50 Greatest Modified Drivers of All-Time: Brett Bodine
Brett Bodine, younger brother of Geoff Bodine and older brother of Todd Bodine, has seven feature wins during his Modified racing career at Stafford. Bodine raced Modifieds on a steady basis at Stafford for only three years before moving on to the Busch Grand National South racing series. Three of his wins at Stafford were extra distance events. Driving the Sherwood Industries No. 12, Bodine won the Manchester Oil Heat 100 on August 19, 1983 and August 3, 1984. He also won the Labor Day Classic-Pentax 200 on September 5, 1983. Although never winning a track championship, in 1984 he finished a close second to Brian Ross and earned enough points to allow his car owner to garner the championship.
In 1985 Bodine began his Grand National career, also competing in Modified special events. He won three Modified Tour Series events including one at Martinsville, Virginia, and won the Pocono Race of Champions in 1985. In 1986 he raced full time on the Busch Grand National circuit where he was the runner up at season’s end. Bodine made his Winston Cup debut in 1986 driving a Rick Hendrick owned entry at Charlotte. He finished 17th but none the less, his future was cast.
Still in Grand National South ranks, Bodine stepped into the Junior Johnson Winston Cup entry in 1987 when Johnson’s driver was injured. Driving for Kenny Bernstein in 1990, Bodine posted his first and only Winston Cup victory at North Wilkesboro in his 80th start. When Johnson decided to retire following the 1995 season, Bodine bought the team and was an owner-driver until his retirement from driving following the 2003 season.
Bodine made 480 career Winston Cup starts and his tally sheet shows 1 win, 16 top 5s, 61 top 10s, and $13,596,306 in career earnings. Brett returned to Stafford Motor Speedway and was honored as part of the Stafford Salutes NASCAR at 50 program as one of the Fifty Greatest Modified Drivers of All-time as voted by the public. Brett Bodine is one of the many great talents to emerge from Stafford Motor Speedway.
By: Phil Smith
