Wheldon takes on bobsleds

IZOD IndyCar Series driver Dan Wheldon will be among the racing stars attending the Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge – an annual event hosted by the former NASCAR star to raise money for the USA Olympic Bobsled team.

While there are no scheduled plans for the 2005 IZOD IndyCar Series champion to race a bobsled, the thought is that his natural competitive fire combined with some good ole fashioned peer pressure from his friend in the National Guard could sway the Panther Racing driver into making a run in a sled.

"I'm really excited about it," Wheldon said. "It's certainly a form of racing that I'm not terribly familiar with, but I'm sure we're going to learn a lot this weekend with our friends from the National Guard."

Bodine, a former Daytona 500 champion and winner of 18 other stock car races, has held the event in Lake Placid, N.Y. for the past four years. Wheldon will join other drivers from NASCAR and the NHRA as the event kicks off this weekend in advance of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

The event is being supported by the National Guard, which is having some of its soldiers work as brake men on the sled during the race. In addition to Bodine, the event will feature Joey Logano, Boris Said, Johnny Benson, Ron Hornaday, Morgan Lucas and others.