NASCAR title-winning owner Hagan dies at age 75
By SceneDaily Staff Report
Monday, November 19, 2007
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Team owner Billy Hagan, whose team won the NASCAR Cup championship with driver Terry Labonte in 1984, died Nov. 19. He was 75.
Hagan, who made three starts as a driver in NASCAR's Cup series, earned greater acclaim as a car owner, fielding cars in 547 races from 1969 to 1994. His team took off when he hired Labonte for five races in 1978. Labonte was fourth in his debut, the Southern 500 at Darlington, and went on to finish 10th in the standings the next year. The duo would finish in the top 10 in points the next four years before winning the NASCAR Winston Cup championship in 1984.
Labonte, who earned all six of Hagan's victories as a car owner, recalled his former owner fondly at a retirement dinner held for Labonte in Texas in 2006.
"Hagan was the guy that gave me the chance of a lifetime. We won a track championship in Houston, the next year in San Antonio. He gave me a chance to drive his Cup car for five races. Just a great guy. ... The oil business ... was pretty good back then. I never will forget, we're sitting there in his office at the race shop and negotiating with a sponsor - Budweiser, a pretty good sponsor.
"He told them how much it's gonna cost. They said, 'Well, we don't know.' He said, 'I don't care if you sponsor my car or not, I'll race with you or without you.' They ended up sponsoring our car. I was like, 'Wow, I don't think I could have said that.'"
Labonte left Hagan's team after the 1986 season, and was replaced by Sterling Marlin, who had 19 top-fives in 116 races with Hagan the next four years.
"He was a great guy," Marlin said. "He didn't get to come to a lot of races. I never got to know him really well. He was real feisty. Just a great guy. I remember Tom Kendall wrecked us at Watkins Glen on the last lap, we were running fifth. I remember Billy chasing him around the car with his cane."
Labonte returned from 1991-93 with Hagan, but the team was winless. Hagan's last season was in 1994, when he fielded cars for John Andretti and Randy MacDonald.
According to an obituary in the Charlotte Observer, in lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made to Cold Water Lutheran Church at 1725 Gold Hill Road, Concord, NC 28025, or to the Boys and Girls Club of Acadiana at P.O. Box 62166, Lafayette, LA 70596.
- Mentioned Drivers:
- John Andretti
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