Ray Townsend

Being from the northwest, with Evergreen Speedway as my home track, I have been a long time fan. I have been a fan of Jefferson Racing (Harry and George) since the 1960's. When Derrike began driving for them in the early 1980's I subsequently became a fan of him.

I always looked forward to when the circuit would visit Evergreen. Watching him at Evergreen I liked the determination and skill that he showed. The determination was evident in a two year time span. In 1984 at the Evergreen 200 he was leading with a few laps to go when he broke a rear axle causing him to lose the race. The next year Derrike came back and won the first Western Washington 500.

A few years later he showed his talent by manhandling a very loose race car, that did not belong up front, to a third place finish in the Motorcraft 500 at Evergreen. That moment firmed up my being a fan of his.

I have been a true fan of Derrike through the good times and bad. One of my favorite memories was the 1990 Daytona 500. I had organized a Daytona 500 party in my college dorm. Most people didn't know racing but we had a betting pool where I was lucky enough to draw Derrike and Bill Elliott. I am pretty laid back so after the final pit stop when Derrike was in the lead, people were pretty amazed when I started yelling at the TV. When Earnhardt blew his tire and Derrike took the lead I got even louder, and as he crossed the finish line I guess I jumped a couch in front of me. I was on such a high I didn't really notice it. Boy, did we party that night. An interesting note is that the Seattle area had the race preempted by a basketball game and couldn't see it live. Since I was living on the Canadian border we saw it off of Canadian television.