The Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project Blog

Welcome Team Holcomb to our Blog!

I'm happy to introduce Team Holcomb as guest bloggers here at the Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project blog.

For those of you who don't know, Steve Holcomb and his team were the top men's bobsled team in the world last year, taking the World Cup Combined title. Holcomb is entering the second half of this year's season as the World Cup leader, ranked just eight points ahead of Germany’s Andre Lange in the two-man, and 56 points ahead of Lange in four-man.

Holcomb's push crew of Steve Mesler, Pavle Jovanovic, and Brock Kreitzburg, has proved to be one of the fastest start engines in the field.

This week the team is in Cortina, Italy. Steve won his first-ever gold medal last season at the World Cup competition in Cortina, where he swept the two and four-man races on his way to claiming the overall World Cup title.

Steven and his team will be contributing here periodically to talk about the places they visit, the work they do, and the experience of competing with the best bobsled teams in the world.

From left to right are Steve Mesler, Steven Holcomb, Brock Kreitzberg and Pavle Jovanovic. To watch the action check out NBColympics.com.

 

Images from the Upcoming SPEED Broadcast

Here are some images taken from the master tape of the upcoming broadcast of the Third Annual Geoff Bodine Challenge…

Click on the thumbnail to see a larger image.

Geoff Bodine and Donny Lia

  Jeg Coughlin Jr.

Steve Carlson

   Todd Bodine in the Lumber Liquidators sled

Ron Hornaday

   Phil Burkhart

 

Donny Lia

Randy La Joie

It was a fantastic weekend – we produced the four hours of programming live to tape on Saturday, and then came in early on Sunday morning to package the work for SPEED Channel.

One of my favorite moments of the weekend was NASCAR driver Randy La Joie's run while wearing a wireless microphone from Racing Electronics. Here is a link if you want to check it out.

Day Two on-site in Lake Placid

While associate producer Ian Sweet and cameraman Craig Frankenhoff worked to capture images of the Challenge drivers and the show announcers as they spent their first day in Lake Placid learning to drive Bobsleds, Tim Singer and I worked creating roll-ins for our live to tape show.

Here is a list of some of the pieces we created. Not all of these pieces will air – to prepare for a live show, we build in flexibility by over preparing.

Opening Animation
Lake Placid Flavor
History of Bobsledding in Lake Placid
History of the Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project
Dick Trickle's Crashes at the 2006 Challenge Event
Great Bobsled Crashes
A Sled Mounted Point of View Camera
Seven "Bodine Moments" Comparing Bobsledding to Car Racing

Look for some of these videos to surface on www.bodynbobsled.com after (and maybe even before) the event airs on SPEED.

Today Ian and I will edit new pieces from the footage he and Craig gathered yesterday.

It is not to late to come out to the Lake Placid track. You can buy tickets here.

But if you can't make it be sure to check out the fun on SPEED Channel, January 20 and 27.

At the Bodine Bobsled Challenge

Work on-site for The Third Annual Bodine Bobsled Challenge has begun.

My role for the production is as one of three producers. I edit short highlight packages, animations, historical pieces and other video pieces, as the show requires.

My colleagues, Tim Singer and Ian Sweet also produce the show. Ian will be acquiring footage of our drivers, J.R. Todd, Geoff Bodine, Todd Bodine, Randy LaJoie, Jeg Coughlin Jr, Johnny Benson, Bob Vandergriff, Joey Logano, Boris Said, Ron Hornaday, Morgan Lucas, Steve Carlson, Donny Lia, L.W. Miller and Phil Burkhart all day today. This afternoon the drivers will go through a "Bob 101" course led by USA drivers, Mike Kohn and John Napier. Tomorrow Ian and I will work together to build stories to roll into the SPEED show.

Tim is overseeing Ian and I as well as working with the camera people who will be working the track and our great group of announcers.

Our leader is John Morgan. John has more passion for Bobsleigh than anyone I know. He along with Geoff Bodine, Bob Cuneo of Chassis Dynamics, and Phil Kurze of Whelen Engineering are the core group that have been driving the Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project forward.

I'm happy to be here in Lake Placid, and looking forward to some great racing!

Tom Meegan

Learning about Bobsled through NASCAR

The Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project is a revolutionary idea for supporting and marketing one sport by connecting with the technology and fan base of another.

Fans of NASCAR love speed, danger, technology, and athletes they and their kids and admire. USA Bobsledding offers all of that, with a unique flavor all its own.

I you haven't seen a Bobsled event before, do yourself a favor and check it out at MediaZone, the home of NBC Olympics.com. Individual events are just $4.99.

I highly recommend any of the events from Lake Placid. The action was amazing – the Lake Placid track demands an aggressive line to win, yet punishes the smallest of mistakes with skidding and crashes.

For the truly daring, click here to see how you can ride down the track yourself!

If you want to show your support for the USA Bobsled team with some great gear, click here to check out hats, sweatshirts, fleeces and jackets.

Or if you would prefer you can donate directly to the project here. The Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project is a non-profit group. Your donation is tax deductible.

I hope we see you in Lake Placid for the Third Annual Chevy Bodine Bobsled Challenge Event.