Coca-Cola 300 Texas 500

Coca-Cola 300 / Texas 500 Live Report by Jeff Cope

Thursday
I arrived in Ft. Worth at 9:30am and checked into the hotel where I was staying with Kevin Meador, Skittles show car driver. The first thing I tried was to dial-in with my laptop to make sure everything worked. Well, it didn't. I could not dial-in which meant no emails and no updating the website. After spending about an hour uninstalling and installing software, I gave up and headed for the track.

I arrived at the end of the first Busch practice and checked out the Gumout souvenir trailer. Besides the two t-shirts and two hats, they now have a black Gumout polo shirt.

In the first Winston Cup practice, Derrike was having problems with a bump in turn four that would cause something on the car to hit. Other drivers also complained about the bump in turn 4 as it was not there last year. After Jerry Nadeau crashed, Derrike was on pit road waiting to take the track while the clean-up continued. The team was having chicken for lunch and told Derrike that it was good and joked with him if he wanted them to run a piece of chicken out to him. At one point, the car got real loose and turned sideways, but Derrike was able to save it.

In the second Busch practice, the Kraft Monte Carlo seemed to do better getting dialed in. Derrike requested a steering wheel with a smaller grip and at first the team said it was back in the race shop, but they were able to find one at the track. At the end of the round, Derrike was the 20th fastest.

In the final Winston Cup practice, Derrike would run a couple laps, come in and they would change various things to make the car perform better out of the turns. It's amazing how it is simply a trial and error process to get the car set up. At the end of the round Derrike was only the 43rd fastest.

Friday
I started the day out early getting my garage pass and waiting around for practices to start. I ended up standing by the building where they mount the tires and watching them. Who should walk by, but Derrike. We talked for a little while and he headed off to the teams to get ready for practice.

First up was Busch practice and I visited the garage area and stood by the Kraft hauler listening to practice over the scanner and watching the team work on the car. All Busch teams have the capability to have a computer with the latest practice times, but the Kraft Racing team is one of the few that do. By the way, it is a Compaq computer. Oh, I also was able to get a personal tour of the Kraft hauler, including seeing Derrike's locker with his uniforms.

Derrike headed to the Winston Cup practice but got a slow start when the clutch didn't work, so the car was brought to the garage to fix that. During the second Winston Cup practice, Derrike ended up being 15th fastest.

In Busch qualifying, Derrike was the 28th car out on the track of 47 cars and produced a time of 30.476 and speed of 177.189. This was 10th fastest at that point. At the end of the round, the Kraft Monte Carlo was left in 13th position where Derrike will start the race.

Winston Cup qualifying started over an hour late because of a number of crashes in Busch qualifying. While they were waiting for Winston Cup qualifying to start, Derrike was interviewed and they discussed the shade coming on to the track which would probably help the later cars. Derrike wasn't too fond of the 7th qualifying position, and looking back on it, he was right.

At the start of Derrike's run, the car slipped on water seeping out of turn 1 and Derrike backed into the wall, ending hopes of a first round starting position.   The team made sure Derrike was okay and started getting the backup car out.   Two cars after Derrike attempted to qualify, Lake Speed crashed in the same exact spot in turn 1. This caused a delay in qualifying while the track was investigated and they discovered the seeping water. Shade had covered turn 1 which had caused the water to start coming out. Qualifying was postponed for the day and will be finished Sat. morning. Now only if Derrike had had a later qualifying position.  Fan Kurt Parker heard that Derrike reinjured his ribs and is having trouble moving.

Saturday
When I was heading to the track, I was hoping that the Gumout team would be able to make the race on a provisional so I could see Derrike drive. The Busch race was the farthest thing from my mind since Derrike had qualified 13th for the race. But when I arrived at the Kraft hauler, I learned that Derrike had really hurt himself bad and would be unable to drive the Kraft car and most likely not the Gumout car if the team made the race. That kind of put a damper on my weekend.

Busch practice was from 8:30-9:00 and at that time, the team still did not know who would be driving the car. I was asked since it looked like I might be able to fit in Derrike's uniform if I wanted to drive, but unfortunately, I had left my NASCAR license at home so was unable to. While we were waiting around to hear about a driver, I met co-owner Mac Martin. The team had hoped that David Green would drive but he would not give a commitment until after his Winston Cup qualifying run later that morning. As it turned out, Morgan Shepherd stepped up to drive the car. The Kraft hauler was next to the WCW Motorsports hauler and if anybody is a wrestling fan, Ted Dibiase was there and he smiled at me as I snapped his photo when he realized I recognized him.

I watched the rest of Winston Cup qualifying from pit row and got some great photos of the drivers as they moved up the line. After qualifying, PRN (Performance Racing Network) listed the drivers that would have to hope they could get a provisional (including Derrike) but could not commit who they would be. I headed back to the Gumout hauler and found them packing up, so the decision had been made. While I was standing there, a number of television crews interviewed Chuck Rider and although I couldn't quite hear what he was saying, was sure it was about how disappointed they were to be heading home. The TV crews then went off to interview Todd Bodine about the same thing. On the way out of the garage, I saw the car from the day before and it was pretty well banged up.

I had been given a pass to the Kraft hospitality tent so headed there for lunch before going to the grandstands. Before the Busch race started, I watched the sad moment of the Gumout hauler leaving the track.  Since the car did not get to run any practice before the race, they were basically trying to set it up during the race. Morgan Shepherd had to start in the back of the field and the team made numerous changes to get the car set up better. Morgan commented how he didn't want to push it too hard and bang up their race car, and they commented that they appreciated that. I watched the second half of the race from pit row.

Sunday
Since I had no driver to root for on Sunday, I drove to the track with Kevin Meador as he had to do a parade lap with the Skittles show car. I ended up wearing a Skittles Racing shirt from last year so I would fit in better.

While waiting for the race, country singer Sammy Kershaw performed for the crowd. I headed to the grandstand to catch the start of the race. It didn't take long for the first caution to come out as it happened at the start of lap 2 with a multi-car crash. Last year, the first multi-car crash happened on lap 1 so it went a little farther. Ernie Irvan was involved in the crash and I waited to hear on the scanner to see if they could get the car back out. They decided they couldn't and since my ride might be leaving the race early, I headed back to the garage. The Skittles crew was packing up the car and equipment and sure enough, Kevin was ready to leave. We headed back to the hotel, ordered some pizza and beer, and watched the rest of the race.

I have decided that I must be some kind of jinx and don't plan on going back to the Texas race next year. Last year Derrike made it to lap 18 and this year didn't make the race at all. And then when I put on Skittles Racing clothes, Ernie Irvan didn't make it past lap 2. So I must be the jinx and don't want to jinx Derrike again.  Maybe I won't go to any more races. Well, maybe just one more.