How Geoff Bodine, NASCAR Safety Advocate, SAVED HIS OWN LIFE: Surviving the 2000 Daytona 250 

It really pisses me off Geoff Bodine isn't in the Hall Of Fame. Numbers alone shouldn't be what gets you in or keeps you out of the HOF. For those of us who remember Geoff's career in the 80's, he was a threat to win every single week no matter the track.

Geoff bodine doesn't get enough credit for his career

Bodine's wreck made Newman's wreck look like a walk in the park. And to put that into perspective, I thought Newman was dead.

The way ESPN handled the crash is how it should be handled. Not the way Fox handled Newman's crash

Geoff's wreck was Austin Dillon, Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman, & Rusty Wallace's wrecks all thrown into one wreck of certain doom, and he lived to tell the tale. Insane

NRF You should make this a series like the Surviving The.... Here are some options 1. Michael Waltrip Richmond Crash 2. Mike Harmon Xfinity wreck 3.Ryan Newman 2020 crash

I’ve been involved in racing safety over 40 years- never heard of Bodine’s “spring loaded seat”- tell me more.

Like Bodine, Newman also saved himself by advocating for the addition of the "Newman Bar" to the NASCAR chassis.

Always loved Geoff Bodine.... great driving skills, nice human being.... overall great person....

I grew up a huge Bodine fan. As a kid he was a hero to me. I remember that horrific crash and was crushed waiting for news. A couple years later he finished third in the Daytona 500 which was an awesome thing to see. I’d like to see the HOF- I mean they put in Dale Jr because popularity.

I met him leaving the Olympics in 2002 in Salt Lake City. I told him that was one of the worst crashes I ever saw. He took a binder out and showed me the 8 by 10 pictures from the crash. It was great to sit with him and have him explain the entire thing to me. I love NASCAR and it was great for him to take the time to sit with me and talk about it.

Geoff Bodine should be in the NASCAR Hall of Fame for his Modified exploits alone. I believe he had over 50 feature event wins one year in the Modifieds in the late 1970's.

Geoff also finished 3rd in the 2002 Daytona 500

No crash will ever be worse than Bodine’s. Not even Newman’s. Both Geoff and Ryan however have really made NASCAR take closer looks at the cars and their safety. Both were lucky to survive their career worst accidents.

Newman is TANK.... #NewmanStrong

I was at this race and about 15 rows up from where Bodine hit the fence. We felt the heat off the fire and shit was flying everywhere. We just knew he was dead but it was great to see him wave while on the stretcher.

Great video. A lot of people poke fun at Geoff all the time but his numbers were really decent for a career and his safety innovations are without doubt, top notch.

Mike Harmon 2002 at Bristol that would be a cool video

Jeff Bodine was a much better driver than people give him credit for, now his brother is another story.

the innovation he brought to the sport should absolutely qualify him for the HOF - his safety choices literally changed NASCAR. and as everyone else has mentioned, in his prime he was a thrilling, skilled, and accomplished competitor.

The open helmet was one of the reasons Dale died

Geoff Bodine needs to be in the Hall of Fame. He probably saved many lives with his new helmet design.

you need to do a video on the newman bar. that is what saved newmans life. he added his own bar to make the car safer. good thing he did

I grew up watching Jeff Bodin wreck havoc on the modifieds At Stafford Riverside Thompson and everywhere else he went racing

To really abruptly put into perspective the severity of his crash, the force knocked the gloves off his hands, he stopped breathing until they cut his harness off and in the middle of it all, he spoke to his deceased father who told him it wasn’t his time yet to go

Both Bodine brothers deserve to be in the hall of fame in my opinion. 2 very popular and known drivers like them should be.

I don't really see how he's not in. Constant threat in the 80's to win always super fast. Then he starts up his own team in 94 and has 4 wins as owner/driver.

Geoff was my fav back in the day. Thanks for this.

Was there in person. All I can say is we all thought we had just witnessed a fatality. The crash happens as they passed us, so we saw it from behind. Mercy, it was ugly. Nice job on the video!

One of my buddy’s parents lives in his old house from when he was in his prime. Really nice house and a big brightly lit glass cased trophy room beside the kitchen with a door out to the pool.

Me and my dad were there in person at the start finish line, and as I pointed down at the two trucks door slamming side by side then my finger went up pointing at Geoff Bodine's truck lifting off the ground, and my dad and a lot of other ducked, it REALLY was going to go over the catch fence. It was like slow motion, and when Bodine truck finally came to the ground, the impact from the other truck slamming into the "roll cage" because that was all that was left. You heard thousands of gasps. Most of us thought Bodine died, it took a while to get him out & the red flag was a good while. He gave a thumbs out when he was on the stretcher and that was awesome, no one wanted a tragedy, and to think that year & 2001 had a few bad crashes & deaths. Mike Wallace won that inaugural race, and I got to see Dale Earnhardt Sr. win his last IROC event.

