News

New home for Bo-Dyn Bobsleds with relocation to Concord, NC

01/28/2010

CONTACT Sandy Caligiore, 518-637-3597, sandy@bodynbobsled.com

USA Bobsleds headed to NASCAR hub in North Carolina
 
 
CONCORD, N.C. – For most of his adult life, Bob Cuneo has worked on race cars and bobsleds from his Chassis Dynamics shop in Oxford, Conn. The technological guru behind the Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project, Inc., makers of Made-In-America bobsleds, will mostly retire and the United States sled operation will re-locate to the heart of NASCAR country in Concord, N.C.
 
The change of scenery is slated to occur in the spring after the Vancouver Winter Games. Concord is less than 30 miles northeast of Charlotte, home of the Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
 
“This is the best time to transition,” said Cuneo. “I have worked 100 hours a week, 12 months a year and I have other goals to address. Besides, it’s smart for the team to look at younger people.”
 
However, he won’t disappear. Cuneo, 62, will remain with the Bo-Dyn Bobsled initiative as designer and consultant, while turning over the hands-on applications to a pair of former colleagues. He will stay active in research and development, and will guide Jim Garde and Mike McLaughlin.

      "There has been no greater contributor to the Olympic success of U.S. bobsledders than Bob Cuneo,” said David Kurtz, Vice President of International Affairs for the International Federation of Bobsleigh and Toboggan (FIBT). “His simultaneous service as Chairman of the FIBT Bobsled Materials Committee represented well his character for fairness and good sportsmanship. We are still going to need that guy to hang around close to the ice track.”
    
United Statesmen and women, in Bo-Dyn bobsleds, have won four Olympic medals (including gold by Jill Bakken in 2002), a world championship in 2009, many World Cup races and World Cup podiums since the project gathered steam in this decade. In November, United States driver John Napier won a World Cup two-man race with teammate Steve Holcomb second. The teammates exchanged places the next day in the four-man competition. Their performances were a U.S. first in World Cup racing. It nearly occurred again in January when Holcomb’s four man Night Train crew finished second with Napier third at another World Cup event.
 
The 2010 World Cup campaign ended last Sunday with Holcomb winning the overall driving titles in four-man and combined (two-man and four-man results totaled).
 
Shauna Rohbock and Erin Pac have also made themselves known with regular stops in the top three on the women’s World Cup tour. Rohbock, in particular, has Olympic and World Championship silver medals on her resume along with impressive World Cup achievements, including two wins this winter.
    
“I would be lying if I said we weren’t a little nervous about the retirement of Bob Cuneo and what he means to the Bo-Dyn Project,” said Darrin Steele, Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation. “Geoff Bodine provided the vision, but Bob Cuneo is the man who made the vision a reality. Hearing the confidence that he has with Jim Garde and Mike McLaughlin, as well as the excitement from the folks in North Carolina gives us a lot of comfort and excitement. Bob’s endorsement is what we’ve been waiting for and now we have it. The Bo-Dyn Project has been critical to our success over the past decade and we would like this partnership to continue over the next decade and beyond.”
    
Garde, of Concord, is a former Chassis Dynamics employee, who started with Cuneo at age 11. He later became head fabricator for Hendrick Motorsports before starting his own business. Hendrick’s team just completed a season where it thoroughly dominated the 2009 Sprint Cup Series.
    
“He’s a top notch fabricator and technician,” said Cuneo of Garde.
    
McLaughlin, of Mooresville, N.C., was a top modified driver who later competed in the Busch Grand National Series. Now he has gained a further measure of fame as the driving coach for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Raybestos Rookie of the Year Joey Logano.
    
“I always knew Mike as a well-respected driver who did his own fabrication,” continued Cuneo.
     
Both are transplanted Northerners who enjoy snowmobiling and, in typical fashion, working on their own sleds.
     
“One of the reasons they are doing this is they can’t believe what we’ve accomplished,” remarked Cuneo. “To be this successful they are used to seeing a much higher level of funding. They are amazed at what we’ve done and view this as a challenge.”   

North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue is also a proponent of the move. "North Carolina is the capital of stock car racing, so the move for Bo-Dyn