Geoff Bodine watches a karaoke performance on the mess decks with Sailors aboard nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz - Wiki Commons

Geoff Bodine is the eldest of three brothers including Brett and Todd. All three brothers are NASCAR racing car drivers although Geoff is considered to be the most talented driver of the three. Born on the 18^th April 1949 he was raised in Chemung, New York where the family farmed and also built and owned the Chemung Speedrome giving Geoff the opportunity to learn his racing skills from the early age of five when his father put together a car for him to practice on the track in the micro-midget division. By the time he reached his teens Geoff was desperate to race and, knowing that his parents were against him racing before he graduated from high school, he came up with the crazy idea of entering an all female race, aptly named the Powder Puff Derby, by dressing in girls clothing and wearing a wig but knowing that he could not win because his father, unfortunately for Geoff, was the person who gave out the trophies and took the photographs of the winner so although he was leading he had to duck out towards the end of the race. His parents didn’t know about this prank until a family gathering for his parent’s fiftieth wedding anniversary when the truth finally came out! Geoff further honed his racing skills by driving go-karts between his farming chores of gathering eggs, shovelling manure and bailing hay and from this true dedication to racing he progressed very successfully when he became a professional race car driver.

Before joining the NASCAR’s premier division Geoff was well known as a very successful Modified car driver, racing in the North East against drivers such as Jerry Cook and Jimmy Spencer. He won many of the big Modified races including the Lancaster 200 in 1978 and 1981, the Race of Champions in 1972 at Trenton and again at Pocono in 1978 and the Trenton Dogleg 200 in 1979 to name but a few as well as championships at Shangri-La Speedway, Stafford Speedway, Spencer/Williams Speedway and Utica-Rome Speedway. In 1978 he was recorded in the Guinness Book of Records as having won a record fifty five races in a single season, starting in eighty four feature events. Geoff is best known for his NASCAR Winston Cup career. Some of the highlights of his career include in 1982 he was awarded the Rookie of the Year, he won the most prestigious Daytona 500 in 1986, was named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998 and named as one of NASCAR’s Modified All-Time Top 10 drivers in 2003. He accrued nearly $16 million dollars during his Winston Cup/Nextel Cup career and was instigator of many new ideas to the Winston Cup such as the use of power steering and full faced helmets. His innovative ideas were not only in NASCAR racing, he used his racecar experience and engineering background to redesign and create, together with auto racing designer, Bob Cuneo of Chassis Dynamics, the now made-in-America bobsled, the Bo-Dyn sled, used in the United States Bobsled competitions. Since 2002, the Bo-Dyn effort has produced one Olympic gold medal, two silvers and a bronze. Additionally, U.S. team member Steve Holcomb ended a 50 year world championship drought when he drove his four-man Bo-Dyn sled to the world title in Lake Placid last February. The men's and women's squads have claimed numerous World Cup medals this season - five gold medals among them - in the run-up to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. Geoff also believes that it is good to give back to the community and serves as a volunteer fireman and is a board member of the MAKE A WISH FOUNDATION.

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Geoff Bodine - Website
Geoff Bodine - Nascar.com
Geoff Bodine - Wikipedia
Geoff Bodine - The Fast Lane
Geoff Bodine - Biography Base

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