For sale, a driver's stuff - but he's keeping the memories

Geoff Bodine is selling his memorabilia, trophies and cars: ‘I'm like millions of people. I could use some money.'

Thursday, May. 21, 2009

CORNELIUS, N.C. - Geoff Bodine is standing in the middle of his racing life.

And he wants someone else to have it.

Bodine, 60 now and essentially retired from racing unless someone wants to put him in the driver's seat again, has put a lifetime of memorabilia, trophies, even cars up for sale this week.

He is doing it, in part, so it doesn't sit packed away in boxes and closets.

But he's also doing it because he needs the money.

“I'm like millions of people. I could use some money to pay some bills,” Bodine says, glancing across the small warehouse where a handful of people are studying the merchandise.

A collection of framed checkered flags from races Bodine won in his NASCAR career hang on one wall.

There's a 1992 Harley-Davidson motorcycle near the front door.

There are hoods and helmets, wheels and posters, magazines and tires, driving suits and jukeboxes.

There's even a white Bible.

Bodine's 1986 Daytona 500 trophy is upstairs, part of the special things that will be auctioned off at 7 p.m. Friday at his shop.

He plans to put the Rolex watch he won that year for winning one of the qualifying races up for auction. His Daytona 500 ring, too.

Bodine rarely wears them and figures if those things mean something to someone else, then they can have them – for a price.

“The hard part is all this stuff has been stored away. This is fun getting it out and sharing it with race fans,” Bodine says.

“I could've kept it all and not let anyone enjoy it but this is a way of giving back to the fans. This is not sad. It's rewarding.”

For anyone interested, there's a country and western album (yes, the old vinyl type) of drivers singing songs about themselves. If you want to hear Richard Childress or Bill Elliott singing, it won't cost you much. Bodine has plenty of them and they're available on CD.

“They're collectors' items,” Bodine says, doing the soft sell.

The sale was scheduled to begin Monday morning but by last Thursday, word had already gotten out and fans had started to drop by the shop. There's so much stuff, there's no danger of Bodine running out by Friday.

One guy bought a micro-midget go-kart Bodine drove as a child back in New York and the helmet Bodine wore.

What's left of the truck Bodine wrecked at Daytona in 2000 was in the warehouse for a while. It was among the most spectacular crashes in Daytona history and Bodine was among the few things left intact when things came to a stop.

“I should be dead from that wreck,” Bodine says. “I had where I was sitting. The engine flew off and the transmission flew out. The front and top of the truck were chopped off but I survived. It proves God performs miracles.”

All the pieces plus back brace and crutches Bodine later used (“even the underwear I had on”) went to the Memory Lane Museum in Mooresville.

Bodine, whose company is busy designing and building bobsleds for the 2010 United States Olympic team, was named one of stock car racing's 50 greatest drivers.

He won 18 times on NASCAR's top circuit, but he hasn't driven a Sprint Cup race since 2005, though the desire hasn't left him.

While fans wander through the shop, looking at the merchandise, Bodine looks at his life today.

“People think I'm a rich race car driver. I'm not,” he says. “I've messed up a lot of things and listened to the wrong people. Things have happened…

“I'm not looking for sympathy. A lot of people are struggling. It's OK for me to admit it. It shows that it affects a lot of people, not just factory workers or bus drivers or people who work in restaurants.”

All around Bodine, there are memories and mementoes.

He'll always have the memories.

Want to Go?

Where: Geoff Bodine's race shop

18605 Northline Drive, Cornelius, N.C.

Sale hours: 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Auction: 7 p.m.

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