Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Geoffrey Bodine completes remarkable comeback

Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2002 | 9:39 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Two years ago, Geoffrey Bodine was laying in a hospital bed in Daytona Beach, in critical condition after a horrifying wreck in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Daytona International Speedway.

Last year, Bodine was back in Daytona, but couldn't face attending the Daytona 500 because it was too painful to watch his brothers, Brett and Todd, attempt to make the race while he was disabled.

On Sunday, Geoffrey Bodine climbed from his Ford Taurus as the third-place finisher in the Daytona 500.

"You really don't know how incredible this is, especially after two years ago," Bodine said of his run in NASCAR's premier event. "Two years ago, I was in the hospital just listening to this race. That was a little tough.

"A year ago (Sunday), I was here in Daytona but I never came to the racetrack on race day. I was here for my brothers, but I just couldn't bring myself to come to the racetrack on Sunday morning -- and it wasn't because of the traffic jams, either, it was just very hard to be here and not be in the Daytona 500."

Despite his finish in the Daytona 500, Bodine won't be competing this weekend at Rockingham, N.C., or next weekend in Las Vegas. Unless a sponsor steps up to foot the bills, Bodine won't race the James Finch-owned car again until the April race in Talladega, Ala.

"This team has only two cars and we have them both here," Bodine said. "James Finch is a super-nice gentleman. I brought him a sponsorship for both Daytona races and Homestead.

"We're going to run (Daytona) again and we're going to run Talladega, even if we don't have a sponsor. Hopefully, we'll get a sponsor out of this (finish) because these things take a lot of money to put together and take to the races."

Sadler is scheduled to take a flight in a U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jet out of Nellis Air Force Base on Thursday, Feb. 28. The 90-minute ride will include an in-flight refueling mission from a KC-10 tanker, which Sadler is referring to as an "in-flight pit stop."

Fittipaldi made his first start in a stock car in a Busch Series race last November at Homestead-Miami Speedway and finished 39th after he was involved in an accident.

"Last year's race in Miami had me longing to investigate the NASCAR world to a greater degree," Fittipaldi said.

His first start in the No. 30 Chevrolet will come March 23 at Bristol.

LVMS is close to selling all of its 133,000 grandstand seats for the race, according to track sources. With infield and suite attendance figured in, attendance at this year's race should surpass the estimated 135,000 for the 2000 event.

"We needed a spotter on the back straightaway and Larry was more than happy to do it for us," Gaughan said. "He helped me out a ton during the race."

Gaughan finished 13th in the Truck Series season opener.