After competing in 575 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races over 27 seasons, Geoff Bodine is calling it a career. Bodine, who hasn ‘t run full-time since 1999, has run part-time since his injury in the then NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Daytona opener in 2000. Although he had a sponsor willing to back him this season if an opportunity arose to run with a team in any of NASCAR’s three series, no deal panned out for the veteran. ‘I hate to use that ‘retirement ‘ word, but I ‘m 99.9 percent sure I ‘ll never drive a racecar again,’ said the humble Bodine. Bodine, 63, ran select races in 2011 for Tommy Baldwin Racing. In his four starts last year, Bodine finished with a best of 30th at the season finale Homestead-Miami Speedway. At that time, Bodine didn ‘t feel that would be his last start in NASCAR, but he now is saying he will retire from the sport due to a number of factors.(Racing Experts)(10-18-2012)
MORE After more than 50 years of racing, 27 of those spent in NASCAR’s top three divisions, Geoff Bodine said he is ready to move on. He said Wednesday he has other priorities in life his family, charity work, running his new Honda motorcycle dealership, and building the next generation of bobsleds for the U.S. Olympic team. Bodine is quick to point out he is not retiring. ‘I ‘m not using the word retirement because people misinterpret what you are saying,’ he said. ‘I don ‘t want that word associated with me. I ‘m not retiring from life. I ‘m more active now than ever. I ‘m just not going to drive a race car anymore. That’s all.’ Bodine began to rethink why he was still trying to race at the Sprint Cup level at the age of 63 after he suffered a lifetime of hard hits to his head, including a concussion from a spectacular Truck Series crash at Daytona International Speedway in 2000 that almost cost him his life. ‘I don ‘t know the definition of what a concussion is, but all I know is that I ‘ve been knocked out several times and have hit my head and jarred it several times really hard,’ Bodine said. ‘I even got knocked out in high school football, so my head injuries started a long time ago. I ‘ve had all of those multiple concussions and they add up. You never know if the next one is going to put you down.’ Bodine said he received a wake-up call last month when Dale Earnhardt Jr. sat out two NASCAR Sprint Cup races because of a concussion. ‘Dale Jr.’s situation kind of pushed me into making this decision,’ he said. ‘I commend him for doing it because it takes a lot of courage and integrity to not race for two races. He realized his health was more important.’ Bodine intended to run as many as 15 races in this year before his sponsor, Luke & Associates, pulled financing before the season.(much more at the Elmiria Star Gazette)(11-28-2012)
