COMPANY MAN; NASCAR kicks Brett Bodine upstairs to its Research and Development Center.(Motorsports)

Byline: BILL McGUIRE

His race shop is closed. The personnel and the race cars are all gone; only some pieces of equipment remain, collecting dust. Brett Bodine says he will never drive a race car again, his own or anyone else's. But unlike many racers when they finally hang up their shoes, he says he couldn't be happier. Bodine has taken a regular job-with NASCAR at its new Research and Development Center in Concord, North Carolina.

"Can I say I'm never, ever going to drive again? Yes, I can, and I'm very comfortable with the decision. I feel like I've had a relatively successful career. There aren't a lot of people who can say they've won a Cup race, and I was able to do that,'' says Bodine, whose only win came at North Wilkesboro in 1990, driving for Kenny Bernstein. "I lasted a long time in the sport. I've been a NASCAR member since I was 16 years old. This sport's changed. There aren't a lot of calls for 45-year-old race drivers anymore, and I'm really excited about what goes on at the R&D center that I never realized as a competitor.''

Built at a cost of $10 million and reportedly backed with a long-term budget of another $50 million, the Research and Development Center is a key stake in NASCAR's future. With complete technical capabilities from fabrication to fluid dynamics, its task is to research and validate new ways to improve safety and competition. The center is headed by Gary Nelson, who like Bodine was plucked straight from the garage area to take a role in series management. Virtually all the recent safety advances mandated by NASCAR came from or through Nelson's R&D department (originally based in a smaller facility in Conover), including impact data recorders, roof exit hatches and the SAFER barriers, which are scheduled to be installed at all Nextel Cup tracks by 2005. One initiative is the "car of the future,'' a five-year project that will first see testing in 2005. Among other features, NASCAR's next package will reportedly include a wider, taller greenhouse for greater driver protection and increased drag to reduce speeds.

While Bodine's responsibilities will include working with Nelson on the safety front, his formal title is director of cost research. As one of the last of a dying breed in NASCAR, the independent owner-driver, Bodine knows a thing or two about operating costs. After driving for team owners Bud Moore, Bernstein and Junior Johnson, Bodine bought out ...