JIM EVERETT ON THE LINE

It wasn’t long ago that celebrity athletes such as Herschel Walker and Willie Gault tried to make the U.S. bobsled team. It’s not likely to happen again, at least the way pusher Chip Minton sees it.

“Those guys couldn’t even make the team now,” Minton said. “They’re great athletes, no doubt, but there’s no pro athletes going to take our spots.”

Brian Shimer and fellow U.S. driver Jim Herberich agree with Minton that NFL or world-class track pedigrees aren’t necessary to get a bobsled off the block and speeding down the ice track.

Nowadays, Shimer said, “unless they took a year off and train specifically for bobsledding, there’s no way to make it. They would obviously have to retire from whatever they’re getting paid millions to do, and I don’t think anybody’s that stupid.”