I was wandering around Cruz Bay yesterday when a woman named Sherry stopped me near the National Park dock. She had just hopped off Seadream, a small cruise ship that was docked off of Cruz Bay. She only had a few hours on island, so she wanted to know what she should do.
The two of us starting chatting while Mr. News of St. John chatted up the two gentlemen that had accompanied her onshore. It turns out that Sherry was visiting with a few friends, including a man named Geoff Bodine. Does that name ring a bell for any of you? Any NASCAR fans out there?
It turns out Geoff, who was super nice by the way, is a pretty decorated race car driver. He’s driven in the top three series and won 18 Sprint Cup races in the 80s and 90s. He even won the Daytona 500 in 1986. Pretty cool huh. (And yes, I totally Googled that.)
Geoff retired back in 2012 after racing for more than 27 years. He now owns a Honda motorsport dealership in Melbourne, Florida and makes bobsleds for the US Olympic Team.
As I mentioned, he was a very nice guy. He even gave us the autographed picture above. Good to meet you Geoff. Hope you enjoyed the island.