Bobby Labonte, who parlayed consistency and four victories into the Winston Cup Championship, added another honor today as he was selected DRIVER OF THE YEAR for all American motorsports. Labonte, 36, driver of the Joe Gibbs/Interstate Batteries Pontiac on the NASCAR/Winston Cup tour, gathered seven votes from a panel of 16 motorsports media to win the most prestigious award in motorsports. A brief field of who’s who in American motorsports was strung out behind the Corpus Christi, Texas native. The World of Outlaws Steve Kinser and NHRA Funny Car drag racer John Force each received three first-place nods, while CART’s Juan Montoya had two and that sanctioning body champion, Gil de Ferran, had one. Labonte also carried the fan vote, which was featured for the first time on ESPN.com. Running a very close second was NHRA’s Funny Car Champion John Force. While Labonte didn’t win a quarterly vote-those went to Mark Martin, Juan Montoya, Rusty Wallace and Tony Stewart-his consistency paid off with the DRIVER OF THE YEAR HONOR. Labonte follows 1999 Winston Cup Champion Dale Jarrett as DRIVER OF THE YEAR. Labonte will be feted at a luncheon at New York’s swank Le Cirque on December 9th, then will be formally honored at the International Motorsports Hall of Fame inductions at Talladega in April.(DOTY PR)(12-3-2000)
