NASCAR legend steps up to help U.S. bobsled teams

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. - When NASCAR ace Ken Schrader was a kid, his father decided to make him a race car driver.

Nearly a half-century later, Schrader will be in a bobsled to raise money for the Olympic-bound U.S. men's and women's teams.

Schrader - with a well-known penchant for racing anything, anytime, anywhere on asphalt or dirt - will be at Mount Van Hoevenberg on Thursday to try his luck on a frozen track.

"I'm just not sure what I was thinking when I accepted," Schrader said. "Looks a little bit dangerous to me. We're not going to start up at the top. That's good. And I think the brake pedal works."

Schrader is one of at least 10 current or former NASCAR drivers who have agreed to take part in the Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge, an effort to raise funds to keep the U.S. men's and women's bobsled teams at the forefront of international racing. The list includes Boris Said, Kenny Wallace, Dick Trickle, Steve Park, Randy LaJoie, Kevin Lepage, Joel Kauffman, Stanton Barrett and Bodine's brother, Todd.

Current Nextel Cup champion Tony Stewart also could be in the mix if he's able to find an opening in his hectic schedule.

"I'm hoping I can because I'd really love to," Stewart said. "It sounds like a real blast, and I'm really interested in the sport and the people involved in it. It's a really tough sport."

Geoff Bodine knows firsthand. After watching the 1992 Winter Olympics on TV and noticing the U.S. teams competed with European-made sleds, he created the Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project Inc. to help make sure U.S. sleds would be made in America.

Bodine's efforts have helped provide the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation with sleds designed involving NASCAR technology. The so-called Bo-Dyn sleds finally broke through at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, where the U.S. team ended its 46-year Olympic drought with three medals - a gold, a silver and a bronze.

Said, whose father drove for the U.S. bobsled team in the 1968 and 1972 Winter Games, can relate to that. He took a few rides down the old track here in 1980, and the experience left a lasting impression.

"It still, to this day, is one of fastest, most exciting things I've done, especially without a motor," recalled Said, one of NASCAR's top road racers.

Bodine also thinks they'll relish the rides.

"You're going to have to drive these," he said. "The runners aren't as grippy. They slide. It's kind of like racing on dirt. Race drivers love that kind of stuff.

For more on the Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge, go to www.bodinebobsled.com.