The Bodines in NASCAR
History
Brett, Todd and Geoff - 1990
Superstardom has never, and probably
never will be a
word that is associated with the Bodine brothers in
regards to their racing careers, even
though
Geoff Bodine was named as one of
NASCAR's "50 Greatest Drivers of All-time"
Determined, yes. Intense, yes. Even
solid, yes. But
overly spectacular. Not really.
But then that's okay with Geoff, Brett
and Todd. The
one thing the three brothers from
upstate New York can
take pride in with their NASCAR careers
is their
longevity, something not many drivers
can boast
of.
From 1982 through 2001, wherever there's
a NASCAR Winston
Cup or NASCAR Busch Series Grand
National Division
event, there's been at least one
Bodine around to hold
up the family name.
But then racing was in the blood for
the Bodines from
the start. Their father, Eli, began
racing late models
in 1946 in their hometown of Chemung,
N.Y., at Chemung
Speedrome. He later became the promoter
of Chemung
Speedrome, where Geoff began racing
in the micro-midget
class at the age of five in 1955.
Geoff went on to become one of the
greatest NASCAR
Modified drivers of all-time. He
currently holds the
Guinness Book of Records listing for
the most wins in
one season, in any division, with 55.
**********
While he was a terror in the Modified
ranks, Geoff
soon
discovered that full-bodied stock cars
is where the
fame and fortune were to be had.
He broke into
the
NASCAR Winston Cup ranks with a team
owned by Cliff
Stewart in 1982, and proceeded to win
NASCAR Winston
Cup Rookie of the Year honors that
season with three
top-fives, nine top-10s and one Bud
Pole in 25 races.
His first NASCAR Winston Cup
victory came in
his 69th
start, in 1984. Driving for Rick
Hendrick, Bodine
visited victory lane three times
that year, including
Martinsville (Va.), Nashville (Tenn.),
and Riverside
(Calif.)
Geoff's crowning glory came in 1986
when he won two
races, including the "Super Bowl" of
auto racing, the
Daytona 500. To add to his list of accomplishments, he
won the 1987 International Race of
Champions Series
title, no small task in itself.
In 1993, he purchased his own race
team, from the
estate of the late Alan Kulwicki. He
racked up four
victories as a team owner/driver, but financial
problems forced him to sell a majority
of the team to
Jim Mattei late in the 1997 season.
Geoff then gave up
the rest of the controlling interest
in the team
early
in the 1998 season and ironically was ultimately
released at the beginning of October
'98 by Mattei.
In all, Geoff has posted 18
career NASCAR
Winston Cup
Series wins, the last one coming in
1996 at his "home
track" of Watkins Glen International.
While
these
statistics may not be among the
greatest of all-time
in
the sport, mind you, they are solid
career numbers;
which qualified Geoff to be named as
one of the
NASCAR's "50 Greatest Drivers of
All-time" early in
1998.
**********
Brett Bodine won the 1990 spring
race at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
In some ways, Brett's career has
paralleled that
of his
older brother, but he hasn't been as successful. He,
too, started at Chemung Speedrome.
He, too, was a
standout Modified driver.
He also drove for Bud Moore and for
Rick Hendrick, but
that was only for his NASCAR Winston
Cup debut in 1986
in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte.
And he, too, has
been a team owner/driver, and has
found the going
rough
trying to make that work.
The crowning moment of Brett's career
came in 1990
while driving for Kenny Bernstein.
He won the spring
race at North Wilkesboro Speedway,
a place where
brother Geoff has won three times
during his NASCAR
Winston Cup career.
The driver of the No. 11 Paychex Ford,
who sold
part of
his team that he purchased from Junior Johnson in late
1995 to Andy Evans prior 1998, bought
back Evans'
portion of the team and once again
owns it
outright.
**********
Todd Bodine is still looking for a
successful
turn on the NASCAR Winston Cup Series.
Todd is the
younger of the three Bodine brothers.
While
longing to be a driver like his older brothers, at the
age of 15, Todd learned the other side
of the business,
working on the cars -- in the same
way both of his
older brothers honed their craft.
He learned the art
of
fabrication, from Modified legend Hop Harrington. That
helped him when he began working on
Brett's race cars
in the early 1980s in Connecticut.
He then
built his first race car and competed
several times at
Stafford Motor Speedway in Stafford
Springs, Conn.,
and
at Seekonk (Mass.) Speedway.
"Both of my brothers always made me
work hard to prove
that I really wanted to race," Todd
said. "It was one
of the most valuable things they
ever did for
me."
When Brett made the move south in
1985, to become a
fabricator at Hendrick Motorsports,
Todd was soon
convinced to join him. He certainly
"paid his dues"
along the way, working on race cars
and then soon as a
NASCAR Busch Series crew chief for
Billy
Standridge.
Upon catching the eye of NASCAR Busch
Series owners
Frank Cicci and Scott Welliver, Todd
found a place in
that series and proceeded to become
one of its best
drivers. In his years with the team,
he has won ten
races.
But like his brothers, Todd wants to
race at the
NASCAR
Winston Cup level more than anything.
A two-year,
59-race stint with the Stavola
Brothers didn't produce
much fruit (three top-10 finishes),
but he did fashion
12 top-10 finishes with Butch Mock
in 1996.
The next season brought unexpected frustration for
Todd, as he was forced to return to
the NASCAR Busch
Series, but once again, he found a
home with Cicci and
Welliver. He won only one BGN race
in 1997, but he
finished second in the point standings
to Randy
LaJoie.
The year 1998 brought new hope for
Todd as the driver
of the new No. 35 Tabasco/ISM Racing
Pontiac. But that
enthusiasm was soon dashed as he
was released midway
through the season. Once again, it
was Cicci and
Welliver who took him in, putting
Todd in the seat of
their No. 30 Slim Jim Chevrolet, where
he became
teammates with series standouts
David Green and Mike
McLaughlin.
Todd has a set ride for the 1999
season in the
Cicci-Welliver Racing Phillips 66
Chevrolet in the
NASCAR Busch Series. While he's got
a steady job
there,
however, he says he'll continue to
try to find his
place in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series someday.
**********
Because of their competitive nature,
there hasn't
always been a lot of "brotherly love"
on the race
track. A shining example of that was
the inaugural
Brickyard 400 in 1994, when Brett
and Geoff tangled
with each other, costing Geoff a solid
finish in that
event.
Words were exchanged between the two,
and the media
inflamed the wound by playing the
situation up
throughout the remainder of the year.
But that would
be
the end of it for the brothers, who
went back about
their family business, and the business
of racing for
their respective teams.
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