Pocono 500 Live Report by David Ronan

Already two races behind in the year, I finally made it to Pocono, though not without interruption. I had to work all day Friday which made it impossible to catch first round qualifying. Then I didn't leave my house until 11:00am Saturday for my 3 1/2 hour trip.

(3:00pm Sat) Arrived at the Speedway. Happy Hour was underway. My first project was to see the SKITTLES® car running "Flat Out". The car looked GREAT !!!

(3:30pm Sat) Maybe the only good thing about Pocono is that they have Grandstands in the Garage area and during Happy Hour this is the place to be. The Track was broadcasting Happy Hour Speeds and the first report was that Derrike was 24th fastest but by the close of the session he ended up 17th fastest (pretty good considering past Happy Hour performances).

(3:45pm Sat) With Happy Hour out of the way, it was off to the SKITTLES® Merchandise Trailer (third row in on the corner...couldn't miss it !!!). "Wow!!! What a line of people." Derrike was signing autographs from 4pm - 6pm (the first time this year at the Trailer). I hung out for the full 2 hours watching Derrike work the crowd. In between I would ask a question or two which he was happy to answer.

Derrike qualified 26th in first round and he was understandably in disbelief when he stood on his time and was shuffled down to 38th on Sunday's starting grid.

I mentioned that I was doing a race report for the Fan Club website and asked if I could ask a few questions after the autograph session. Derrike said that would be fine. By the time he finished signing autographs the only question I came up with was:

Me: "What do you think your chances are for tomorrow's race?"

Derrike: "Well Friday we were 26, the weather was cool this morning and we were working on the race setup. We weren't really ready to requalify and not even sure if we could step it up. The SKITTLES® car is running real well. I think we'll move up; I'm not worried about it."

Me: "You had a good Happy Hour, 17th fastest."

Derrike: "Yeah, last practice... we really didn't put new tires on it, except right at the beginning so I thing we'll do good in the long run."

And then I wished Derrike "good luck in the race." And that was it ... my two BIG questions. (All right ... pretty lame race report, I'll do better next time). We all know what happened Sunday.

Until the next report. (For a video copy of that bogus interview e-mail me at nascar12@borg.com)