What is the difference between a 54 year old columnist and a 59 year old driver?
In simple terms… a lot.
I do not know what kind of physical condition Geoff Bodine is in, nor do I know what kind of driving he has been doing. Fact is that he has not been competing on the Sprint Cup circuit in a number of years. If he qualifies, Daytona will be his first start in several years and his first start in a COT. No matter how good a driver he is today, there will be a period to adapt and I wonder if Daytona is the place.
I was at Westboro Speedway, Seekonk, Thompson and Stafford in the early 70s and had the pleasure of watching a bright young driver take New England by storm in a shining red Pinto modified. I watched with awe as he moved south in top quality late models.
I saw him reach the top of the sport in winning the Daytona 500.
I saw his horrendous crash in the truck series and feared for his life.
Now to see yet another older driver make a comeback makes my stomach uneasy.
Thanks for the memories Geoff. If you must be at Daytona, please stay off the track.
I for one would like to keep my memories intact.
If Geoff thinks he has what it takes and his car has what it takes to make the Daytona 500 race, then so be it. Sure, back in the day he was fun to watch, he mixed it up, he banged fenders. and at times was a menace on the track. I enjoyed him most when he switched to trucks that was more of a contact sport than the other series and was very upset and praying he lived to see another day after his amazing truck crash.
As Nascar only seems to have a bottom age cap and not a top one, whats the problem with Geoff trying to Qualify. I miss some of the old times like Dave Marcus and Dick Trickle. If the Doc’s say they are fit to race….. let them go out and mix it up.
He can still drive. I saw him here at the Nashville fairgrounds last summer in a race against other racing legends, using cars from the local sportsman series. He won the race and looked good doing it. I know it’s totally different cars and type of track, but I think he’ll do fine. Keep in mind that James Hylton, at age 72, would have most likely qualified for Daytona a couple of years ago if not for an equipment failure. Compared to what these guys are used to, the COT is a very easy car to drive (in a physical sense), and considering how much more money can be made today, I don’t blame any of them for trying to comeback.
If Geoff is willing to risk life and limb driving that stupid COT, I say, go for it. He is just as skilled as any of the drivers out there when it comes to that piece of junk. All they can do is try to keep the car from wrecking them.