<1center>Olympic Bobsled Success Motivates Bodine
By Dave Rodman
Turner Sports Interactive
Geoffrey Bodine has always been big on dreams, and in his career driving race cars, he's fulfilled
more than a few of them. Given the events of the past couple weeks, it's hard to quantify exactly where realizing his latest dream would fit in Bodine's overall scheme, given his status as one
of NASCAR's "50 Greatest Drivers" as declared
during the sanctioning body's 50th Anniversary celebration in 1998.
But picture this: Barry Bodine driving a Bo-Dyn bobsled down a run in Torino, Italy, for the United States team in the 2006 Winter Olympics. Don't bet against it happening.
Scant days after the elder Bodine went to Salt Lake City, Utah, with son Barry to attend the final five days of the most recent
Winter Olympics, he was more charged up than ever about his support of the U.S.A. bobsled team.
"I've been involved in racing a long time and have had a lot of successes and failures," Bodine said. "That's all part of it. I still love to win, to
jump up and down and shed a few tears. "But being
a part of the Olympics and seeing those kids
winning those medals and knowing I was a big part
of that -- I'm telling you," Bodine said, getting caught up in the emotion all over again. "What I
do is old hat to me -- I'm supposed to go out
there and go fast (but) seeing those kids winning
in a Bo-Dyn bobsled when 10 years ago we didn't
know anything about it, absolutely put me in awe." "Daytona felt good," Bodine said of his third
place finish in the Daytona 500 six days before, "but being a part of those medals felt better.
"To see those sleds going down the hill and
winning medals -- what an unbelievable experience. We were non-stop. I stayed with the bobsledders through practice and racing -- got up early and
went to bed late. Fortunately Barry and a friend
of his got to see some long track speedskating, so they got a little more of the Olympic experience than I did."
The U.S. bobsled team's performance at Salt Lake City created an aura that has captured people who are a lot less involved than Bodine has become.
In their first Olympic competition, the women's
team captured a gold medal. And after a 46-year medal drought, the men's four-man team won silver and bronze and missed a two-man medal by three thousandths of a second.
"Believe me, it was a bigger thrill than I could even explain," said Bodine, 52, who's been in Winston Cup Victory Lanes 18 times in his career. "To be around all those world class athletes from around the world and to see our kids doing so
darn good with equipment that we made. . ."
Bodine started his U.S.A. bobsled project in 1992 after watching a woeful Olympic experience for
the U.S. bobsled team. He enlisted noted Modified car builders Bob Cuneo and the late Bobby Vaillancourt of Chassis Dynamics -- who previously knew nothing about bobsledding -- and the chase
was on.
Bodine has expended a lot of time and energy in fund-raising and support, and he's put his own
money where his heart is -- to the tune of about $250,000. Believe it or not, after 10 years he had never seen one of his sleds make a competitive run in person. It wasn't like he needed to get hooked, all over again, but the trip served the function.
"A lot of the athletes' faces have changed since
we got involved with the bobsleds, but a lot of
them were the same," Bodine said. "But all of the athletes -- the old and the new -- constantly thanked me for getting involved and supplying
them with the world class equipment with which
they felt they could compete with the world and
win. "Those kids, after they achieved their goals, after winning the medals they still had the
presence of mind and the courtesy to thank us
again for what we did. We knew we were a part of
it, but by them including us in their medal presentations and their interviews -- it makes you feel good and makes you feel that it's worthwhile, what we did, and that other people will maybe get involved."
The capper for papa Bodine was that Barry, 24,
has made the initial inquiries into beginning a career in skeleton, a stripped-down version of a bobsled that runs on similar icy tracks at speeds
of more than 80 mph.
Barry, who has raced a limited number of events in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, isn't
abandoning his race-driving career. He is simply looking to diversify it somewhat.
"There'll be a lot of rebuilding in the bobsled
team before the next Olympics," Bodine said.
"Brian Shimer (bronze medal winner) is retiring
and several of the team members from both teams
are retiring so there'll be some rebuilding.
"Barry is all excited about the Olympics now and he's going to start training for the skeleton
team. They have a school in the summer they're sending him to, and then he wants to move into
the bobsled, so I'm excited about that.
"I hope he follows through on it (because) I'd
like to see a Bodine driving a Bo-Dyn sled."
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