]

And this isn't, this is not a dig. This is me. The reason we are where we're at is because we're not balanced anymore. We, we don't need $10 million to run the year. We need 20 million. So therefore there's no corporate company in America. There, there's not one corporate company in America that you go, hey, I need $20 million. I think the last one could be FedEx. And we, we know, we know for a fact. And then you, this is me saying this. We know that Denny Hamlin is possibly the highest paid driver right now, maybe making 6 million dollar base. And there's one's making 400,000 base that are running in the top 10. And this is all because we can't get that money. So we're are, we're out of whack. The sport costs too much for the money you can get. And that's why we have a different sponsor every single week on the car. And I just wanted to say that. So penalties and fines.

[Bobby Labonte]

But I think that NASCAR is, but I think nascar, I think everybody, I think there's a, for the, the way the society is. I think NASCAR is doing a great job at a lot of things. So. And it's, but it's, it's also. They were dealt cards 20 years ago and they handled it this way and they're dealt cards now and they handle it this way. And it's, it's, it's not that it's you. They're not doing the wrong thing. It's just learning the new thing, a new way to do things.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah. So you, you and I are good with our money. We're not dummies. Years ago, me and you built a whole, whole race car, whole cup car. Now. I'm not talking years ago, maybe. Let's go 20 years ago, we built a whole cup car for 150 grand. And that's, that's stretching it. Yeah, I've talked to everybody. I mean the cars right now are 400,000plus or you know, I mean plus, not minus. So that's what I say. By out of balance.

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

[Kenny Wallace]

You know, so. Okay, moving on. A couple more things. Fun stuff about nascar. Ask Tony Stewart and I asked Mark Martin, these penalties and these fines, what is your, what is your thought on the, you know, penalties and the fines? Right now it seems like it's unbelievable. It's like every week.

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah. I mean, obviously, you know, I don't know. There's, there's a point that I guess There's a point that we've gotten skewed out of whack here on this because there's a. For people to get fine and suspended, and it's like, over the greenhouse is a millimeter. I mean, it's exaggeration, but off, you know, it's like, same thing. Oh, my God. I mean, you know, and. And the humidity and the. And the. The sunshine change that more than somebody, you know? So, I mean, it's like. I mean, there's. I mean, it's like, timeout. Time out.

[Kenny Wallace]

I love it. That's time out. You're giving me crap about 065.

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah, right? It's like, timeout. Why. Why don't we. Why don't. Why can't we make it where it's not. Not all that important anymore and somehow just kind of put it back to the. Some ingenuity and some driver and some luck, you know, Instead of. Everything's got to be the thickness of this glass here, you know, and it's like, dude, I mean. I mean, I. That all that does is cost more money, right? For the team. So saying all that, you know, and I. I think, to me, if you're gonna. If you're gonna present a car for inspection, I get it. Present this car for inspection. Here comes. This car rolls in there. All right, you're clear. You're good. Roll her out to the line and have at it, boys. You know, don't. That's it. It's over inspection.

[Kenny Wallace]

Take it back home and dissect it, right?

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah, it's over. You know, don't. Don't do that. I mean, if. And if. You know, I mean, just don't do that. I mean, back in the day, it's. If your engine's big, you're kicked out. If your spoiler's too high, that's a problem. But don't go back and, you know, measure. I mean, dissect it so much. It's. I don't know. I mean, again, that's. That thing that's like, somebody should go.

[Kenny Wallace]

Hey, are you doing too much here?

[Bobby Labonte]

Maybe we should not.

[Kenny Wallace]

Let's try it.

[Bobby Labonte]

Let's try it.

[Kenny Wallace]

Eating right now.

[Bobby Labonte]

Maybe. I just. I mean, just hate. I'll tell you what. Just easy on the fines, easy on the penalties, and just go easy for a little bit. I'm not saying you gotta. You gotta meet the criteria, the rules. We got too many damn rules, so.

[Kenny Wallace]

Right. And. And the problem is is that. That now this is just me. It's not a question. I Just, I just like to create conversation with you. For me, I do the Kenny Wallace YouTube show. And the penalties and the fines are bigger than the race. It's like, you know, Joey Logano won the race, but that's not the story. The story is, you know, so and so got fined $400,000. And that's the problem.

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah. Whenever I, I mean, I, this is, knows too much to TMI here, but it goes back to that Monday morning you're at the office, which nobody works anymore from office. But if you go to the office.

[Kenny Wallace]

And you're standing there, See, that's why you're funny.

[Bobby Labonte]

Pissing in the urinal. He's the guy beside you. Hey, see, Joey Logano one. Yeah. Man, it was a heck of a race. Yeah. Oh, yeah. But he got, he got kicked out. You just want. Here we go. Yeah. All right. I'm sorry. I just peed all over you. I just walked out. It's like, so, you're right. So it's, it's more about, it's, it's more about the drama.

[Kenny Wallace]

Right.

