Geoff Bodine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Born: | April 18, 1949 | |
| Birthplace: | Chemung, New York | |
| Awards: | 1982 NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year
1986 Daytona 500 Winner 1987 International Race of Champions champion Named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers Named one of NASCAR's Modified all-time Top 10 Drivers His fifty-five modified race wins is listed in the Guinness World Records for "Most wins in one season" |
|
| NASCAR Cup statistics | ||
| 570 races run over 26 years. | ||
| Best Cup Position: | 3rd - 1990 (Winston Cup) | |
| First Race: | 1979 Daytona 500 (Daytona) | |
| Last Race: | 2004 MBNA Race Points 400 (Dover) | |
| First Win: | 1984 Sovran Bank 500 (Martinsville) | |
| Last Win: | 1996 The Bud at the Glen (Watkins Glen) | |
| Wins | Top Tens | Poles |
| 18 | 190 | 37 |
Geoffrey Bodine (born April 18, 1949 in Chemung, New York) is the oldest of the three Bodine brothers (Brett Bodine and Todd Bodine) who are all NASCAR drivers. Geoff currently lives in Cornelius, North Carolina.
Geoff's racing career seemed to be on track right from the start as his father and grandfather, Eli Bodine Jr. and Sr. built Chemung Speedrome just a year after he was born. He began learning his racing skills at this track in the micro-midget division when he was only 5 years old.
Contents |
[edit] NASCAR Modified driver
Geoff was quite an accomplished driver before he hit the big-time in NASCAR's premier division, the Winston Cup series (now Nextel Cup series) with his first start in 1979. By this time, Geoff was well known as a Modified driver in the northeast racing against popular drivers like Richie Evans, Jimmy Spencer, Ron Bouchard, and others. Geoff had earned Modified championships at Stafford Speedway, Shangri-La Speedway, Spencer/Williamson Speedway, and Utica-Rome Speedway. He has won many of the big races in Modifieds including the Lancaster 200 (1978, 1981), Race of Champions (1972 - Trenton, 1978 - Pocono), the Stafford 200 (1978), the Trenton Dogleg 200 (1979), the Thompson 300, the Spring Sizzler (1980 - Stafford Speedway), Oswego Classic (1981), Cardinal Classic (1975 - Martinsville Speedway), Oxford 250 (1980, 1981), as well as many other modified events. He is credited in the Guinness Book of World Records with "Most wins in one season" with fifty-five modified race wins.
Geoff's racing background also included wins in the Late Model division, Busch Series division, and others. He has six Busch Grand National wins to his credit.
[edit] NASCAR NEXTEL Cup career
Geoff is best known for his NASCAR Winston Cup (now Nextel Cup) career. His first full season in Winston Cup came in 1982 when he earned the Rookie of the Year title. He earned his first Winston Cup pole that year on his 19th start (1982 - Firecracker 400) and scored his first Winston Cup victory two years later on his 69th start at Martinsville in 1984. Geoff's biggest win came at the 1986 Daytona 500. The season opener, Daytona 500, is NASCAR's most prestigious single event. Other career highlights include the 1987 International Race of Champions championship, the 1992 Busch Clash, the 1994 Winston Select (despite a first segment spinout), and the 1994 Busch Pole award.
[edit] Cup career highlights
Throughout his career Geoff has driven for some of the best car owners in NASCAR, including Junior Johnson, Bud Moore and Rick Hendrick as well as owning his own cars. He has 565 starts, 37 poles, 18 wins, and nearly $16 million in winnings during his Winston Cup/Nextel Cup career. He was honored as one of "NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers" during NASCAR's 50th anniversary celebration. Geoff has always been a great innovator and brought many ideas to Winston Cup. He introduced power steering and full-faced helmets to Winston Cup.
[edit] Daytona crash
Geoff was the victim of a vicious, fiery accident at Daytona International Speedway in NASCAR's Craftsman Truck race on February 18, 2000. Geoff was on the outside of three trucks on the front stretch tri-oval during the 57th lap when the two below him made contact and swerved into his truck. This caused his truck to become airborne and hit the catch fence, causing what was left of it to barrel-roll down the track (rupturing the fuel cell in the process) where it was hit several more times by other trucks before coming to rest on its roof. 13 other trucks were involved in the accident, making it the largest one in NCTS history. His truck disintegrated in the accident, leaving nothing but the roll cage intact. As a result of the impact, Geoff broke his right wrist, a vertebrae, his right ankle, and suffered a concussion. Nine fans were also injured in the accident.
