Geoff Bodine

Geoffrey Eli Bodine (born April 18, 1949) is an American retired motorsport driver and bobsled builder.

He is the oldest of the three Bodine brothers (with Brett Bodine and Todd Bodine), and sister Denise.

Bodine lives in West Melbourne, Florida.

Bodine was born into a racing family as his father and grandfather, Eli Bodine Jr. and Sr. built Chemung Speedrome just a year after he was born.

He began learning his racing skills at this track in the micro-midget division when he was only five years old.

He had such an itch to race that he disguised himself as a lady and entered an event known as the Powder Puff Derby when he was 15.

He was honored as one of "NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers" during NASCAR's 50th anniversary celebration.

Bodine has always been a great innovator and brought many ideas to Winston Cup.

He introduced power steering and full-faced helmets to Winston Cup.

He has won many of the big races in Modifieds including the Lancaster 200 (1978, 1981), Race of Champions (1972 – Trenton), the Stafford 200 (1978), the Trenton Dogleg 200 (1979), the Thompson 300, the Spring Sizzler (1980 – Stafford Speedway), Oswego Classic (1981), Cardinal Classic (1975 – Martinsville Speedway), Oxford 250 (1980, 1981), and other modified events.

In 1978, Bodine won more races than any other Modified driver in recorded history.

Driving cars owned by Dick Armstrong with Billy Taylor and Ralph Hop Harrington as crew chief, Bodine started 84 feature events and won 55 of them.

Among the most prestigious of these victories were the Race of Champions at Pocono, the Spring Sizzler at Stafford, the Budweiser 200 at Oswego, both major events at Martinsville, the Thompson 300, and a sweep of the six-race Yankee All-Star League series.

For these fifty-five victories, Bodine is credited in the Guinness Book of World Records with "Most wins in one season".

Bodine's racing background also included wins in the Late Model division, Nationwide Series division, and others.

He has six Busch Grand National wins to his credit.

Bodine was already an accomplished driver before he hit the big-time in NASCAR's premier division, the Winston Cup Series, with his first start in 1979.

By this time, Bodine was well known as a Modified driver in the Northeast, racing against popular drivers such as Richie Evans, Jerry Cook, Jimmy Spencer, Ron Bouchard, and others.

Bodine earned Modified championships at Stafford Speedway, Shangri-La Speedway, Spencer Speedway, and Utica-Rome Speedway.

During the late 1980s, Bodine and seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt became embroiled in a rivalry.

Bodine is best known for his NASCAR Winston Cup career, and in his first full season in Winston Cup came in 1982 he earned Rookie of the Year honors.

His first Winston Cup pole that year on his 19th start (1982 Firecracker 400) and scored his first Winston Cup victory two years later on his 69th start at Martinsville in 1984.

This win was also the first win for Hendrick Motorsports, which was the team Bodine was racing for at the time.

He spent over 28 years in the sport, with his most successful years being between 1984 and 1996.

Bodine's biggest win came at the 1986 Daytona 500, NASCAR's premier event.

Other career highlights include the 1987 International Race of Champions championship, the 1992 Busch Clash, the 1994 Winston Select (despite a first segment spinout), and the 1994 Busch Pole Award (now Budweiser Pole Award).

An incident in the 1987 running of The Winston triggered harsh feelings when Earnhardt knocked Bodine and Bill Elliott out of the way to win the $200,000 purse.

NASCAR later fined Bodine $1,000 and put him on probation for three weeks.

Six days later, the rivalry intensified when Bodine tagged Earnhardt in a Busch Grand National Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Bodine and team owner Rick Hendrick claimed the wreck was unintentional, but NASCAR disagreed, fining Bodine another $15,000 and extending his probation to the end of 1987.

Bodine later appealed and the penalty was revoked.

At the same Busch race in 1988, Earnhardt spun Bodine, and the New Yorker later retired from the race, later going over to Earnhardt's Cup car and drawing an "X" in the air over the car with his hand.

The following day, while being passed by Bodine in the 1988 Coca-Cola 600, Earnhardt wrecked Bodine's car, leading NASCAR to assess a five-lap penalty on Earnhardt.

Bodine has driven for some of the best car owners in NASCAR, including Junior Johnson, Bud Moore and Rick Hendrick as well as owning his own cars, which he ran for several seasons after buying the assets of Alan Kulwicki's race team after his death in 1993.

He has 565 starts, 37 poles, 18 wins, and nearly $16 million in winnings during his Winston Cup/Nextel Cup career.

He was also the last driver to win a race and lap the field, in the fall 1994 race at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

Bodine's final win in NASCAR's highest division came in the "Bud At The Glen" in August 1996 when fortuitous pit stop timing led to him taking the lead in his QVC Thunderbird while the other drivers pitted.

Bodine managed to hold off the field the rest of the way beating Terry Labonte to the line by 0.44 seconds to claim victory.

After a few tumultuous years in Winston Cup, Bodine saw his career launch off the ground when he ran the #5 car for Hendrick Motorsports.

He holds the track record at Atlanta Motor Speedway from his polesitting run after the track was repaved in 1997, with a speed of over 197 mph.