[Bobby Labonte]

The actual race. So. And it's like, oh, my God. I mean, that talk about, I mean, that's just, I mean, that over. It's overwhelming too much. And. Yeah, I, I don't. I, I wish that wouldn't happen. I mean, I, I, I. Wouldn't it be nice to go about six or eight weeks or 12 weeks without anybody getting any fined or, or getting any penalties? And let's just, let's just have a race. You know, I mean, that Sonoma race was awesome. Yeah. I mean, you know, that track house car won and Chastain was second and Suarez was third, and they had this.

[Kenny Wallace]

Ran out of gas at the top of the hill.

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah. And man, that was awesome. Did you see that guy turn over on the tires? Yeah. Yeah. So all that blah, blah, blah.

[Kenny Wallace]

Okay, great.

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah. Right. Yeah. Traitor. And so at the end and then, and go. All right, you know, good game. Let's go next week. Yeah.

[Kenny Wallace]

Okay.

[Bobby Labonte]

And instead of like, oh, oh, oh, somebody was 30,000 masking tape on the.

[Kenny Wallace]

Front of his car.

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah. And we had 16 people had to be sent home because they didn't go through inspection the first. It's like, I mean, so the story and then the other story and the other story outweighs that story. I mean, I know what they're trying to do. They don't want, you know, it's not like it used to be where he'd fudge everything and bustered go. Well, it just don't look right. I know it would, you know, blah, blah, blah. But you know, I get it. But it's like, I don't know. I don't know.

[Kenny Wallace]

Say to me the, you know, like I said, I'm jaded. Some people inside the sport will say, well, you don't, you don't know the whole story. I'm like, yeah, I do. I know the whole damn story.

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah.

[Kenny Wallace]

Okay, so the, the car itself, the car itself, the next gen car, changed our sport forever. One lug nut, you know, paddle shifting or not paddle shifting, but you know, synchronized shifting. Basically up. This is a whole new car. Your thoughts on the car?

[Bobby Labonte]

Well, I gotta brag a little bit. So this new car, I was probably one of the first ones to run this in the sim. So I go to Dolora.

[Kenny Wallace]

You should brag.

[Bobby Labonte]

And we did the, the old car at Kansas and the new car and the next gen car, Kansas. So the few things we were able to do at the time because we didn't have the right map, all the right. Didn't have all the right maps for all the arrow and everything like that, but we were like changing rear cambers and stuff like that. So I run a couple days in the sim and then I think I went to Richmond, ran it in the sim and then Austin ran it for real at Richmond after that. Right.

[Kenny Wallace]

So little known secret. This is good.

[Bobby Labonte]

Little known secret. Oh, Gadget boy was out there doing it again. So doing the sim thing. So. Yeah.

[Kenny Wallace]

Your nickname.

[Bobby Labonte]

I still have a helmet at Delara in Indy. I need to go get it actually.

[Kenny Wallace]

That's really good stuff.

[Bobby Labonte]

So anyway, so yeah, I think, I don't know, I mean, I know it's hard to work on. I know there's a lot of dang stuff on it. And I mean it goes back to that penalty if you didn't put.

[Kenny Wallace]

The race is good. The races are good.

[Bobby Labonte]

But it is. I mean it's not. I mean it is new. It is a. It's. It, it, it is what? You know, we're not racing a 65 Ford rear end with truck arms on it. But you know what, they don't build any more cars like that. I get it. You know, I mean the whole, you know, development of cars that we see on the street, I mean, I get it. We need to look like that. So I mean, sure, some of, some of me wishes they still had a steering box and a truck arm with that body on it.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah.

[Bobby Labonte]

Okay, just put that body on 70. Right? Just put that body on it. But okay. So then you talk to somebody. It's like, well, we gotta have sequential shift. We gotta have this and trans. Okay, okay. All right. All right. So the biggest thing I see is it does race good. I wish it was a little more flexible, easy. I'll say that. Easy, easy, flexible. And, and I wish it didn't cost so much. I mean, it'd be a whole lot better to have four, three, four more car owners out there getting into it over 36, you know, 36 cars, 38 cars. 36. I mean, I like to see 43 every weekend. Right. And so anyway, I mean, but it does race pretty cool, pretty good. And I think the sound's pretty awesome. I mean, at times I think it's cool. But no, I mean, I mean, again, I, I think it race is good. You know, I, I, I was at Martinsville. Oh, that's right. I did the TV thing. I was just gonna go watch. I was just gonna watch, but I had to watch something else. But, like, we went, I went to Richmond. I was at Richmond for the race on Sunday. We went to Bristol. Watch them. You know, we'll go to Darlington. We'll go to the Coke 600. You know, so I'm still a fan of it. I mean, I'm gonna sit in the grandstands or a suite if I can find it, and, you know, watch the racing because I still love it. It's still racing. Okay. It's still racing. And all the winners last year, multiple winners this year. I think that's good. So I think this car does bring so many good things in the sport. You know, everybody, including myself, is going to go, well, it's not perfect. I wish it were a little bit lighter, a little bit flimsier when you have a wreck. I wish it had a little bit of something, you know. But hey, I think all in all, it's no different than so many things we racers do. We don't like change and we don't like to not change. It's just, we don't like nothing, but the change has been good. And it takes everybody a while to get used to it. This year has been a whole lot easier to swallow than last year. Last year was like, oh, my God. You know, this year is like, oh, it's, it's just a race car. Then there's drivers, and we're racing and we're competing for wins. Somebody's going to win, and 36 is going to lose. So there you have it, every weekend.

