NASCAR Races to Rescue a U.S. Olympic Team

(Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

For the longest time, the U.S. Olympic Bobsled teams were the joke on the World Cup circuit and at the Olympics. Despite all the technology in the U.S., our Olympic bobsled design and speed was hurting big-time.

Because of minimal U.S. Olympic Committee funding, American athletes had to purchase second-rate, hand-me-down sleds for $50,000 from overseas suppliers to compete. 

In contrast, countries such as Switzerland and Germany invested millions of dollars into perfecting their bobsleds towards Olympic medals for several decades. And by experimenting with metal chassis and runner design, their sleds sliced through the competition down icy tracks. 

A former NASCAR Winston Cup champion, Geoff Bodine, noticed the deplorable condition of these sleds—clunky, noisy, and outmoded—and our country’s resulting poor performance at the Olympic Games.

“If you have to buy your equipment from the competition, they are not going to sell you their best stuff,” said Bodine in a January 2002 Voice of America interview.

Frustrated with this dismal track record, Bodine set out to offer his support and backing.  And soon after the Albertville 1992 Winter Olympics, where the Americans once more got shut out from the podium, he formed the venture, Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project.

By forging partnerships with Chassis Dynamics (the “Dyn” in Bo-Dyn) and Whelen Engineering, he created new sleds that benefited from proven NASCAR technologies.

The American Bobsled Team has overwhelmingly embraced this support.  From the Lillehammer 1994 Games to the present, the U.S. two-man and four-man teams have driven steadily improving sleds at all international and Olympic events.

Bodine and other partner representatives often met with the bobsledders to assess their needs and to conduct tests of prototype models. And via each iteration, the sleds became sleeker, faster, and easier to steer.

The payoff finally arrived. 

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