It’s official. The number 36 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, which chased the leaders last month at the NASCAR race in Watkins Glen, will have a presence in Lake Placid January 5-9, 2006. Except it will be a bobsled, not a race car. The NASCAR bobsled drivers race, coming to Lake Placid right after New Year’s, received its first official entry Friday when Boris Said, a talented road racer who is the son of 1968 and 1972 Olympic bobsled driver Bob Said, committed to participating in the fundraiser being organized by Geoffrey Bodine’s Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project, Inc. His sponsor, Whelen Engineering, mirrored that by announcing their participation in January. The event will be held at the Verizon Sports Complex in Lake Placid. It is hoped that other NASCAR drivers will join Said shortly for this friendly competition that will generate funds to support continuing research and development of equipment for the United States Bobsled Team. These race car drivers will use modified sleds in their team colors on the mile-long track that currently hosts annual World Cup and World Championship events in bobsled, luge and skeleton racing. Bodine, a NASCAR veteran, created the Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project in 1992 after watching the Albertville Winter Olympic Games on television and noticing that USA Bobsled athletes competed with European-made sleds. At that time, the team had not won a medal since the 1956 Winter Games in Cortina, Italy. “Whelen Engineering is proud to announce our sponsorship of the first Bo-Dyn bobsled to compete in the Bodine Bobsled Challenge at Lake Placid in January,” stated Phil Kurze, Whelen Motorsports Director. “Whelen has supported the efforts of Geoffrey Bodine and Bob Cuneo for the past five years to provide our athletes with equipment that is “Made in America” and I take personal pride in the fact that, also as President of the Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project, Inc., I have the support of my company in this worthwhile fund raising endeavor. I issue a challenge to all other companies presently involved with racing or contemplating involvement with racing to come on-board and join us in our support of the United States Bobsled Team.” For more information on this event, please log on to www.bodynbobsledproject.com. Tickets for the event go on sale October 1 at the Olympic Center Box Office in Lake Placid.(PR)(9-17-2005)
