First Thing They Have to Do Is Add a Lot of Those Decals

Stock car race driver Geoff Bodine says NASCAR can help U.S. bobsledders improve their speeds at the next Winter Olympics.

Bodine recently drove a sled at the bobsled track at Lake Placid, N.Y. Afterward, he said he believed race drivers can help design faster and cheaper sleds. Europeans dominate the sport.

Bodine, who won the Daytona 500 in 1986, said he harbors no hopes of riding a bobsled at the 1994 Olympics.

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to get used to it,” he said after a run.

“My family and I watched the Olympics on TV, and we became interested in bobsledding because it’s like racing,” Bodine said. “We thought: ‘How can we help? What can we do?’ I would think a race driver might be able to add something.”

Bodine, who drove to Lake Placid on the spur of the moment, said NASCAR technicians and fabricators might be able to build a faster sled. Other American manufacturers have tried and failed.

“His first run was good, but his second run was the best two-man run of the day,” said Bill Cochran, spokesman for the U.S. Bobsled Federation.

A special license is required to drive a sled from the one-mile starting point at the top, but Bodine was allowed to attempt two half-mile runs as driver.

Late bloomer: The New York Yankees’ Mel Hall commented recently on his .280 season last year, with 19 home runs and 80 runs batted in. He also hit .309 against left-handed pitchers, third best in the majors.

“The next five years will probably be my best five,” the 31-year-old outfielder said. “Obviously, I’m a late bloomer. I’m in better shape than most 20-year-olds. I’m stronger than most 20-year-olds.”

Hall also points out that he will make $1.1 million this season, below the Yankee payroll average.

“I could be the best bargain in the league,” he said. “But that’s OK. You go to the store and buy a lot when things are on sale. But when you go back, you got to pay full price.”

Trivia time: What is the world’s longest race?

More statistics: In Wednesday’s Morning Briefing, we pointed out that the Elias Sports Bureau had credited Baltimore Oriole outfielder Joe Orsulak, who had 22 assists in 132 games, with one of the greatest defensive seasons by a major league outfielder.

A few more pearls, from Elias’ 1992 Baseball Analyst:

--The 1991 earned-run averages of Tim Leary (6.49), Wade Taylor (6.27) and Jeff Johnson (5.95) were the three highest in New York Yankee history among pitchers with at least 15 starts.

--The 188-point difference in Roger Clemens’ career winning percentage (.687) and that of his teammates (.499) is the largest in history for pitchers with 100 or more decisions.

--To those who say Red Sox third baseman Wade Boggs should have more RBIs, Elias points out he batted with only 106 runners in scoring position last season, the fewest of his career. Moreover, Boggs drove in 35% of those runners, the eighth-highest average in the American League and best on the Red Sox.

War and remembrance: Baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent: “Baseball is the one American institution that a Civil War veteran returning today would recognize. One hundred years from now, if we were lucky enough to come back, I hope we would recognize it too.”

Trivia answer: The Whitbread Round the World (sailing) race, which covers about 32,000 nautical miles.

Quotebook: The late boxing manager, Chris Dundee, on middle age: “It’s when you start for home about the same time you used to start for someplace else.”