Bodine missed more than half of the 2000 Winston Cup season recovering from his injuries, starting only 14 of 34 races and finishing 45th in points with no poles, wins, or top 10 finishes. Amazingly, Geoff returned to the track that had nearly claimed his life to finish third behind Elliott Sadler and the race winner Ward Burton in the 2002 Daytona 500. However, including that race, Geoff Bodine only made 18 starts in the NASCAR Winston/Nextel Cup Series between 2001 and 2004, with only one top five and two top 10s, both in 2002. He attempted to make the Brickyard 400 in 2004 driving for Gary Trout Autosports, but did not qualify and did not attempt to qualify for any other races that year or in 2005 2006. Darrell Waltrip was also quick to mention that Bodine made over 1 million dollars in the 2002 season.
[edit] Bo-Dyn bobsleds
Geoff's creativity and innovation are not just limited to NASCAR racing. Geoff is the co-owner of the Bo-Dyn Bobsled Company. His bobsled interest started during the 1992 Winter Olympics when the U.S. Bobsled Team was having a tough time during competition. Geoff learned that the sleds being used were all imported and not built locally. He felt that he could help the team win with better bobsled technology derived from his racecar engineering background and experience. With these beliefs, Geoff took a few runs in a bobsled at Lake Placid, New York to confirm his feelings and to learn more about the sleds.
Bo-Dyn Bobsleds (Bo for Bodine, "Dyn" for Chassis Dynamics) was created in 1992 by Geoff and his good friend and chassis builder, Bob Cuneo of Chassis Dynamics. Geoff founded the USA Bobsled Project to help create a winning bobsled for the U.S. teams. The U. S. National Team first used their sleds in 1994. Ten years after Bo-Dyn's inception, the U.S. team won three medals in Bo-Dyn Bobsleds during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
Geoff Bodine now goes by Geoffrey and enjoys giving back to the community that supports him. He has served as a volunteer fireman and is now a board member of the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
[edit] Teams and Sponsors
The Winston Cup teams for which Geoff Bodine has driven, the sponsors for each year, and the sponsors for the Craftsman Truck Series teams for which he has driven.
[edit] Teams
- Cliff Stewart 1982-1983
- Hendrick Motorsports 1984-1989
- Junior Johnson 1990-1991
- Bud Moore 1992-1993 (first 23 races of 1993 season only)
- Geoffrey Bodine 1993-1997 (last 7 races of 1993 season only)
- Mattei Motorsports 1998
- Joe Bessey Racing 1999-2000
- Gary Trout Autosports 2004
Note: In mid-1993, Bodine purchased the race team of the late Alan Kulwicki and toward the end of the season, took over as driver. Bodine raced as a driver-owner through 1997.
[edit] Sponsors
- Performance Connection- 1982
- Spectrum Furniture- 1982
- Gatorade- 1983
- All-Star Racing- 1984
- Levi Garrett- 1985-1989
- Budweiser- 1990-1991
- Motorcraft- 1992-1993
- Family Channel (#7 car, six races)- 1993
- Carolina Opry (#7 car, one only) - 1993
- Exide Batteries- 1994-1995
- QVC- 1996-1997
- Philips- 1998
- Power Team- 1999-2000
- Smirnoff Ice- 2001
- Miccosukee Gaming & Resorts- 2001-2002
- Discover Card- 2002
- Hills Bros Coffee- 2002
- Hooters Restaurants- 2003
- Race El Paso-2004
- Brut After Shave-2004
- Lucas Oil Products- 2004
- Mach One Inc.- 2004
[edit] External links
- Career statistics at racing-reference.info
- Geoff Bodine Fan Club
- NASCAR.com article announcing the Modified all-time Top 10
| Preceded by Al Unser, Jr. |
IROC Champion IROC XI (1987) |
Succeeded by Al Unser, Jr. |
