Morgan Lucas used precision driving abilities to steer through the dreaded chicane and the harrowing Dick Trickle corner (Curve 18) on the Olympic Bobsled run at the Lake Placid Olympic Sports facility to capture the silver medal among a field of professional racecar drivers at the second annual Bodyne Bobsled Charity Classic.

After discussing each driver's competitive runs among themselves, Lucas took the key points to listen and learn allowing him to negotiate the tight corners and wind up with the second quickest time only to be outdone by last year's winner and son of a former Olympic Bobsledder, Boris Said. Seven-time NASCAR modified champion Mike Stephanik took the Bronze.

Morgan Lucas used precision driving abilities to steer through the dreaded chicane and the harrowing Dick Trickle corner (Curve 18) on the Olympic Bobsled run at the Lake Placid Olympic Sports facility to capture the silver medal among a field of professional racecar drivers at the second annual Bodyne Bobsled Charity Classic.

After discussing each driver's competitive runs among themselves, Lucas took the key points to listen and learn allowing him to negotiate the tight corners and wind up with the second quickest time only to be outdone by last year's winner and son of a former Olympic Bobsledder, Boris Said. Seven-time NASCAR modified champion Mike Stephanik took the Bronze.

Said, last year's winner of the July's Daytona International Speedway Pepsi 400's pole position, was accustomed to sailing down the three-quarter high-banked mile course very smoothly to record a combined time of 1:40.65 seconds against the clock in taking the Gold to barely nip Lucas (1:41.28) by only .63-hundredths of a second. It took the Carlsbad, Calif. native quickest time of the weekend to overtake Lucas at the finish.

To give the sleds an equal balance and load, the drivers were paired with the local National Guardsman unit, who commandeered the retrieval of sleds after the runs, to ride along as the brakeman equaling the weight factor. As NHRA's J.R. Todd showed in the Speed Channel qualifying program, he literally put rocks in his pockets to add as much weight as he could. For Todd, he paired up with David Ballard and Lucas sledded with James Bills.

"You always want to be the fastest out here, but the main thing is we had fun this weekend and I was one of the few not to get on my lid, so I'm pretty happy about that," said Todd, the 2006 NHRA Rookie of the Year and a three-time Top Fuel winner. "Hopefully we can raise some awareness about bobsledding through drag racing. Morgan is doing a good job of representing us drag racers as he finished second.

"It's all about fun this weekend and it was more than I expected. The Nextel Cup guys are a blast to hang out with and we want them to come to a drag race to see what we do. Likewise, we have an invitation to go to a NASCAR race and watch them. Then on our last run, we had the Olympic team giving us a push and that means a lot for their support of us. As thing work out, we want to help those guys and raise some money for their sport. I'm not ready to retire from drag racing to go bobsledding full time, but maybe next year we can do it again at Park City, (Utah) so I can learn more about it, so I can get competitive next time."

Lucas parlayed his driving into a runner-up position on the podium and the bright smile on the 23-year NHRA driver couldn't be diminished.

"Just to run with guys like Boris Said, Todd Bodine, Randy LaJoie, Kevin LaPage, Brendan Gaughn, Dick Trickle, Philip Morris, -- all these guys are legends in my book, and especially getting to hang out with my friend, J.R.," said an awed Lucas. "I finally found the line on the last run in receiving a big push from the Olympic team. You had to finesse just so. Next year, we'll be better and you really shouldn't be allowed to have this much fun. You always try to be as quick as you can and when you have as much knowledge as you have in this room you have to listen to all of it. Everyone was more than helpful. I can't believe I finished second to all these great drivers."

In an invited guest's only special party at Nikola's restaurant in downtown Lake Placid on Friday, the motorsports auction for the event raised $17,000 in as Morgan Lucas bid $1,500 for the Carl Edwards driving suit outfitted with the Bodyne Bobsled Challenge logo on the front that he drove in the fall NASCAR New Hampshire race.

The Bodyne Bobsled Project event will be heading to the Olympic Bobsled facilities in Park City, Utah for the 2008 edition.