Geoff Bodine Qualifies for Pocono at Age 61

Geoff Bodine qualified for the Pocono 500 (or whatever it is called now) today at age 61.  Geoff was the first Rick Hendrick driver to win a Daytona 500 back in the mid-1980's.  He also introduced power steering to NASCAR racing.  And, I saw Geoff race his first race at Chemung Speedway, a track his dad owned, back around 1967 or so. 

I read last week Geoff was going to try to qualify at Pocono, I think for a team owned by Tommy Baldwin.  Looks like they knew there weren't going to be a ton of teams at Pocono--only two were sent home.  A few years ago, there would be 6-8 teams trying to qualify.  Today, with tough economic times, and at a track like Pocono--think long, unusual, unique to NASCAR--make it an interesting and opportunistic place for some one-off team to make a race.  So, Geoff goes out and qualifies.

He said last week that if they qualified they might not be able to afford to race because it would be so expensive to practice, qualify, test, etc.  Hopefully they will come up with enough money to start the race Sunday.  I for one will have the start of the race on DVR at least.  Geoff has always been my favorite racer, so cool to see him out there again.  

BTW, Olympic fans will know Geoff is a major supporter of the U.S Bobsled team.  He has given a lot of money, time, and design effort to bring the U.S. team back to world class standards. 

Go Geoff!