Geoffrey Bodine: Road to bobsled gold ‘difficult, but it was worth it’
Geoffrey Bodine's USA 1 team celebrates after winning the gold medal in the men's four-man bobsled competition at the 2010 Winter Olympics. // Clive Mason, Getty Images
HAMPTON, Ga. – Geoffrey Bodine will be trying to qualify for Saturday’s E-Z-Go 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
But regardless of his efforts on the 1.5-mile track, Bodine’s already a winner in most folks’ eyes.
Bodine’s nearly two-decade old journey to help build the U.S. Olympic bobsled team back into contention reached its zenith last month when the USA-1 team won the gold medal in the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
It was the first gold by the U.S. four-man bobsled team in 62 years.
Bodine, a former Daytona 500 champion and winner of 18 NASCAR Cup races, heads up the Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project, which helped fund and build the sleek sleds used by the Americans.
“I’ll tell you what made me continue,” the New York native said when asked to describe the long, difficult journey. “I’m a hard-headed Yankee.
“All the obstacles that were put in front of us through the years, and there were many, believe me, when you’re involved in amateur sports, it’s very difficult. … We should have probably quit the third day, that’s how difficult it’s been, how hard it’s been.
“But I’ll say it again, because of my success in NASCAR, my success in auto racing, I could afford to put my money where my mouth was. In the beginning, we paid a lot of bills that weren’t ours, we kept the program going so thankfully we could do that. But it made it difficult. Our job was just to build the bobsleds, to supply them so the kids could race. It ended up being a lot more. But we made it.
“Yeah, it’s been difficult but it was worth it.”
In a bit of role-reversal, the American team, which consists of driver Steven Holcomb, Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler and Curt Tomasevicz, is scheduled to be at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday to cheer on Bodine.
“I’m humbled by it, I’m in awe of what happened,” said Bodine, who is driving this weekend for Team Gill Racing. “I haven’t had much time to think about it. I flew home and flew right to Nashville and have been working on this truck, trying to get it ready for here. I haven’t really sat down and had a chance to think about it. …
“I’m just in awe of the experience. … It is so cool to hang out with people from all around the world; you can’t understand them most of the time; a lot of head nodding and waving. It’s so cool. Nobody gets in fights, nobody’s arguing. When somebody falls down, they wait until the athlete gets up and then they all cheer. No boos. When somebody wins, they all cheer. In racing, that [booing] used to make me go faster. It doesn’t matter what country wins, they appreciate what the athletes have done. It’s just incredible to be around that.”
Bodine said he watched much of the competition from the top of the run, but decided to head down to the finish line for the U.S. team’s final run.
“I was pretty calm watching the last run,” he said. “I went down to the finish area … with the hope that they would pull it off. I was calm. I really was, because I’ve raced a few years in my life and I understand cheering, jumping up and down, getting nervous doesn’t help. …
I said, ‘I’m not going to get nervous. Whatever happens, happens. In reality, I’m very satisfied just giving our athletes American-made bobsleds. It’s something to go out there and win the medals or whatever, but I’m just happy that they’re there and they have those sleds to use.
“I’m like the rest of the fans there; whoever wins, it really doesn’t matter. Now, I want the Americans to win but it really doesn’t matter. It’s just the competition that matters.”
