October 5, 2001 The meeting began at 11am. Ken Fleming welcomed the 30 attendees including Derrike and his wife Renee. He then introduced the officers and described their duties in the fan club. Ken acknowledged the volunteers who assisted in developing the Fan Club meeting. The volunteers were Beverly Mitzel, Carolyn Peters, Norman and Gladys Reynolds, Ben Gutshall, and Steve Johnson. Ken also thanked Jim Mocium, the owner of Texas Roadhouse for allowing the meeting to be held at the restaurant, and Arlyn Davis for his help in coordinating the meeting through Derrike and the Quest Motor Racing shop. Fan Club members attending represented 11 states with Pennsylvania having the most attendees. Ken then introduced Derrike to speak before lunch was served. Derrike welcomed everyone and thanked him or her for attending especially considering the events of the last month. Derrike discussed the struggles of his race team and in trying to put something together to continue on. Derrike stated he understands the frustration of the fans by the lack of information but there wasn't much new to report. Derrike and Quest Motor Racing are still looking for funding and a contract to continue the racing effort. Derrike introduced his wife Renee and said how glad he was that she was able to attend the meeting. Derrike discussed his racing efforts with the CLR sponsored racing team. The race team and its members are new to racing in Winston Cup and they are young. Derrike described how he was asked to test the car at the Kansas Speedway and left on September 11th. When the terrorist actions began, the team decided to continue the test so Derrike rode with the team members to Kansas City for 17 hours. He got to know all about the team members during this trip west. While at the speedway the team had a very productive test. Afterwards Derrike rode back with the team to Charlotte in the van again. In retrospect Derrike said the ride was a very good thing as it gave him and the crew members a good chance to learn about each other. The car and team had a good effort at Kansas but unfortunately in qualifying at Lowes Speedway it bottomed out and missed the starting field. Derrike described how he missed the field at Charlotte by 5/100ths of a second. He then passed along a stopwatch and challenged the fans to start and stop it in that amount of time. The best that could be accomplished was 11/100ths of a second. Derrike feels that the CLR team will be able to run a limited schedule next year. The team hopes to test at California, Las Vegas, and Homestead this year and hopefully attempt the Homestead race. Derrike promised to take everyone on a personalized tour of the race shop after the meeting. Derrike discussed the racing efforts of his nieces and their aspirations for the future. Derrike stated that he and Renee had some reservations after the unfortunate death of Blaise Alexander the previous night. The meeting attendees enjoyed a fine lunch with excellent service provided by the restaurant. A drawing was held and each attendee received two items. These items included autographed helmet visors, shirts, fan club mugs, a pair of racing shoes, driving suits and pieces, and some unique die casts that Derrike and the fan Club provided. An auction was then held and the following items were auctioned off with the proceeds benefiting the Fan Club:
Derrike then answered some brief questions before signing any items that the attendees had. We learned that Derrike uses the Hutchens device instead of the HANS. Derrike also distributed some signed photos of him with his Dee Zee uniform. After the meeting Derrike led everyone over to his shop in Huntersville for a detailed tour of the facility. The team had gone to Texas for the truck race but there were still cars and engines and equipment to view. Derrike provided a detailed explanation of the equipment and processes involved and answered numerous questions form the group. Derrike told the group that a racing engine costs approximately $45,000 and a race car including labor is approximately $75,000. Derrike also stated that the entry fee for a race is $1,200. Derrike stated the importance of fans to thank and support sponsors so that they see the benefit of that sponsorship. Meeting Attendees
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