With most of the motorsports world on hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic, we’ve decided to highlight some of the sport’s legends on a daily basis. We begin each story within the pages of National Speed Sport News.
While he was never one of the top stars of NASCAR racing, Geoffrey Bodine, or Geoff as he was called through most of his career, quietly racked up impressive statistics as a stock car racer.
The eldest of three racing brothers from Chemung, N.Y., Bodine started his NASCAR career in modifieds and quickly made his way through the limited-sportsman (Busch) series and into what is now the Nextel Cup Series.
Bodine earned 18 NASCAR Cup Series victories in 564 career starts and won nearly $16 million.
In addition, Bodine won six Busch Series races. He won the Daytona 500 in 1986 and was crowned International Race of Champions titlist the following season.
Bodine was recognized during NASCAR’s 50th anniversary season as one of its 50 Greatest Drivers of all time.
Bodine, whose brothers Brett and Todd also race, was also known as an innovator, with the introduction of power steering to Cup Series racing among his achievements.
He was also involved in designing sleds for the U.S. Bobsled team.
