Before I start the story, I want to thank everyone who was asking about my whereabouts while I was gone, as well as the people who commented on the blog~ I've been going through some tough times the past couple of months, and it's nice to know that people I've never met are out there caring about me~ That was a nice surprise, and it really meant a lot to me~ Now that I got all the mushy stuff out of the way.. let's jump into this blog post!~ :)
Todd Bodine with long time friend, Kenny Wallace~ Circa 1991~
The 1991 BGN season was the first time Todd Bodine ran a full NASCAR season~ He was signed to drive the #34 C&W Racing Buick, owned by legendary BGN car owner, Frank Cicci~ Although the sponsor was "C&W Racing", which stood for Cicci-Welliver, the car had minor sponsorship from "Quick Stop Beverage", and "Wellco Inc." for the most part of the season~
Todd's first race in the #34 car came in the seasoning opening Goody's 300 @ Daytona~ He started the race in 32nd, and was involved in a crash on lap 30, and finished in 27th place~ He picked up his first top 5 of the season two races later, in the Goodwrench 200 @ Rockingham, where he qualified 12th, and finished in 4th place, behind Dale Earnhardt, Kenny Wallace, and race winner Dale Jarrett~
With his first top 5 with his new team under his belt, Bodine then felt more confident with the car, and went on a run of some pretty solid finishes~ He finished 12th the following race, in the Miller Classic @ Martinsville, and followed that up with an 8th place finish in the Spring 200 @ Volusia County~ He then went Hickory, for the Mountain Dew 400, where he also finished in the 8th position~ In the Pontiac 200 @ Darlington, he finished 5th, after starting in the 21st spot~
Todd on track in the #34 "We Support Our Troops" Buick~
Bodine qualified 7th in the Budweiser 250 @ Bristol, but suffered a blown engine on lap 109, which resulted in a 26th place finish~ The following week, in the Nestle 200 @ Lanier, he qualified in 10th place, and finished with a solid 8th place effort~
The next race on the circuit was the Pontiac 200 @ Nazareth, and Bodine was basically horrible from time the team unloaded the car~ After starting the race in the 26th position, he was only able to muster a 22nd place finish, four laps off the pace of race winner, Chuck Bown~ He qualified 2nd in the Champion 300 @ Charlotte, and led for 29 laps before his engine let go on lap 58~ He would finish the race in 39th place~
In the Budweiser 200 @ Dover, Todd qualified in 9th place~ He was running in 2nd place, and the race was gonna end under caution, with Davey Allison leading, when Allison's car started having problems with the fuel line~ Allison had to pit on the final lap, giving the victory to Bodine, in what was his first career NASCAR win~ A young Jeff Gordon finished 2nd, driving the #1 Carolina Ford Dealers Ford~ Another cool fact about this race.. Ward Burton finished in 4th place, driving the #75 Food Country USA Oldsmobile~
Bodine relaxes by his car in victory lane~ Dover 1991~
Following his win, Bodine was involved in a crash in the Roses Stores 300 @ Rougemont, and finished in 22nd place~ He then had an 18th place finish in the Granger Select 400 @ Hickory~ In the Carolina Pride/Budweiser 250 @ Myrtle Beach, the team had to lease an Oldsmobile from Bobby Moon, due to the fact that they had ran out of short track cars~ He finished the race in 6th place~
He ran the next two races with sponsorship from Fay's Drug Stores, and finished 5th in the Fay's 150 @ Watkins Glen, and 3rd in the True Value 250 @ Oxford~ The car was then sponsored by Berlin City in the Budweiser 300 @ Loudon, where he finished in 22nd place~ He was back in the Quick Stop/Wellco car in the Coors Light 300 @ South Boston, where he won his first career pole, led for 49 laps, and finished in 6th place~
He must have liked the feeling of starting the race from the top spot, because he won it again the following race at Dublin, in the Granger Select 200~ He led for 22 laps, and I'm not really sure what happened, but he finished five laps down, in 18th place~ Following this race, the team picked up a 10 race deal with Hungry Jack, which took them to the conclusion of the season~ Todd ended his first full NASCAR season with 1 win, 2 poles, 7 top 5's, and 15 top 10's, while leading 214 laps, and finishing in 7th place in the final points standings~
Todd Bodine #34 Quick Stop Beverage/Wellco Inc. Buick~
When I was a kid, this was one of my favorite cars I had~ It was so basic, yet so awesome looking~ I did change the logo on his hat.. in the real card, he's wearing a Quaker State hat that Brett gave to him, so I changed it to a Quick Stop Beverage hat~ I really liked Todd Bodine, much more than his brothers.. and I think he just wasn't given a decent ride in the Cup series~
I give this car an A- on the Racing Champions quality scale, because I don't really like that he's wearing a Brett Bodine hat in the pictures~ Other than that, I've always loved this car, and consider it one of my favorites~ As for the Diet Pepsi car, I didn't want to do a full post on it, because he only ran it in one race, the 1992 Bud at the Glen, where he started the race in 21st, and finished in 37th, following a lap 16 crash~ It's just a cool little Photoshop custom, worthy of some bonus footage~ I give it a C- on the Racing Champions quality scale, because I didn't do that good of a job on it~ :P
Thank you all for stopping by again, I hope you enjoyed this post, and please share it on Facebook, Twitter, or any other kind of social media site~ I have a couple of requests coming up in the next week or so, so check back by for them soon~ Below are some clips from Todd's NASCAR career, enjoy them, and Happy Labor Day to you all!~ :D
1992 Todd Bodine Diet Pepsi crash/Davey Allison replaced~
1992 Volusia County Bodine goes off track~ Also David Bonnett interview~
1998 BGN Bristol night race~ Big crash~ Bodine involved~
1993 Slick50 300 crashes~ Bodine involved~
