January 21, 2006 - The New York State Stock Car Association (NYSSCA) held their annual awards banquet tonight in Albany, NY. In addition to recognizing the accomplishments of active drivers, members and associates from member speedways, the Association also honors those past and present, dedicated to the sport of local stock car racing, by inducting them into the prestigious NYSSCA Hall of Fame.

Inductees are selected by the general membership for consideration and later chosen by a Hall of Fame Committee. The NYSSCA Hall of Fame includes such racing legends as Jerry Cook, Lou Lazzaro and Richie Evans.

The 2006 inductees were Geoff Bodine, car owner Ed Cloce, driver Dick Schoonover, starter Jim Frye and track scorer Barb Frye.

Unfortunately, the stock car banquet was being held the same night as my nephew's 18th birthday party so I had to juggle my time between the two events. I arrived at the banquet a little after 5 pm, about the same time Geoff did. He was immediately surrounded by friends and the media. Once the crowd thinned, I went up and welcomed him to Albany and congratulated him on being inducted into the Hall of Fame. We talked about the recent bobsled race and the fact that today's temperature in Albany was 62 degrees. a far cry from the -4 degree temps we experienced in Lake Placid.

Geoff was the last of the inductees to be honored. As NYSSCA Hall of Fame Committee Chairman Ron Hedger listed Geoff's racing accomplishments, I thought to myslef there was no doubt that Ron had spent some time on the Fan Club web site doing research.

Geoff walked on stage, took the microphone and then took control of the entire room. He spoke briefly about his modified racing days in New York before moving on to stories about NASCAR Cup racing and stories about working with car owners Cliff Stewart and Rick Hendrick.

Before long, he was talking about his passion, the Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project. At one point, Ron mentioned that he heard Dick Trickle wrecked twice in Lake Placid and Geoff followed with a story about the wrecks.

When Geoff saw he was receiving a NYSSCA hat as part of the ceremony, he joked about passing it among the crowd to raise funds so he can fly to Italy for the Winter Olympics.

As Geoff left the stage, he received an standing ovation from a crowd that not only enjoyed his speech, but were obviously excited to have him as their newest Hall of Fame member.

Jud Bleser - Webmaster
Geoff Bodine Fan Club