Sears DieHard 500 Live Report by Bruce Bates

Sunday was a beautiful day at the track in preparation for the DieHard 500. Derrike had a great qualifying run to put him in 5th position to start the race. Unfortunately I was not at the track Friday and Saturday as I was busy visiting with my family and playing golf. From the newspaper reports there was no earth shattering news though.

A friend of mine had managed to get me three tickets to the race with a pass to the Sears hospitality tent. I took my Dad and brother and we arrived at the track at about 7:00 am and walked around the souvenier trailers briefly. The SKITTLES® truck was there but I couldn't bring myself to buy anything since Irvan will be driving the car next year. We headed up to the hospitality area when it opened at 8:30 and found they had all sorts of drinks and danishes and muffins. There was also a pit tour and we got to walk down onto the track and see the teams preparing the pit stalls. The gasman for Chad Little showed us around their area and explained all the tools they use. Afterwards we walked down to the #36 pit and I took a couple of pictures but Derrike was not around. We exited through a gate in the tri-oval and I can tell you that the track is steep there. It is tough to imagine that the turns are banked almost twice that. Back at the Sears tent they had lunch all set up and we ate before heading to our seats.

The seats were located between the start-finish line and turn 1 on row 17. We had a limited view of the tri-oval, couldn't see anything in front of us unless they were running low on the track, couldn't see pit road except as they exited, but we could see all of turn 1 and 2 and some of turn 3. It was really cool to see all the cars come down for the green flag and Derrike near the front.

It was a normal start and he stayed right around fifth with lots of two and three-wide racing going on. Through lap twenty Derrike stayed in the top 10 with the spotter telling him when it was clear or not. Most of the time the spotter just said when it was three-wide as it was always at least two-wide. Around lap 23 the #36 was getting shuffled back in some really hard racing. Derrike would go through turns 1 and 2 really high but that is not uncommon for him. 41 of the 42 cars were running together at this time. Only Darrell Waltrip couldn't keep up. After awhile the #99 fell back also.

At lap 37 the crew told Derrike they would pit in about 15 laps and asked how the car was. Derrike answered it was pretty good. At lap 46 Cope was running about 17th with all but a few cars in the lead pack. Lap 51 saw the first caution of the day and it involved Derrike. The #36 was running on the outside of turn 2 three-wide and a white car on the inside which I later found out to be Stadridge went up the track forcing Cope into the wall. All I could see was smoke and dust but I heard the crew telling Derrike to pit so I figured he was still running. On the radio they were scrambling to pull all the metal out from the tires and as he came out of the pit I saw the right side was flattened pretty good. He came back in a few more times to finish repairs but I thought his day was not going to be competitive. On the stops they readjusted the toe-in. Derrike said they had it pretty close. All of the other cars used this caution for a much needed pit stop.

At lap 57 they were given the one to go before green and Derrike got on the radio and said "Can you believe our luck?" Ryan said everything was okay and to follow the #99 back up to the front but the restart was delayed and the #99 came back into the pits. At the restart DC ran with the #7 and others and seemed to be running okay although he said on the radio his car was hard to handle. At lap 65 Derrike caught the lead pack and settled in right in the middle. There was lots of hard racing and one time they went thru turn 1 four-wide.

At lap 99 the second caution waved for Wally Dallenbach's spin in the backstretch. Derrike on the radio said "that was brilliant" but I don't know what he was talking about. Anyhow he wasn't involved in the crash and came in to pit with the others. It was an average stop as he came out just about where he went in. Spencer was the new leader. On the radio DC and the crew were talking about neither line was moving very much and to try to get to the front with the #3. On the restart Derrike led Earnhardt in a draft up to the lead draft and caught them on lap 112. The #36 looked really good and he and Earnhardt moved up well using the middle groove.

Around lap 131 Cope was in about 10th place but said he couldn't hold on unless someone was behind him. At lap 140 there was a really big wreck on the backstretch. We couldn't see anything but there weren't many cars that came around at speed to take the caution. Nothing was said on the radio until the spotter asked DC if he was all right. Derrike said yes and Ryan asked if they could fix the car. Derrike said yes but it wasn't going to be competitive. Derrike made numerous stops to repair the damage but managed to stay on the lead lap. The car looked really bad when it came past us. They had all sorts of damage to the rear. This accident took out many of the front runners. Almost every car that came by had some sort of damage. Derrike definitely didn't look as bad as some of the others. On the MRN broadcast they said at first that Gordon and Andretti got together but later said Gordon had cut a tire. After all of the cleanup was done Terry Labonte had the lead.

On the restart Derrike was able to stay with the lead pack until the next caution for Brett Bodine's spin. Cope said the car was not good but didn't want to give up positions by coming in. He also said his helmet fan wasn't working and it was very hot. He was also talking about the big wreck and said that he almost made it through it but Dick Trickle came down in front of him and than he got hit in the rear. Before the green the spotter got with the #2, #99 and #91 to stay together. Derrike said he couldn't keep up when the #91 started falling back but he still managed to catch the lead draft.

The #36 ran with the pack until around lap 173 as he started to fall behind. Derrike wasn't too happy with the other drivers he was running with for leaving him but it did look like they could run much faster than him. Derrike was steadily losing ground to the leader and was close to going a lap down but thankfully the checkered flag waved and he finished as the last car on the lead lap. He asked where he ended up and the crew told him 18th. Ryan thanked DC for sticking it out and the crew for keeping the car running.

Terry Labonte finished first with brother Bobby a close second in a drastically reduced field. Overall I think it was a good run for Derrike and the #36. He was very competitive throughout most of the day and was unfortunately the victim of others mistakes. I didn't hear any animosity on the radio between he and the crew although the spotter sounds very bored on the radio.

After the race I met with Angela Walker who came to the race with her family and a friend. We talked briefly about Derrike's run and the prospects for a good season next year with the #30 car. We also did a little Ernie Irvan bashing for good measure. Thankfully there was an Irvan fan close by that I could direct a few jibes at. I think he was too drunk to realize it though. Well another race weekend comes to a close but I am looking forward to watching Derrike at Phoenix in a few weeks. I will send in another report from there.

Photos courtesy of Angela Walker