1/5/2009
BODINE EARNS
BOBSLED TITLE IN LAKE PLACID
NASCAR Camping World Truck
Series Driver Takes Race 1 Title Sunday |
Todd Bodine carried over his success from Saturday’s qualifying round to the
finals as he earned his first Whelen Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge
championship Sunday at the Olympic Sports Complex.
The top qualifier on Saturday, Todd Bodine was first out of the
chute in Sunday’s first round of Race 1, which featured NASCAR and NHRA
racers competing against the clock for a trip to the podium. His maiden run
of 49.83 seconds stood as the fastest in the round as the top eight of 12
drivers advanced. In the second round, with the race order inverted, nearly
each driver that went bested the one before him. Joey Logano, who went
next-to-last, posted a 49.56 to set the bar for Bodine. The younger brother
of the event’s namesake did not disappoint as he crossed the finish line at
49.35. Bodine’s two-round combined time of 1:39.18 earned the Race 1 title.
“I’ve had a good sled,” Bodine said. “During qualifying and the
first round I had really clean runs. The second round wasn’t quite as fast
as Larry’s [Gunselman], and what I needed to do was just stay with them, and
we got it done.”
Logano, in his second year of competition in the Bodine Bobsled
Challenge, finished with a combined time of 1:39.58. Logano, who will
contend for the 2009 Raybestos Rookie of the Year in the NASCAR Sprint Cup
Series, earned his first invitation last year as the 2007 NASCAR Camping
World Series East championship. Gunselman came in third at 1:39.60.
Gunselman’s second run of 49.33 seconds was the fastest run of either round
in the morning session.
Morgan Lucas was the highest finishing NHRA competitor in Race 1 at
1:39.83.
Boris Said, the defending Race 1 champion and five-time winner in
the Bodine Bobsled Challenge settled for a sixth-place finish.
The event also included NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour
champion Brian Loftin, who finished eighth in his first bobsledding
experience. Philip Morris earned a return trip to Lake Placid with his
second NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national championship in three
years, finished 10th.
Sunday afternoon’s Race 2 featured two rounds of eliminations and
two head-to-head competitions. NASCAR was represented by Todd Bodine, Geoff
Bodine, Logano and Said while the NHRA contingent included Lucas, Jeg
Coughlin J.R. Todd and Bob Vandergriff. Geoff Bodine and Vandergriff were
eliminated in the first round while defending race winner Said and Coughlin
failed to advance past the second round.
In the semifinals of Race 2, which pitted the two fastest NASCAR
and NHRA drivers against each other for a spot in the championship, Todd
Bodine once again edged out Logano with a time of 49.25 for an advantage of
.71 seconds. Meanwhile, Lucas defeated Todd by .03 seconds to earn a spot in
the finals against Bodine.
For the final round, Bodine and Lucas were setup in competition
Bo-Dyn sleds used by the USA National Bobsled team. USA Men’s Coach Brian
Shimer served as brakeman for Bodine while Women’s Team Coach Bill Tavares
rode with Lucas.
Lucas, who was defeated by Said in the 2008 Bodine Bobsled
Challenge Race 2 finals, registered a 47.78-second run in the articulated
sled, nearly two seconds faster than his semifinal run. In Bodine’s run, the
NASCAR veteran had gained on Lucas’ time through nearly every stage, but
rolled the sled coming out of Turn 18. Bodine and Shimer were fine, but
Lucas took home the title.
“I felt bad about wrecking the sled, but I had this old-time racer
tell me once, ‘boy, if you can’t win, be spectacular,’ and we were
spectacular,” Todd Bodine said.
In the three-day event a total of 12 drivers piloted specially-made
bobsleds down the track in Lake Placid, site of the 1932 and 1980 Winter
Olympics. The Bodine Bobsled Challenge is geared to raise money for the
Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project, which was started in 1992 by former NASCAR Sprint
Cup Series driver Geoff Bodine, who partnered with Chassis Dynamics. The
Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project has built American-made bobsleds for United States
athletes competing in the World Cup, World Championships and Olympic Winter
Games.
Funds raised from the Bodine Bobsled Challenge go directly to the
Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project. The annual dinner auction held in conjunction with
the event took place at the Lake Placid Crowne Plaza Hotel & Resort Saturday
night with proceeds also benefiting the Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project. Whelen
Engineering Vice President for Motorsports and Bodine Bobsled Project
President Phil Kurze was satisfied with the results.
“The auction was on par with last year’s successful event,” Kurze
said. “In 2010, with it being an Olympic year, we look for the Fifth Annual
Bodine Bobsled Challenge and auction to be an even bigger and better event.”
SPEED will televise four hours of the Whelen Geoff Bodine Bobsled
Challenge on Jan. 18 at noon and Jan. 25 at 2 pm.
Whelen Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge
Race 1 – Timed Competition
Olympic Sports Complex, Lake Placid, N.Y.
Driver, Rd. 1 (Secs.), Rd. 2, Combined
1. Todd Bodine, 49.83, 49.35, 1:39.18
2. Joey Logano, 50.02, 71.29, 1:39.58
3. Larry Gunselman, 50.27, 49.33, 1:39.60
4. Morgan Lucas, 50.27, 49.56, 1:39.83
5. Jeg Coughlin, 50.36, 49.97, 1:40.33
6. Boris Said, 50.72, 49.68, 1:40.40
7. Eric Curran, 50.77, 49.81, 1:40.58
8. Brian Loftin, 50.86, 50.20, 1:41.06
9. Danny Bagwell, 50.93
10. Philip Morris, 51.10
11. Bob Vandergriff, 51.28
12. J.R. Todd, 51.44
Whelen Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge
Race 2 – Elimination Competition
Olympic Sports Complex, Lake Placid, N.Y.
First Round – NASCAR
1. Todd Bodine, 49.53 seconds
2. Joey Logano, 49.60
3. Boris Said, 49.62
4. Geoff Bodine, 50.06
First Round – NHRA
1. J.R. Todd, 49.24
2. Morgan Lucas, 49.38
3. Jeg Coughlin, 49.59
4. Bob Vandergriff, DNF
Second Round – NASCAR
1. Todd Bodine, 49.28
2. Logano, 49.70
3. Said, 49.88
Second Round – NHRA
1. Todd, 49.42
2. Lucas, 49.62
3. Coughlin, 49.93
Semifinals – NASCAR
Todd Bodine (49.25) def. Logano (49.96)
Semifinals – NHRA
Lucas (49.56) def. Todd (49.59)
Finals – NASCAR vs. NHRA
Lucas (47.78) def. Todd Bodine (48.22)
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Source: Jason Cunningham
/ NASCAR
Posted: January
5, 2009 |
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