INTRODUCTION TO BOBSLEDDING 1980 WINTER OLYMPICS BOBSLED TRACK AT LAKE PLACID DOCUMENATRY RJ10175

[Music] Auto racing demands more than speed and nerve. It also requires concentration. Ask sports car and Indianapolis veteran Sam Posey about speed. And he'll make you believe it's more than just technique. It can be an art and always a challenge. Today, Challenge takes him to Lake Placid, the site of the 1980 Winter Olympic Games. He will bypass the new brilliantly engineered 90 m ski jump. He will also skip the giant slalom on Whiteface Mountain. He intends to be as close to the ground as is humanly possible in the fastest winter Olympic event of all, the bob sled. Like sports car racing, its essence lies not merely in speed, but in the art of negotiating corners, reducing them to a straight line. That's the appeal for San Posie. The bob sled run at Lake Placid was first designed for the 1932 Olympics. Now remodeled, it continues to draw the world's top racers. [Applause] Paul Laney, who will be Sam's instructor, was a member of two US Olympic teams as well as six US championships. >> Well, it looks uh fantastic. Tell me, why is it up on the scales? I mean, why do they weigh the sleds? Well, in the sport of bob sledding, we have weight limitations on all of our equipment when we race because we are in fact a gravity sport. And of course, the heavier you are, the faster you go. So, we've had to put weight limitations on our equipment. >> I understand. >> And this is the twoman sled, which you'll be driving. >> Jeez. >> We used to have steering wheels in bob sleds, but today the way to drive them is with ropes. Today's bobsled run follows the same course, incorporates the same turns as the original track created many years ago. Modern refrigeration and a revolutionary new bob sled design makes it virtually a new sport. >> All the bank tracks that I've raced on, the Daytona Beach is a good example. Very wide and open. This thing is incredibly narrow. But we only have one bob sled coming down this track at a time where in automobile racing you need room for passing. And after all, our sleds are only this wide. >> Okay. Now, where are we going to be on the banking? How high up? >> Coming through here, we'll be right here. >> What if we're a little bit higher? Well, if we're a little bit higher, that's why we have these lips designed in our track. That keeps the sled and the equipment in the track. In the 1932 Winter Olympics, on occasion, sleds would in fact go out of the track, either into the trees or sometimes even into the spectator. [Music] shady corner. A complete 170° turn had been the culprit. The victims, the German team. One was seriously hurt with back injuries. The others, barely conscious, would suffer for the rest of their lives with painful memories of this fabled corner. [Music] Sam, we're approaching probably the most dangerous section of the bobsled run. We're in the bottom of the famous zigzag corner where a sled comes in and gets into a very tight lefthand turn, 90° to the left, transitions right here into a 90° to the right turn. And if a sled is high at the end of this turn, they will be late in coming off the corner, roll over on their side, and then they're a head-on shot into the lip of Zag. I've seen people killed here. Paul, in car racing, there's something called the line, which is the way through each of the turns. It's something like that here. >> Exactly. The line that you pick when the driver comes into the turn in this portion of the turn, which is the beginning of the bank. We call this the take on. The driver will pick his line that he will try and hold all the way through the corner from this point. >> Okay. And I suppose each turn has its own separate take-home point. >> That's right. the beginning of the embankment or the beginning of the bank is called the take on and that's what the driver drives for so that he can get himself properly lined up to go through the corner. >> Okay, I think I understand. [Music] >> You know, when the sleds come through shady, they're going the fastest that they go on this course. >> This is unbelievable. I mean, it's an absolute vertical wall of ice. Well, it's 22 ft high. But even more impressive is the fact that when the sleds are coming through here, they're pulling G's up to four G's, and that pulls them right up against that wall. How high will they be on the wall? >> They'll be about 6 in below that lip. [Music] Paul, what exactly is expected of me during the run? >> All right, this will be your position. This is the number two spot. Number two pusher. You get down low behind it so that you can really get your shoulder into it. Once we start, you'll run alongside of the sled. And as soon as you see me getting into the sled, you start your your your entrance to the to the piece of equipment and work your way right on in like this very tenderly. and get yourself seated here in the number two seat. >> Okay? >> Then you grab these handles right here. Get your feet there. Grab these handles and hold on tight. Now, I'm going to want you to be looking over my shoulder so that you can see what I'm doing and try not to crowd me in here so that I don't have any problems with the steering. Okay. Well, I wish I could think of another question to ask you quite frankly because uh unless I do, I guess it's getting to be time for the run. to be quite honest, uh, you know, in racing, uh, the risks are there for me, but I know a little bit what I'm getting into here. All I see is the start of a run and I don't know what's down there. >> Well, if you didn't have a bit of a knot in your stomach, and I think that's what you're talking about that you have in racing. As far as I'm concerned, you're not ready to take this trip. And so, if that's the way you feel, that's the way we want you to. Let's go ahead and throw our helmets on and and take the first trip down for you. >> Okay. Here it is at last. A strange experience accelerating with the force of gravity. [Music] I have tunnel vision looking at the first turn. This is frightening. What's it going to be like? [Music] Nothing will be asked of me in this run. The second seat is what they call the rocking chair. All I have to do is hold on and watch what Paul is doing. I wish I did have something to do. All I can see is that wall ahead coming at me. It's so narrow, narrower than I ever imagined. I'm gripping the steel grab handles as if somehow I could steer the sled