Driving a bobsled provides rare rush

Writer takes fast, furious run through 'Trickle Turn'

	Dick Trickle, left, steered his bobsled throught Turn 17 of the Olympic Bobsled Track at Lake Placid, N.Y., on Jan 7. Trickle was taking part in the Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge to raise funds for the U.S. Olympic Team.
Chris Putman / AP

By John Kekis

updated 12:01 a.m. ET Jan. 14, 2006

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. - Former skeleton star Jimmy Shea once described bobsledding as “driving a bus 100 miles an hour through traffic.”

If so, I guess I’m related to Ralph Kramden in some odd sort of way.

I’ve covered bobsled at three Winter Olympics and ridden in a four-man sled down the old mile-long run here at Mount Van Hoevenberg, so when I was offered the chance to actually drive, I jumped at the chance — without hesitation.

Story continues below ↓

advertisement | your ad here

That chance came a day after the Chevrolet Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge in early January. After watching 10 NASCAR drivers pick up the nuts and bolts of a new sport in virtually no time at all and actually excel, I was pumped to give it a shot.

And I wasn’t alone — 21 others entered the Bo-Dyn Media Race. We would run in the same two-man sleds the NASCAR guys used during a fundraiser for the U.S. bobsled team.

My enthusiasm abated somewhat the day before the race when I drew starting position No. 1. Then I watched 64-year-old Dick Trickle, who has won more than 1,000 auto races, flip his sled twice on the same turn.

Slide show
Week in Sports Pictures
Flying on the hardwood, racing on the rink, getting physical on the gridiron, and much more.
more photos
Trickle Turn became embedded in my mind.

Nevertheless, I was one of the first ones on the mountain on race day, and I brought along my wife and two young sons to watch my Olympic moment. While the boys were frolicking in the snow and the crisp Adirondack Mountain air, I began filling out the customary release, warning that I was about to embark on a “hazardous activity which could result in personal injury or damage.”

Still, I quickly felt a sense of pride — the first line requested the name of the athlete. A fellow racer began calling out the starting order.

“John Kekis will go first,” she said, smiling.

Moments later, we were on our way to the start house for a crash course on driving from Grayson Fertig, who’s been competing for the U.S. in America’s Cup bobsled, the minor league of the sport, for three years and coached at a bobsled camp last March where airline pilots and others learned the ropes.

Slide show
U.S. Olympic hopefuls
A look at athletes who have the best shot at gold in Turin.
We went from Start 4, which meant we missed the first eight curves of the 19-turn, mile-long layout. That’s the good news. The bad news is that Trickle flipped in Turn 18, and when Fertig reached that point in his presentation, his instructions became a little unsettling.

“Follow the roof line, and as you start to go around and feel the pressure starting to pick the sled up, you don’t want to steer it down too early,” Fertig said. “You want to stay on the curve long, long. When you think you should take it off, know that I said right now that you should stay on longer. You can’t stay on that curve too long. Stay up on the wall. And whatever you do, get off the next turn fast. That’s going to put you in 18. It’s going to be a hard right-hand pull. Pull hard, hard on 18. All right?”

Whatever.

CONTINUED : A virtual blur

1 | 2 | Next >