[Kenny Wallace]

So that brings me to this, the very end what is good about nascar?

[Bobby Labonte]

What is good about nascar? You know, I, I, I would say the good is what, what I love about is they, they are there. They are still there. They're still there. They're still putting on a great race, great show week in and week out. I think that through Covid that it could have been, man, it, you know, it could have gone that way, but instead they took it, they kept, they kept making it happen, making it happen, and they made it happen. And so the commitment that they have, you know, the leadership, Ben, Jim, Lisa on down the line and then, you know, obviously o', Donnell, Phelps and everybody below that, but that whole leadership thing, the decisions that they made through that and I think that they also, as much as I say I wish this car was this, wish it was that. I remember standing down there and turned one at Walker's Glen talking to Jim France and we're looking at a IMSA car go by and he had like in, in my head, he said something like, these cars need to look like that instead of these whoppy jaw card, you know. You know, we are getting kind of wappy, John. Everybody's all roofed over and all quarter panels, so. But they know how to make it work. Okay. Again, the times are different, but they know how to make it work. They know how to make the show work. They know how to make it all. People get there, the race happens and it all works. It all works. So what to me, what, what's great about NASCAR is they love it because it'd be easy for them to have said, ah, okay, we're just, I mean, it's not as something.

[Kenny Wallace]

How many times could they have sold, My God, that rumor. I think they sold it a hundred times.

[Bobby Labonte]

Yeah. But instead, you know, even though the racer might go, God, wish it wouldn't, they wouldn't have done that. But they see a different version. They're not at 30,000ft, they're at 50,000ft. And they see it as a whole and we just look at it like that. And so I think nascar, you know, as much as I can say I wish they'd have done this, you know what? I probably couldn't do no better. They're doing a great job. And week in and week out, there are so many people that, you know, a are employed by it, make money at it, and fans still enjoy it. They still get everything they can get out of it. And it's watched on TV all over the world and people go to races week in and week out. So you know what else can you ask for? And they could have easily. Like you said, they could have sold it or they could have. They could have made decisions that hurt it instead of really just keeping it going and making it. Keep making it better.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah, I'm. I'm thinking. I'm thinking of the perfect storm. They've weathered the storm. Wow. You and I. Well, Bobby, listen, we're coming to an end and I want to say that this is my opinion. You and I were blessed because we were in the greatest time in NASCAR history. There's no doubt in my mind. The stats show it. 1985 to 2006. 400, 000 people in the stands at the brickyard. 200, 250, 000 people in the stands, you know, at Charlotte. But buddy, those days are gone. I'm thankful that you're my friend. I love you. We've stayed close. We do more things together now than we've ever done. You look good and thank you so much. And I want to remind everybody that remember, we're digging on podcasts now. You've listened to this show. When you go to work. It might take four trips. No, Charlie's going to break it up in segments, but it's going to be in its entirety. We're on Spotify, we're on itunes. And Bobby, thank you.

[Bobby Labonte]

Thank you, Herm. I appreciate it. Kenny, we'll. I'm sure we'll talk to you after a while or the next day or two, but thanks for having me on the show, on your show and I really appreciate. Love you too, Herman.

[Kenny Wallace]

There he is. NASCAR champion. One of the greatest all time in the hall of fame. He's done it all. Bobby Lobotny. Until next time everybody. We'll see you next time. Check out dirty mo media on Twitter, Facebook, Tick tock and Instagram.

[C]

Prices keep going up. These days it feels like being on an elevator that only goes up, going up. But not at Metro.

[Kenny Wallace]

We're pushing the down button.

[Bobby Labonte]

Going down, we've lowered prices.

[C]

Get one line of 5G data for $40 period. That's 20% lower. And you get a free Samsung 5G phone when you bring your number. Only at Metro. Five year guarantee on eligible plans. Exclusion supplies. See website for details.

[Bobby Labonte]

Not available.

[C]

Fab Metro with T Mobile in the past six months tax supplies.

[Kenny Wallace]

Today we'll attempt a feat once thought impossible.

[Bobby Labonte]

Overcoming high interest credit card debt. It requires merely one thing, a so called SOFI personal loan.

[Kenny Wallace]

With it you could save big on.

[Bobby Labonte]

Interest charges by consolidating into one low fixed rate monthly payment Defy high interest debt with a SOFI personal loan. Visit sofi.com stunt to learn more. Loans originated by Sofi Bank NA member FDIC terms and conditions apply. NMLS 696891.