SOUTHINGTON, CT — Racing royalty was in the house Sunday afternoon at the Aqua Turf Club, as a legend of NASCAR returned to Connecticut to pay tribute to a longtime friend and colleague upon his receipt of a special award from members of the state’s sports media.
Bob Cuneo, recently-retired founder of Chassis Dynamics in Oxford, was presented the President’s Award at the 82nd annual Gold Key Dinner. Organized by the Connecticut Sports Media Alliance (CSMA), the dinner has been among the most prestigious sports ceremonies in the Nutmeg State since its inception in 1940.
Cuneo was recognized for his work in developing an American-made bobsled that would be engineered to compete with the best in the world. Prior to his involvement, the United States had not captured a single Olympic medal since 1956, and had not won gold since Harry Truman was in office in 1948.
On an inspection visit to the Olympic training facility, NASCAR driver Geoff Bodine, winner of the 1986 Daytona 500, discovered the sleds being used by the American teams were purchased second-hand from its competitors in Europe, particularly Germany and Switzerland. He contacted Cuneo, a longtime friend from their days on the New England auto racing circuit, and the result was formation of the Bo-Dyn Project (“Bo” for Bodine, “Dyn” for Chassis Dynamics).
The new sleds debuted at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, but it wasn’t until the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan that an impact was first felt. The American four-man team placed fifth, just 0.02 of a second from a bronze medal. That set the stage for the 2002 competition in Salt Lake City, where the U.S. won the gold medal in the inaugural two-woman event, and four-man teams took home silver and bronze medals.
The two-woman team earned a silver medal in the 2006 Olympiad in Turin, Italy, then the ultimate peak was conquered in 2010 in Vancouver, when the collaboration led to construction of the “Night Train” sled, the fastest sled in the world. An American four-man team knocked off perennial powerhouse Germany that year to win the country’s first men’s gold medal in 58 years.
A native of Trumbull who graduated from Fairfield Prep and Northeastern University, Cuneo was inducted into the New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame in 2021.
Bodine flew in from his home in Florida to introduce Cuneo, who then briefly addressed the audience of more than 400 guests, including more than 40 employees of the nearby Ansonia Steel Fabrication Company.
In his low-key manner, Cuneo, 77, said his only regret was that his wife, Karen, was not able to see him receive this accolade. The two met nearly 60 years ago at Northeastern and were inseparable since; unfortunately, she passed away on June 23. He dedicated his acceptance of the award to her memory.
