Lincoln Electric-Branded Bobsled Competes in Bodine Bobsled Challenge

NASCAR, NHRA and other celebrity drivers flocked to Lake Placid, NY, for the Fifth Annual Lucas Oil Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge presented by Whelen Engineering. The event, held January 8-10 and will air on the SPEED channel on January 31, raises money for the U.S. bobsled team, which is just a month away from competing at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC.

Melanie Troxel, an NHRA driver with Top Fuel, Funny Car and Top Alcohol Dragster wins, defeated fellow NHRA driver Jeg Coughlin Jr. by just .07 of a second to win one of the two morning circuits. The second was won by Joey Logano, NASCAR Rookie of the Year. The two went head-to-head in the afternoon with Logano beating Troxel by .27 of a second with a time of 49.81.

At this year's event, the ten competing drivers were backed up by Army National Guard reservists who acted as their brakemen.

The Bodine Bobsled Challenge is the brainchild of NASCAR veteran Geoff Bodine, who once noticed the U.S. Olympic team raced with European sleds and did not win. He teamed up with Chassis Dynamics to create the Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project in 1992. The Project provides American-made sleds, designed with NASCAR technology, to the U.S. bobsled team. Since the switch, the U.S. team consistently wins medals.

Lincoln Electric (Cleveland, OH) has been an active sponsor of the Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project since 2002. Its welders have been used since the inception of the partnership to design and fabricate all of the organization's bobsleds for the U.S. team, including the bobsled from the U.S. four-man team that won the World Championships in 2009, as well as sleds competing in Vancouver in February.

Lincoln also threw its support behind the Bodine Bobsled Challenge with a company-branded bobsled. The rest of the bobsleds feature Lincoln insignia. Fans can watch all of the action of the Fifth Annual Lucas Oil Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge presented by Whelen Engineering, including the Lincoln Electric sled, on January 31 when it airs on SPEED.

Lincoln Electric is a leader in the design, development and manufacture of arc welding products, robotic arc welding systems, plasma and oxyfuel cutting equipment and has a leading global position in the brazing and soldering alloys market. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Lincoln has 38 manufacturing locations, including operations and joint ventures in 18 countries and a worldwide network of distributors and sales offices covering more than 160 countries.

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