California 500

June 22, 1997
Fontana, CA

"We all are very excited to see what this track brings us," said Derrike, whose average finish in the last four races is 13.8. "We've proved we can finish in the top. How appropriate it would be for a new team to win at a new track. The SKITTLES® Pontiac ran great last week so we'll take it to California and see if we can't do better."

"The SKITTLES® Pontiac should be finishing this well every week," said crew chief Ryan Pemberton. "It's what I expect of myself and the rest of the SKITTLES® Race Team."

Derrike was the fifth car out in first round qualifying and produced a time of 39.836 seconds and a speed of 180.741. At the end of qualifying, the SKITTLES® team had a starting position of 23rd for the track's inaugural race.

This is where Derrike was during the race among the 42 car field:

• 20th position - lap 6 of 250
• 17th - lap 30 (first pit stops, Derrike came out in 24th because some cars didn't pit or took two tires only)
• 20th - lap 43
• 17th - lap 77 (green flag pit stops, some cars still taking two tires only)
• 20th - lap 92
• 19th - lap 140 (caution out, the team gambles in the pits and comes out in 4th position. Of course not a word from ABC as to what the team did or even acknowledge that Derrike was in 4th. Restart lap 147.)
• 16th - lap 148 (Derrike goes high and saves it, but loses track position just before a caution comes out)
• 17th - lap 164
• 23rd - lap 187 (Around this lap, the SKITTLES® Pontiac started slowing and Benny Parsons surmised that the car had lost a cylinder)
• 20th - lap 192
• 28th - lap 207 (3 laps down)
• 29th - lap 220
• 30th - lap 247

Derrike finished the race in 29th position, 5 laps down. This race would mark the first time this season that the SKITTLES® Pontiac had engine problems during a race. Rather than try to push the engine at the end which might have caused an early exit, the car stayed on the track to not lose as many points in the point standings.

After the race we learned that the car was not good at all on cold "sticker" tires. The car was so loose and Derrike said he just couldn't handle it. The skuffed tires ran a little better, but when they finally got the car handling good, the motor started laying down. The problem with the motor was a broken rocker arm.

Bruce Bates and Mike Bertrand were at the race and provided live reports. Bruce's Live Report, Mike's Live Report