Just to fact-check you. Officially from NASCAR the reason the HANS device and ffh were mandated was due to Blaise Alexander's death, not Dale Earnhardt.

Nascar back then: “lol you care about safety? Hey everyone get a load of this guy. Safety... 🤣🤣🤣🤣”

Geoff is a legend, he is still with nascar behind the scenes. Newman saved himself by lobbying to reinforce the cage. Google the newman bar.

:43 did the guy standing next to the catch fence live? Because damn he was way closer than he should’ve been

Geoff's real best triumph after that crash in 2000 was the 2002 daytona 500. Finished 3rd in james finch's car.

He should be in the HOF just for his record alone in the modified tour. One of the best records of all time and a record 55 wins out of 84 races in 1978

Some of the best get forgot Geoff Bodine Fan for life

Geoff in that levi garrett was always in the race. Solid racer.

Seen him start to finish Chemung to Daytona. Hometown boy. Fun to watch 99 vs. 61

Great Video NRF!

I freaking love the Dying Light music in the background, very ominous 👍

No, as an outsider, bobsledding looks pretty threatening.

Jeff still a great driver . Being in the NASCAR hall of fame . Should not just be about wins and championships.

I remember Bodine's wreck. I don't even remember why I was watching the race that day but I was, and after the wreck happened I was glued to the TV.

Always have been a Geoff Bodine fan! Boo Crew forever!

There’s a video that shows a young Joey Logano and his dad watching that race from the stands.

had to come here after i listened to him on Dale Jrs podcast, what a legend this man is

I actually remember this quite well. I was a sophomore in high school and came home on that Friday afternoon from school. My dad was at home and had watched/recorded the race as he tended to do back then. I got off the bus and walked in the house and he asked if I saw what happened during the race. I told him we had the race on the lunchroom TV but I only saw about 20 minutes of it and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. He told me there was a big wreck and rewound the VHS tape to show me. As soon as he showed it to me, my exact response was "who died?" He said nobody did but the driver was Geoff Bodine and he told me that he had survived and showed me where they wheeled him off on the stretcher. I still watch that crash to this day and can't begin to understand how someone could survive it. I've seen worse crashes that were fatal wrecks (Don McTavish, Russell Phillips, some F1 and Indy wrecks) but I can only recall seeing a couple non-fatal wrecks that were this bad. Dale Earnhardt's 1996 Talladega crash and Richard Petty's 1970 Darlington crash are really the only ones I can say are in the same level with this one.

10 out of fuck8ng 10 for the dying light music at the beginning. Brought back some memories

Blaise Alexander is a forgotten death in NASCAR, no one has ever talked about it

I was thinking about that wreck too. He came back 2 1/2 months later

HALL OF FAME!! With out a doubt

Geoffrey talks about this in his Dale Jr. Podcast interview. I was late to work because of this crash, I had it on watching what I could before I left and then this happened and all I could do was stand there in shock. Finally I saw him move on the stretcher and that was a huge relief, and I got going on my way.

Newman isn’t just a tank, he’s a SUPER TANK.

This truck is sitting at a museum in Mooresville, North Carolina. It’s called the Memory Lane museum. And trust me it is extremely mangled. There’s still cables from the catch fence in it and then steering column is pushed about a foot to the passenger side. There was literally nothing between his feet and the ground. The whole front end is ripped off next to the floor board. Absolutely insane that he lived through that wreck.

The trucks had the power. At the time I believe the ran cup series spec engines. It was the fact that they were very very draggy compared to the cup and xfinity cars

Basically, Bodine's wreck should have been the one where NASCAR took safety seriously, if they did, maybe Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin Jr, Dwight Wrich, Tony Roper, Dale Earnhardt Sr and Blaise Alexander are still alive, but NASCAR was arrogant and did nothing until after Alexander's death

I remember watching this live. It was absolutely terrifying. Still makes me emotional watching.

During this wreck, Geoff died and saw his (already passed) father. There is an interview about it. Through a few friends I know the story straight from Geoff and have an autograph from him. When he saw his dad, all his dad said was “it’s not your time” and then Geoff was back in the car. All during the course of the wreck. Look it up.

