General Discussion » Toyota recall includes 3.8 million cars sold in the USA
November 2, 2009 General Motors is recalling all models because of a problem with plastic supply and return ports on the modular reservoir assembly. The ...
Germain Racing's Todd Bodine making best of tough situation
By Jared Turner - SceneDaily Staff Writer
Friday, June 26, 2009
Germain Racing's Todd Bodine is third in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series standings heading into this weekend's race at Memphis Motorsports Park.
David Griffin
NASCAR Scene
Todd Bodine appears to be making the most of a tough situation this season in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
After 10 races, Bodine is third in the series standings and has two wins to his credit. He trails points leader Ron Hornaday by 88 points heading into this weekend’s race at Memphis Motorsports Park. The early success, however, has come even as uncertainty looms for his Germain Racing team.
Bodine still needs sponsorship for nine of the remaining 15 races, beginning with the Aug. 1 event at Nashville Superspeedway.
Like so many others scrambling to find sponsorship in a tough economy, the 2006 series champion hopes to run all the remaining races and thus remain in contention for his second Truck title. But there are no guarantees of that.
Bodine says the team doesn’t plan to enter any of the remaining races for which it is not fully sponsored.
“It’s one of those deals, you can’t worry about it, you know?” said Bodine, whose team was left searching for a primary sponsor when Lumber Liquidators left after the 2008 season. “You work hard at it and try to get something done, and the cards will fall where they will. You can’t not sleep over it, even though I haven’t been [sleeping]. It is what it is, and you just work hard and try to get some money in the door.”
The uncertain sponsorship predicament has seemingly had little, if any, impact on Bodine’s 2009 performance. His wins – in the season opener at Daytona and earlier this month at Texas – came on the heels of impressive runs that saw the veteran driver lead at least one-fourth of the distance in both races. Bodine also has three more top-fives and has finished no worse than 25th this year.
Is Germain Racing general manager Mike Hillman Sr. at all surprised that Bodine has managed to do so well given the team’s sponsor uncertainty?
“Not really,” he said. “Todd, when he puts that helmet on and gets in that truck, all the pressure of all that stuff and worrying about a paycheck, that’s all gone. He gets in there and does his job. And [crew chief Mike Hillman Jr.] and them boys that take care of that truck, they don’t have any worries. We still have first-class equipment for them to race with, and we figure out a way to make it come together.”
Copart, Ventrilo, Whelen Engineering and Geico have all pitched in with sponsoring Bodine this season in the Truck series.
“With Lumber Liquidators leaving so late in the year last year, we just got behind, and then [with] the economy, it hurt,” Hillman Sr. said. “Todd’s really stepped up and done a lot of things to help us make sure that we can keep this whole program together. … He’s been really good about understanding where we’re at and not ever complaining about some of the things that we don’t get to do that we used to do.”
Bodine recently gave up on running a partial Sprint Cup schedule for Gunselman Motorsports this season in part to focus more on the Truck deal. That the underfunded Gunselman group was also struggling to field competitive entries was an even bigger factor in Bodine’s decision.
The Chemung, N.Y., native failed to qualify in six of nine Cup attempts.
“Tired of being embarrassed,” Bodine said of why he abandoned the Cup effort. “ … You can’t go in there and just be a smart racer and be able to make the races. Now, if you don’t have five engineers working and your bump-stops and your springs [ready], you’re not going to go anywhere. And the day of a smart racer going in there and being able to compete is gone. And it was embarrassing to go there every week, run the way we did and not make the races, and I wasn’t going to do it anymore.”
Bodine, of course, has had no such trouble on the Truck side, where he has finished no worse than fourth in points since joining the series full time in 2005. That streak will be in jeopardy, though, if he is unable to run all of the remaining races.
Even if he doesn’t, Bodine is proud of what he and the team have accomplished so far in 2009.
“Never give up, that’s our motto at Germain,” he said. “We’ve had that motto from the beginning, and we stick with it, and it doesn’t matter how bad it is. We don’t give up. We keep digging hard and just come out and do that. That’s what we should do every week.”
Mentioned Drivers: Todd Bodine
2009 Sprint Cup Race for the Chase Standings
Driver Standings after the Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500
| 1 | Jimmie Johnson | 6492 |
| 2 | Mark Martin | -108 |
| 3 | Jeff Gordon | -169 |
| 4 | Kurt Busch | -211 |
| 5 | Tony Stewart | -285 |
| 6 | Juan Pablo Montoya | -289 |
| 7 | Greg Biffle | -321 |
| 8 | Denny Hamlin | -352 |
| 9 | Ryan Newman | -411 |
| 10 | Kasey Kahne | -476 |
| 11 | Carl Edwards | -520 |
| 12 | Brian Vickers | -666 |
Popular News
-
Championship battle may not be tight, but Chase still has some intrigue
Comments (79) -
Kyle Busch would consider Nationwide title his biggest achievement in NASCAR
Comments (70) -
Denny Hamlin vows to retaliate against Brad Keselowski
Comments (70) -
Jeff Gluck: Brad Keselowski's aggressive style should be embraced, not criticized
Comments (53) -
Jimmie Johnson's Texas trouble reignites NASCAR Sprint Cup championship battle
Comments (48)
Recent Headlines
-
Kevin Harvick, Ron Hornaday cap off championship year for KHI
Post Comment -
Roush Fenway Racing's Carl Edwards spins, leads final Nationwide practice
Post Comment -
Colin Braun wins Truck pole for season finale
Post Comment -
Denny Hamlin to have minor knee surgery Wednesday
Comments (1) -
Jimmie Johnson snags pole for Ford 400 at Homestead
Comments (8)
Poll PositionView All
Which has been most detrimental to NASCAR television ratings and attendance this season?
Promotions
-
Play "WIX Filters' Pick 3" stock car fantasy and win prizes. Season 2 is now in session!
-
Tweet your thoughts about each race and join the conversation with other fans.
-
Drive an authentic NASCAR Sprint Cup car at the NASCAR Racing Experience.
-
Make weekly pics for the Chase and be entered to win weekly SPEED Merchandise.
Comments
3 responses to "Germain Racing's Todd Bodine making best of tough situation". Post a Comment.
Bill8848 said:
Jun 26, 2009 at 11:35 AMThird in points and no sponsor,not good.
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse ReportAnonymous said:
Jun 26, 2009 at 5:52 PMGo Todd!
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse ReportAnonymous said:
Jun 26, 2009 at 11:43 PMTodd Bodine Trucks WHO CARES
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse Report