Geoff Bodine, a NASCAR legend and driver from the years 1979 to 2011, has broken through the news once again after fans of Team USA Women’s Luge spotted the NASCAR logo on a helmet. His quiet service to the Olympic teams of the past has resurfaced, and so has his project.

It all started in the 90s after the U.S. bobsled team struggled badly at the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics. Their equipment failures and outdated sleds were disappointing. Bodine, frustrated with this, realized that their drivers weren’t losing due to talent, but due to inferior technology. And that’s where the Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project comes in.

Behind the Bo-Dyn Bobsled

The Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project was founded in 1992 at an experimental stage by now-retired NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Geoff Bodine and Bob Cuneo, founder and president of Chassis Dynamics, which is an engineering firm. They are a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit Connecticut corporation. Meaning, all money goes to the design and build of the Bobsleds, and not just into the pockets of the project members.

The project was a scheme to design, develop, and build a new sled for Team USA to take to the Olympics and beat the sport’s top competitors at the time, the Germans. Their mission was to convince the Bobsled world that two NASCAR drivers knew a thing or two about sledding.

For a few years, Bodine worked with Cuneo, Team USA athletes, engineers, and fabricators across NASCAR to develop new sleds. They were starting with a completely new sheet. The body shape of the sleds was important, so the team spent a lot of time in wind tunnels in Charlotte.

A company called DeBotech helped with the carbon fiber bodies. They have also helped create carbon fiber components for NASCAR teams, GT racing, prototype series, and super bike racing. Another company, titled Corvid, helped the project with their designs. They are a small engineering firm that has served everyone from the Missile Defense Agency to high performance motorsports.

The team of engineers Bodine compiled, provided increased technological knowledge and experience with lightweight, composite materials to Team USA.

“Bodine was really good at matching the steering to the driver’s style,” said Mike Kohn, USA Bobsled coach.

In bobsledding there are things called D-rings that are attached to ropes. The ropes pull the axle left or right. Then, bungees will return the axle to facing forward. Bodine was able to get the system right by changing it depending on the driver and their personal driving style. He acted similarly to race engineers who make sure the car matches the driver’s style for maximum potential.

The first Bo-Dyn sled was raced in the 1994 Olympics. Unfortunately, the car underperformed, but showed promise, said Cuneo. In 1998, the sleds were used again in the Nagano Games in Japan. In the two-man race, the sleds got the team seventh and 10th place, and 12th and fifth in the four-man team.

Finally, in 2002, the sleds were brought again to Salt Lake City, Utah, where Team USA managed to get silver and bronze in the four-man and in the women’s two-person, they scored their first ever gold. This just so happened to be the first gold medal for the team in 46 years.

During Bo-Dyn sleds’ reign, the sleds managed to help Team USA Bobsledders collect Olympic medals across three consecutive games. In 2014, Team USA switched to BMW to build its sleds, but Bo-Dyn’s legacy remains.

Since then, Bo-Dyn sleds have been used by many countries and have helped them to win many medals. Bodine’s project was one of the most successful crossovers of motorsports tech into Olympic sport. But how did this chapter resurface?

Top Stories

Greg Biffle’s $4M Worth Prized Possession Still Without a Buyer Leaves NASCAR Fans Heartbroken

NASCAR World Mourns as Former Watkins Glen President Michael Printup Passes Away at 60

Fox Broadcaster Pens Heartfelt Message as Veteran Announcer Quits NASCAR

Denny Hamlin Offers First Words Since Losing Beloved Father in Anniversary Fire

“This Is Not Racing”: Growing Outrage Erupts Over How Kids Are Being Taught to Win at Any Cost in Modern Motorsports

Resurfacing of the Bo-Dyn

A picture of women’s Luge racer, Ashley Farquharson, was posted on Reddit where her helmet donned the NASCAR logo. The post was captioned asking why the logo was there and if there was a current connection in the sport to NASCAR, as there had been in the past. A user had commented mentioning when Bo-Dyn sleds were used and built in Joey Logano’s race shop to add in information for the original post.

A user responded to the comment, “That was such an awesome project! There’s a really good book on the history of the Bo-DYn sleds. I didn’t know they were built in Joey’s garage.”

Some concerns were raised that it was only for a sponsorship deal, where NASCAR could just be a title sponsor.

“It is, Nascar is title sponsor, I just heard. The teams performed really well! It’s good to see the France Family supporting the Olympic Movement,” the user clarified.

“Geoff was the original one,” another fan said, clearly remembering the root efforts of Bodine.

Another user had commented that the sponsorship is due to a relationship with the NASCAR technical center, but many of the comments are just speculating.

Some mentioned that when Bodine first split from the team, there had been disagreements over the intellectual property of the sleds when the team first began sourcing from BMW. This commenter had also added, “This was like 10-15 years ago now. Chassis builder Bob Cuneau who was Geoff’s partner in the project passed away a few years back as well.”