Love the qvc car

I can tell you from experience that it's very hard to come back from a crash you've just nearly died in. After weeks off I was able to make it for the last 3 races of the season but It had really messed with my head( quite literally too because it turned out I had brain injuries) and I really had no idea how bad it emotionally affected me until that first night back. I had been in plenty of crashes over the years and the only time I had ever had any fear was my very first time on the racetrack and after that crash which was the worst I had ever had. I mean I knew I should've been killed but I think hearing from soooo many people that they thought I was dead was the worst. That and after the race that first night back a member of my crew looked at me and said I thought we were here to race. I felt like I just needed more time back in the car and I'd get it back but I didn't get the opportunity because at the end of the season my family,crew chief and friends put their foots down and weren't about to let their girl back on the track. That was back in the mid 80s til the crash in 97. If my neck and back weren't so messed up I'd climb back in a car right now because I've overcome all of those fears. I've always been the kind of person to face fear head on and I do resent having it taken away from me and not by my choice

Hope this video blows up again due to DJD episode, really underrated name in modern day history

In 9:06 Who is Dwight Wrich

I like the dying light theme music in the background

Great Video, well done!

Dr. Steven Olvey, who pioneered track side medical responses at Indy, said drivers are more likely to die in a crash driving to the race than in a crash during the race.

Excellent video!

Who else LAUGHED THEIR HEADS OFF at the Intro about "WATCH AT YOUR OWN RISK PEOPLE!"?

i honestly think that if Dale would have had a closed face helmet, and spring loaded seat even though his belts broke he still would be alive to this day. R.I.P Dale Earnhardt

Full face helmets became mandatory in 2002. Although some drivers were grandfathered in on wearing open faced. Such as Jimmy Spencer or Ron Hornaday

Kurt Busch was a Truck series Rookie back in 2000. He raced in the 2001 Daytona 500 for Roush

The more graphic the video of racing accidents the better, in general, even considering how harrowing it can be sometimes. Might not suit some people's sensibilities, but we'd have a lot better safety standards, a lot more racing drivers alive today, and a lot less dead boy racers if the public weren't 'protected' from images of the consequences of accidents in motor racing and motor accidents in general.

"this is gonna hurt" I don't think its possible to be more correct than that

I outloud said- "There's a human in there". That is one crazy crash!

Put him in the hall of fame

You're point about wearing a full helmet as opposed to open faced helmet is certainly valid. But the insinuation that J.D McDuffie's death may have been prevented by a full faced helmet isn't correct. He died of a basilar skull fracture as a result of his head jerking rapidly to the right. It's likely the only thing that might have saved him might have been a HANS device which had just begun production. Tragically, it would take more deaths before it would be implemented and mandated by NASCAR and other racing bodies.

Don't forget about the time Geoff Bodine picked up a fire extinguisher to put out a serious fuel fire on pit road during a race at Talladega. He lived by safety first.

Imagine how sore they are after those hard hits. I guess not as much now days. But back in the day. No HANS device.

Geoffs wife is part of my family his wife’s dad is my great uncle Butch Jelley

There were other advancements in safety that happened and also lead to newman walking out including a bar in the roll cage named for him after his flip in 2003 at daytona

it is so crazy how he survived this

They didn't run plates on the trucks because of power, they didn't run plates in them because drivers that were part of testing said they'd lift like they would normally after taking the checkers for qualifying and not make it to turn one. That's how bad the aero was on the trucks.

For the rest of my life. I love Newman. But I can't believe he survived that daytona crash. Man he was drilled in the roof at full speed! Come on.

Geoffrey Bodine absolutely deserves a nod for entry into the HOF based just on his safety improvements alone. Someone at NASCAR is asleep at the switch 🤦, but then again, what else is new? 🤷

With crashes like this, Austin Dillions, Carl edwards ETC I’m shocked no fan was died

Last time I remembered of Geoff Bodine’s crash was Kyle Larson in 2013.

Good video.

What's up with the Dying Light menu theme being used for videos like this, nice vid btw

9:05 Who's Dwight Wrich?

The truck after the crash looked like 1986 Tour de Course Lancia Delta crash

I may be 11 but watching that gives me chilla

If dale Earnhardt sr was wearing a full faced helmet he might have survived

I still can't believe that Brett Bodine survived that crash, THERE EVEN WAS A PIC OF HIM WITH HIS ARMS UP LIKE A ROLLER COASTER!!!

I always smoke at 200 mph too 🤣🤣🤣

Rich Pickle and Dick Trickle... holy shit man. That had to be intentional.

Why did you stop your series

McDuffie much like Dale senior died of a basal skull fracture. No matter what type of helmet you're wearing that makes no difference to stop that only a Hans device will help you there!

The 70s never ended in NASCAR.

Dying light theme love it