MORGAN LUCAS WILL AGAIN GO FOR THE GOLD IN GEOFF BODINE BOBSLED CHALLENGE

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Morgan Lucas will, once again, go for the gold in the third annual Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge at the Olympic Sports Complex in Lake Placid, N.Y. against some of motorsports’ greatest drivers on January 3–5, 2008.

After finishing second to seemingly perennial Bodine Bobsled champion, Boris Said last year, Lucas is excited about re-sharpening his runners and honing his skills for the second time of his young racing career attacking the tricky, 18-turn course.

“It’s such a thrill to know I’ll be back at the Bodine Bobsled Challenge,” said Lucas, readying himself for the uniquely steering package consisting of handles and precise timing. “It was so much fun driving the bobsled, but what really made it special was getting to know all the NASCAR guys.”

After watching the 1992 Winter Olympics, Bodine became interested in helping the U.S. Olympic Bobsled Team create and design their own sleds instead of relying on the old or outdated bobsleds purchased from other countries. Bo-Dyn Bobsleds (“Bo” for Bodine, "Dyn" for Chassis Dynamics) was created later that year by Bodine and his friend and chassis builder, Bob Cuneo of Chassis Dynamics, located in Oxford, Conn. Bodine founded the Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project, Inc. to help create a winning bobsled for the U.S. teams. The U. S. National Team first used Bo-Dyn sleds in 1994. Ten years after Bo-Dyn's inception, the U.S. team won three medals in Bo-Dyn Bobsleds during the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, including a gold medal in women’s bobsled. The women’s team also captured a silver medal in the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino, Italy. This past season saw the U.S. bobsled team win two World Cup season-ending gold medals and two silver medals, as well as 17 World Cup medals (seven gold, nine silver, and one bronze) and two World Championship medals.

Adding to the list of impressive supporters, Lucas Oil Products has joined the organization as a major sponsor with Morgan piloting his family emblazoned bobsled.

“We welcome Lucas Oil Products to our family of sponsors,” said 1986 Daytona 500 champion, Bodine. “Money that we raise from the Bodine Bobsled Challenge will go to building more bobsleds for our USA athletes as we head into the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver A bobsled for the U.S. team costs, on average, $50,000 while the special sleds used for the Bodine Bobsled Challenge average $10,000 apiece.

“We have 15 sleds USA Team sleds in our fleet. We’re real proud of that, and proud of what our athletes did last year. Last World Cup season was the best season in American bobsledding history, so we’re really proud of what our athletes have accomplished.”

Now Lucas will be getting the closest experience to the real thing by rocketing himself down the twisting course reaching speeds of nearly 70 mph negotiating the twisting turns on a track considered done of the toughest in the world and what auto enthusiasts would call a road course full of ICE.

In the 2007 edition, Boris Said, a road course specialist whose father was a 2x Olympic Bobsled Driver, clearly dominated the qualifying rounds, but out of nowhere, drag racer, Morgan Lucas revived his concentration and on his last run drove his sled around his fellow competitors to take the second-place position on the podium in the finals. Mike Stefanik of the NASCAR Whelen Modified tour finished third.

“I listened to everyone on how they were driving and took down all the key points putting them down in my memory remembering how to drive a bobsled. I was lucky enough not to graze any walls and came out with the second quickest time. I couldn’t believe it!”

Also joining Lucas and Said as the early entrants for the soon to be racing classic are NASCAR National Champions from the Whelen Modified Tour, Donny Lia and NASCAR So. Whelen Modified driver, L.W. Miller along with Steve Carlson- NASCAR Whelen All-American Series National Champion.

SPEED Channel will show the qualifying results of the Bodine Bobsled Challenge on Sunday, January 20 with the finals airing the following week, January 27 from 2-4pm after the completion of the 24-Hours of Daytona broadcast.

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