Great Barrier Reef to Sponsor Car
April 22, 2003 - Derrike informed us that Great Barrier Reef will be the Primary Sponsor this weekend at California and will stay with the team as an Associate Sponsor for the rest of the year. Derrike said, "They start at California this week, then the first Michigan race, and then Chicagoland. I am delighted to be working with Mike Hardy and all the folks from GBR Online. This is a great branding opportunity for them and a perfect way to add more exposure about their services. Check them out!"  Press Release

Auto Club 500
April 22, 2003 - Derrike will be driving in California this weekend with Great Barrier Reef as the primary sponsor. Derrike told us, "Right now we are pretty excited about the opportunity with Great Barrier Reef as sponsor...as well as preparing ourselves for a number of races coming up. It looks like we will run...California, Richmond, Winston Open, Charlotte, Dover, Pocono, then Michigan. There is a lot of racing coming up and the guys are really working hard."

Richmond Test Session Positive
April 22, 2003 - Derrike and the #37 team tested at Richmond on April 15 and 16. “All in all we were pleased with the results that we achieved in testing at Richmond," Derrike commented. "The first day the track surface was extremely slippery as it had just been sealed. As a result the car was tight and due to the slippery surface we couldn’t let it all hang out. The second day the surface came around and we picked things up significantly. We were running with the competition. We acquired a lot of data as we tried a number of things. This will enable us to make changes to improve our handling characteristics and increase our speed."

Have you been to Friendly’s yet? If not you will want to go and checkout the promo card on each table outlining the Ultimate Race Weekend Contest. Speaking of the contest, Derrike indicated, “The Ultimate Race Weekend contest is going very well. We have experienced significant fan interest and participation. I hope that all of our fans will participate.” Who knows, you may be the grand prize winner.

Derrike Comments on Bristol
March 26, 2003 - We talked with Derrike earlier today regarding last week's outing at Bristol. "We had a strong qualifying effort at Bristol. We are particularly pleased as we were running a car that was not designed for that type of track. The team did an exceptional job to make the necessary adjustments to the car. Our motor was good and had strong acceleration. The car handled well in the qualifying run and obviously was quick. We had some productive practices and concentrated on runs using old tires to adjust the handling for race conditions. That meant somewhat slower times in practice.

"We were quick from the start in Sunday’s race. I was able to get right to the bottom of the track and stay there. Clearly we had made the right handling adjustments to the car. However, early on I noticed that the car was running hot. Evidently a fitting on the block broke which let the water out. The rest is history."

Derrike and the team have scheduled test sessions for Richmond April 15 and 16 and at Pocono May 28 and 29.

Looking ahead Derrike shared, "For a small group, we are doing an excellent job. I am proud of our organization and our team spirit. I am excited with our prospects. Within a week we will have three down force cars completed and ready for testing. In addition our fourth down force car is being assembled. As of now we are planning to run the upcoming races at Martinsville and California."

Derrike Comments on Daytona Test
January 10, 2003 - As you can imagine things are busy at Quest Motor Racing after this week's test sessions at Daytona. Earlier today, Derrike shared his thoughts on their effort, “Obviously we were disappointed with the speeds that we achieved at Daytona. However, I was extremely pleased with our team effort. Our crew chief, Ernie Cope, and I were pleased with how we came together as a unit.”

Assessing the need to pick up additional speed Derrike commented, “We have our car on the chassis dyno now running tests to measure our horsepower output. Also, we are making several aero changes in the car that we tested and our second speedway car. I suspect that we may have slightly missed front end shaping based on our analysis of our testing data. We are addressing that issue while looking at horsepower. We need to pick up an increase in speed of about six tenths. Putting it in perspective, 7 additional horsepower at the rear wheels amounts to a three tenth increase in speed. That can be achieved either by producing additional horsepower, an improved aero package, or a combination of the two.”

Looking ahead to this years Daytona 500 Derrike remarked, “As you can imagine we are working feverishly to prepare for this years race and the upcoming season. We have reliable test information that will enable us to enhance our speed. Bottom line, I am excited and am confident that when we go to Daytona in February that we will be ready.”

In Thursday's morning session, Derrike had a time of 50.267 with speed of 179.044. The afternoon time was 50.144 with speed of 179.483  In Wednesday's testing, Derrike's morning time was 50.255 with speed of 179.087. The afternoon time was 50.133 with speed of 179.522. In Monday's testing, Derrike's morning time was 50.709 with speed of 177.483. The afternoon time was 50.431 with speed of 178.299.