with them. It's a strange feeling to be doing this and not controlling it. I hadn't realized how blind these corners would be. You can't see a thing beyond them. Lean, lean. The turns are over almost as soon as they begin. I see them coming and then we hit them and then I'm looking at the next straight. There's the finish curve. >> Jeez, it's over. [Music] What would you think of that? >> Incredible. Well, >> well, that's I don't see how you do it. I mean, uh, after the first after the first half of the turn, I mean, I could see the turn coming at me, but after the first half, I virtually blacked out. I mean, the G's as you slap, there's nothing like that in car racing. Nothing. Gentlemen, thank you very much. That's something to tell my grandchildren about. >> Well, we'll go up and do it again. >> Let's wait a little while. That's incredible. >> My role as passenger was over. The next step would be the twoman sled. Now, as brakeman, I would have some responsibility and something to do. In breaking, you pull up simultaneously on these two handles, which causes the brake to dig into the ice. The sharp teeth back there dig into the ice, and they're used for either slowing the sled down or bringing it to a complete stop at the bottom of the hill. Now, as we familiarize ourselves with the track, it's always good to slow ourselves down as we learn the course and learn how to negotiate the corners. Once we are proficient and we're ready to let the sled fly, really, we're ready to race, then the only function of the brakeman is to stop the sled at the bottom. >> What about the turns? >> You never you never use the brakes in the turns or you never use the brake when the sled is fishtailing in any way. >> I understand. Once the driver has mastered the course and no longer needs to be slowed down going into the corners, then we're ready for racing, so to speak. And the only time the brakes will be used will be to stop the sled at the bottom of the hill. This is where the brakeman's position now gets into being something a little bit more technical and a little bit more demanding. Half the bob sled race is won from the push on the top of the mountain. And so the brakeman has to get the sled off the top of the hill by pushing on those two handles off the top of the hill faster than anybody else that you expect to win the race. And then his ability to get into the sled very gently, not to cause the sled to slide from side to side, losing time. Get into the sled and then ride the sled to the bottom of the hill. And of course, when we get to the bottom, then bull. Exactly. >> Let's go. >> Paul said not to use the brakes except to stop us at the end or in an emergency. But what a difference to have gone from being just dead weight to being a functioning member of the team. [Music] I don't feel so much out of control now. Just being able to influence the sled is a terrific improvement psychologically. The sensation is so different than with the foreman. This sled is so skittish, but it's slower. I don't feel it plunging down the run with quite the same force. But what a difference it is to sit on the back seat. When you hit the walls, you take an incredible shot. [Music] Ah, the last turn. That was an incredible shot. Paul shouts for the brakes now. [Music] >> Well, Sam, this is the moment that you came here for. How do you feel? Well, obviously I'm a little bit apprehensive. On the other hand, I think I've learned an awful lot in a short time. Uh, and I'm confident I want to do it, but let me ask you just before we do do it, couple of questions again one more time. Uh, where do you want me to start into the turns from? >> I want you to take the sled onto the turns and stay low in the corners. Don't get up high on the ice in the bank. Stay nice and low. And the reason you're going to be low is because you're going to be going very slow. >> Okay. And and how much will you be using the brake? >> Well, at first I'm going to be using quite a bit of brakes. And that's why you're going to be slow and you have to stay low in the turns. And then as I sense that you've got the hang of it and that you're handling it well, then I'll start turning you loose. >> Okay. Well, I'm ready for it. Let's do it. Okay. >> This is it. If I've learned anything, it will show now. >> Okay. Here we go. >> Funny how all the anticipations and worries vanish as soon as I'm in the seat. That's just like car racing. [Music] Try the controls. They feel so light. The sled isn't going where I steer it. It overreacts. Or is it me? There are the brakes. Glad I had Paul's using them. Okay, now let up a little. Got to position the sled. Okay, it's feeling better. React to the steering more as it goes faster. Zigzag. Got to get the timing just right. [Music] Now the speed's coming up again. A flat turn. Okay, now head the finish curve. We're coming into it too fast. Break. Paul, he's not breaking. I'm going to have to get it right. I've got to get the take on perfectly. Got it. Got it. [Music] All right, Sam. Good trip. That was great. Good. >> You're a bob sled driver. >> Uh, I don't know about that, Paul, but I know we got to the bottom. Anyhow, >> and we're I guess we're still in one piece. How much did you have to use the brakes? >> Well, at the top, you notice you were doing a lot of skidding and banging up there. I was using a lot of braces. >> I noticed that. >> And that's what was causing that. But as I sensed that you were handling the corners a little bit better, I let it go and you could see it got smoother at the bottom. Yeah. >> And you had a nice trip through there through the finish turns. Beautiful. >> Great. >> I done something I wanted to do and wondered about for so long. Speed so different here than in cars, but also so much the same. It vanishes as you begin to understand the technique to study the sport as a science. Oddly, it's not so much speed I love. I guess it's my control of it. [Music] [Applause] Well, half speed today, maybe the Olympics tomorrow. Actually, I think I know that that would be impossible. Even in this brief contact with bob sledding, I can see that it is a sport every bit as complex as my sport of automobile racing. And I know how long it took me to be good at that. But this experience has made me fascinated with this sport. And I'm looking forward now very much to the 1980 Winter Olympic Games and to see how our teams, our US teams do in competition. I wish them every success.