July 23, 2001

Dear Mr. Hendrick or whomever seems to be in charge there in Charlotte,

From the outset let me say that I am not an unbiased observer of NASCAR racing. For the past several years, all of my friends have come to know my presence by whatever the latest apparel is being hawked in support of Terry Labonte. You remember him, don't you? He's the guy that won the championship for you in 1996 thus becoming the driver with the longest tenure between championships....12 years. If you don't remember him, then here's a clue...he's the guy in the blue Kellogg's Frosted Flakes entry with a #5 on the roof and the doors. He shouldn't be hard to pick out. Most of the time he is in the back of the pack either during qualifying or at the end of the race.

Now, please don't misunderstand me. I am not trying to tell you that you haven't been supporting Terry and his team but let me quote you some statistics. Terry, the senior driver in your shop, has an average starting position of 30.7 on the year with an average finish of 28.1. He is currently in 27th position in the Winston Cup Championship points race. He has earned just a little over $1.5 million dollars for Hendrick Racing so far this year. This is not very good, is it?

Let me offer some comparison if you think that's not bad, Mr. Hendrick. Jeff Gordon (you know the guy in the car with flames that gets booed all the time for being a winner?) has an average starting position of 8.5 with an average finish of 12.4. He is currently 2nd in points and has earned right around $3.6 million dollars so far. And the most junior member of the organization, Jerry Nadeau, has an average start of around 19th with an average finish of 23rd. He has pocketed about $1.2 million dollars for the season. Not bad for a guy in his 2nd year with your team.

Do you get the drift of my thinking, Mr. Hendrick? There is something terribly wrong in your race shops. A driver that has won 3 championships is doing what he does best...win. A driver that has 3 wins to his entire career is doing so-so. And a driver with 2 championships and 21 wins to his credit is lagging way behind. Last year, Terry didn't finish in the top-10 in points for the first time in 9 years. This year, he probably won't make the top-30 at the rate he is going.

Why is this, Mr. Hendrick? Lesser teams with worse records have already "released" drivers from their contracts. Some have gotten new crew chiefs and others share testing information between all the team members. I thought that was the whole point of having multi-member teams.

Maybe I am being a bit over-reactionary but something needs to be done before your organization and Terry Labonte both become the newest version of the "Darrell Waltrip Victory Tour". We all know what happened there, don't we, Mr. Hendrick? Darrell became the butt of lots of jokes about victory tours and last hurrahs. There were even some who say he embarrassed himself as a 3 time Winston Cup champ by hanging around as a driver for one or two too many years.

Do myself and all the other Terry Labonte fans out here a favor, will you Mr. Hendirck? (You would know if you visited the stands that there are a great deal of us out here...we are number 3 behind Gordon and Earnhardt in buying merchandise by all accounts). Either get Terry back on a winning track or let him go to find another team that wants him to win. Let him have a shot at that 3rd Cup or let some other team put a car under him that has the stuff. Give him first rate equipment or fire the guys that can't seem to use top shelf equipment to their advantage.

Do anything but DO SOMETHING!

If I seem to be a little focused on this one issue, it is because I am literally surrounded in a room full of Terry Labonte stuff that consistutes my office. He is and will always be my favorite driver. And it is becoming too painful to watch his career go down the tube at Hendrick Motor Sports. Terry may not agree but he doesn't see it from our perspective every week. And what we see isn't pretty.

Mr. Hendrick, let's all get Terry back to Victory Lane again....the fans, by showing their support; you, by giving him the right crew and equipment or by giving him a release and Terry, by letting him know that his career is far more important than the credit it seems to be getting.

Please, Mr. Hendrick? Don't let this winner go out a loser while pride stands in your way. Let Terry win or let him go.

I remain an ever faithful Terry Labonte fan and your humble supplicant,

Patrick Nance
Richardson, Texas

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