Bob Stewart

As a youngster watching his uncles race stock cars at Tenino, Spanaway and Elma, I grew up with every weekend being spent at the tracks.

I became familar with the Cope name from a few of my uncles using the Cope motors from the shop in Tacoma. In the late 80's I spent a weekend at the Yakima track watching Derrike bang doors with Bobby Allison on a visit by the Northwest tour. Right then and there I became a Derrike Cope fan.

As a long haul truck driver, I have a hard time getting to watch many races. I sure do wear out a lot of VCR tapes though. (Thank God for timers!) I've gone as far as renting motel rooms just to watch the race or going truckstop to truckstop to find a TV with the race on.

I did make it to the opener at Fontana though, and will try for Las Vegas in '99. Our man has had some tough times this year, but the good qualifying (sic) and top 20 finishes has more then reinforced my confidence that we will have a great time next year!