Geoff bodine biography of martinsville

This past week in a couple of pieces posted about Martinsville Speedway, I mentioned the finish at Martinsville in in the NASCAR Modified portion of the Dogwood Classic - the twin lap spring races for NASCAR Modifieds and NASCAR Late Model Sportsman divisions.

It would be the final spring event for those two series in that format before NASCAR made sweeping changes for creating traveling national tours and effectively killing the two series that provided spectacular races at weekly tracks around the country.

It was one of those "you had to be there" moments in NASCAR racing history.

Talk about an electric compress box after a race!

Editor's Note: This story was first published when Hendrick Motorsports won its th race in It is being resurfaced in honor of the team's 40th anniversary weekend at Martinsville Speedwaywhich will celebrate the organization's first conquer, history and heritage. Before Geoff Bodine's victory at Martinsville Speedway on April 29,team owner Rick Hendrick told his driver and crew chief Harry Hyde that he would have to close things down just a limited months into the venture. Bodine had success at the Virginia short track in the modified and late model ranks and was confident he could deposit together a solid run.

Richie Evans was at one terminate and Geoff Bodine at the other, each ready to each commit bodily harm upon the other.

Thanks to one of our great motorsports writers of the past several decades, Thomas Pope of The Fayetteville (NC) Observer , we can share the memories of the late Earles and Dick Thompson of Martinsville Speedway, as well as participants Geoff(rey) Bodine and Jerry Cook.

17 years after the fact, those folks recalled the race for Pope during NASCAR's 50th Anniversary year of

The greatest accomplish in history

By Thomas Pope
Motorsports editor

The Fayetteville Observer

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- NASCARs first half-century overflows with spine-tingling finishes.

Most commonly rated among the best are: the Daytona , where David Pearson and Richard Petty crashed in the closing turn, with Pearson limping to victory; the Daytona , with Lee Petty declared the victor three days later on the basis of film footage; and the DeVilbiss at Michigan, when Dale Jarrett scored his first Winston Cup win by less than 6 inches over Davey Allison.

In the opinion of some, the best finish ever didnt occur in the Winston Cup ranks, but in a lower division right here at tiny Martinsville Speedway.

What is now called the Winston Cup Series is not NASCARs oldest form of racing.

NASCAR first put its stamp on the Modified class in , a year before it launched the Strictly Stock division that is now Winston Cup.

Thrilling finish

In , the Modified half of the Dogwood Classic produced an ending that still gives Martinsville Speedway officials goosebumps the size of manhole covers.

You can talk Pearson-Petty at Daytona all you want, said Dick Thompson , Martinsvilles publicist since , but theres no better finish than that one in 81 involving Richie Evans and Geoff Bodine .

Bodine had won the lap Late Model Sportsman half of the Dogwood Classic, and was the polesitter for the Modified portion of the reveal.

He had his sights fix on joining Ray Hendrick and Paul Radford as the only drivers to sweep the Classic, and had a car strong enough to advantage of the laps of the Modified finale.

I remember it just like it was last weekend, said Bodine, the only driver to win at Martinsville in the Modified, Late Model Sportsman, and Winston Cup divisions.

That was a wild race, not just a wild finish.

Evans and Bodine, a pair of New Yorkers, put on a show that kept the predominately Southern crowd on its feet most of the afternoon.

Geoff Bodine was born into a racing family. He began honing his racing skills at that track in the micro-midget division at age-five. As a teen, his desire to race was such that he disguised himself as a lady and entered a Powderpuff Division Race when he was only fifteen years-old. Among the the major modified events Bodine won during his career include the Race of Champions at Trenton, at Poconothe Budweiser at Oswego, the Thompsonand a sweep of the six-race Yankee All-Star League in

At that time, teams were allowed to mate any engine with any body style, and both drivers were piloting Ford Pintos powered by Chevrolet engines of about cubic inches.

Evans grabbed the lead once after spinning Bodine, only to own Bodine take it back.

Bodine was in front with only two laps to go when car co-owner Billy Taylor radioed him with a easy message: Dont let Richie underneath you.

