IT WAS A SEASON OF TEAM EFFORTS : LABONTE HAD TO BEAT OUT TEAMMATE GORDON FOR WINSTON CUP TITLE.

Byline: Mike Harris Associated Press 

The overriding theme of the 1996 auto racing season was team domination.

In NASCAR's Winston Cup series, the PPG Indy Car World Series and Formula One, multi-car teams grabbed the biggest share of the headlines:

Hendrick Motorsports teammates Terry Labonte and Jeff Gordon fought to the wire before Labonte won his second Winston Cup crown by 37 points.

Jimmy Vasser started out with four victories in the first six PPG Cup races and wound up beating Target-Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Alex Zanardi for the title.

In Formula One, Damon Hill held off Williams-Renault teammate Jacques Villeneuve, like Hill a son of former F1 stars.

For team owner Rick Hendrick, his second straight Winston Cup title was vindication of a sort.

``I got a lot of criticism a few years ago for trying to win with a three-car team,'' said Hendrick, who also fielded Chevrolets for Kenny Schrader, who finished 12th in the points. ``And it was tough at first, because you need to find people who believe in the concept and who believe in working together for the good of the team. It took some time to get the right people in place. Now I hope I can keep them here for the next few years.''

Labonte, who turned 40 in November just after clinching the championship in the season-ending race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, won his first title in 1984.

``I never thought it would take me 12 years to win another championship, but I finally did it, and it's a great feeling,'' said Labonte, who finished the season with a Winston Cup-record 537 consecutive starts.

Gordon, the defending champion, did everything he could to beat his teammate, winning a series-high 10 races to Labonte's two. But Gordon also failed to finish five times.

Still, both drivers were incredibly consistent, with each posting 24 top-10 finishes and 21 top-fives in 31 starts.

Dale Jarrett, who won his second Daytona 500 in four seasons, stayed in the points race right to the end and wound up third.

The son of two-time Winston Cup champ Ned Jarrett had a successful season, winning the three richest purses in NASCAR - Daytona, the Coca-Cola 600 and the Brickyard 400. Jarrett also won at Michigan.

Dale Earnhardt's quest for a record eighth Winston Cup title fell short after he broke his collarbone and sternum in a wreck in July at Talladega.

Earnhardt, who was leading the points standings at the time of the crash, didn't miss a start but was unable to keep up his momentum and finished fourth. He ended the season with a 29-race winless string, the longest of his career.

The 1996 Indy-car scene was overshadowed by the split between Tony George, president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and CART. George started the rival Indy Racing League, which ran an abbreviated first-year schedule.

Most of the biggest names of Indy-car racing remained with the established IndyCar series.

However, George managed to stage an exciting Indianapolis 500 that drew its usual sellout crowd and a huge international television audience as Buddy Lazier, a little-known racer, won the biggest prize in motor sports.

The 28-year-old Lazier, who had broken his back in a crash less than three months earlier, won nine days after pole-winner Scott Brayton, the most experienced driver at the Indianapolis speedway, was killed in a practice session crash.

On the same day as the Indy 500, the sport's more prominent drivers raced at Michigan International Speedway, where Vasser won the inaugural U.S. 500.

In other series, John Force earned his fourth straight NHRA Funny Car championship.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1) GORDON

(2) Winston Cup champion Terry Labonte won only two races but had 24 top-10 finishes during the season. He has a record 537 straight starts.

Associated Press