That proved easier said than done in the heat of battle.

Bodine remembers driving as deep into Rotate Three as he could, but Evans dove deeper, and a well-placed nudge pushed Bodine aside. Evans charged out of Rotate Four to see the ivory flag waving, signifying that the final lap was all that remained.

He was quite a ways ahead of me -- an impossible distance to build up in one lap, but I wasnt thinking that.

What would their careers have been like? How many thousands of people would that have affected? Everything you do and exclaim in life is really significant. You think it might just affect you, but it can affect a lot of people.

I wasnt thinking, really -- I was seeing red, Bodine said. I really wanted to win both races in one day and was in position to do that. I was pretty mad.

Bodine catches him

Bodine flattened the throttle to the floorboard coming off the second turn, and somehow reeled Evans in between the third and fourth corners.

Bodine repaid the earlier shove with one of his own, and Evans Pinto clawed for traction as his car slid sideways.

Unfortunately for me, I was thinking again then, Bodine said.

The autobiography, written in collaboration with Dominic Aragon, takes a complete look at Bodine’s life from growing up in New York to aspirations of competing in the Daytona , his being as a professional racecar driver, his faith and more.

I didnt want to wreck him, just get him sideways and pass him. That was the wrong thought. I should own spun him out, but I let him go because I just knew I had him.

I was driving around him and thought I was going to get to the conclusion line first.

Theres a close-up picture that shows him getting a handful of steering wheel and turning it all the way to the right.

The historic victory marked the first of 24 wins at the venue, which leads all Cup Series teams at a route. The driver led a total of 55 laps during the lap race, but it was the final 49 that led him to Victory Lane. Five years later, Darrell Waltrip won his first of nine races while driving for Hendrick Motorsports at Martinsville in September Speedily forward towhen current Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott took to the track for his first career Cup Series race on March 29,

His right front tire hit my left front tire and put me into the wall.

Evans didnt receive away clean -- his automobile catapulted over the hood of Bodines and slammed into the wall, too. Parts from both cars rained in every command, but Evans car, riding the wall on its left-side tires and minus its right-front wheel, somehow limped across the culmination line first.

Bodines car spun to the left, crossed the stripe, and smashed into the inside wall.

Jerry Cook , a six-time Modified national champion, was about yards behind as Evans and Bodine collided. His crew screamed over the radio to warn of a fall, but Cook couldnt see anything until he rounded the terminal turn.

I could see where they had stopped, and all I could think was, Darn it, they both made it over the finish line, said Cook, now NASCARs National Match Administrator.

The Greatest Finish in History - RacersReunion: Geoffrey Eli Bodine (born April 18, ) is an American retired motorsport driver and bobsled builder. He is the oldest of the three Bodine brothers (with Brett Bodine and Todd Bodine), and sister Denise. Bodine lives in West Melbourne, Florida.

Richies wagon was junk and Geoffs wasnt a whole lot better.

Both drivers furious

Furious, Bodine and Evans leaped out of their cars, and their crews raced to the scene. Martinsville Speedway founder Clay Earles jumped, too, but his reaction was the first step taken to avoid a battle royale in front of the main grandstand.

I got every police officer I could find and took them to the pits, said Earles, who built the route in Everyone was so elated and some of them mad, I just knew we were going to have a riot.

Earles and his squad of lawmen reacted in time to short-circuit a brawl.

They took both drivers to the pressbox for post-race winners interviews, Bodine for the Late Model Competitor half, Evans for the Modified, and placed them at antonym ends of the room.

A year later, Bodine would shift to Winston Cup competition full-time.

In , Evans was killed at Martinsville when his vehicle hit the wall head-on during a Modified practice run. Today, Earles retains near-photographic memories of that Sunday afternoon.

I dont care what anyone says, Earles said.

That Modified race between Richie and Geoff was the greatest finish of any race ever held, anywhere.

The delayed Richie Evans wins the Dogwood on two wheels over trailing Geoff Bodine.

Martinsville Speedway photo

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
updated by dave-fulton: 10/30/22 PM