California 500 Live Report by Bruce Bates

Friday
The weather turned out pretty nice for qualifying. I arrived at the track about 9:45am (a little bit after practice had begun) and was just in time to see Derrike take to the track. I mostly just scanned the frequencies but did hear Derrike and the team spend a considerable amount of their time working on the accelerator sticking. Finally they got that worked out but then Todd Bodine spun his car in turn 3 and hit the wall so they had to wait a little longer to come out. When the #30 did run DC said the car was loose and came back in to work on it some more.

After this we decided to walk around the souvenirs and grab some lunch so I missed the #90 hitting the wall but I saw they had to use their back-up car to qualify. I made it back into my seat when qualifying started and saw that the cars were not going as fast as in practice and that wasn't good as Derrike wasn't exactly at the top of the speeds then.

There were two crashes in turn 3 during qualifying and the #98 almost hit the wall in turn 2. I wasn't listening to the scanner at the time but Derrike must have slipped in turn 3 because as he came out of turn 4 he was much higher than the other cars. At the time he was 22nd of 25 cars and at the end he ended up in 40th position. I heard the announcer say that there were 47 cars at the track so I hope they have a good effort in second round qualifying or else he may end up going home early. I imagine many of the cars will requalify tomorrow as the temperatures are supposed to be lower and second round is earlier in the day.

The track itself is even better this year as they have a 42 position scoring pylon and they have a big screen TV located on the water tower in the infield so we'll be able to watch the replays and see what is happening on the backstretch better. There were quite a few more souvenir trailers than last year but the only new Derrike Cope merchandise since Las Vegas was a polo shirt.

Saturday
I left the house this morning with it raining very lightly. I was somewhat worried as it usually rains even more on the other side of the mountains towards LA but as I approached the track it began to look as though it would be a very nice day after all. Originally I had intended to go and see Kevin Meador at the Skittles Show Car but since Derrike was in jeopardy of not making the race I decided to go on to the track and catch some of the morning practice.

It was about 9:45am when I got to the speedway and Derrike was making some runs with times in the middle of the pack or lower. They were working with the shocks and track-bar. It still wasn't looking too good as some of the cars that were lower in the points had posted some fast times according to the pylon. They made a change to the right front shock which added more rebound and the car suddenly started coming around to DC's liking. They added even more rebound but as the #30 had just started the run Derrike said the motor had missed and he shut it off. Someone speculated it may be out of fuel and sure enough that was the reason. I heard Doug Hewitt say that was the best news they had today. The practice session ended then also so they never did get to test that combination.

In second round qualifying almost all the cars decided to run again. In fact I think just the #11 stood on their time and they ended up taking a provisional. The weather was definitely cooler than yesterday and this made for faster times. Derrike went out about midway through the session and ran a good enough lap to put him in 30th position thus far. After his lap Derrike said it was a good run and he didn't know what he could have done better. After the lap I felt relieved as I was pretty sure he would make the race and I was right as at the end of the session he was in 32nd spot.

There was a Winston West race afterwards and unlike last year the cars that failed to qualify weren't in the race. It was a decent race as Kenny Schrader won. I listened to the #47 car at the end of the race and it was unbelievable how happy and emotional they were to finish in third. The spotter who I believe was the drivers dad sounded like he was about to cry. At one point the driver who I think is named Nipper came on and said I hope you remember this feeling when the Visa bill comes due. After that I walked around the souvenir trailers with my god-daughter's father who came to the race with me and tried to avoid the temptation to spend even more money.

The IROC race was next and it was a pretty good show but I won't say the winner as I believe ABC won't show it for awhile. The last order of business was Happy Hour Practice. Derrike came out and posted a pretty low speed and improved on it ever so slightly in the first part of the practice. At first they were trying shocks but DC said it made the car worse. After awhile they made a track bar adjustment and the car came around a bit. The speeds weren't spectacular but they were consistent and Derrike seemed happier on the radio. They continued to make some adjustments and it seemed as though it was helping as at the end of the session the #30 was able to run with Jeremy Mayfield who has been fast all weekend. Someone made a point of saying that the weather was getting cooler and it was overcast by now. Derrike said they didn't want to make the same mistake as Vegas when the weather was noticeably different between Saturday and Sunday.

Nevertheless I felt pretty good after the practice was over that they had improved the car enough during the session that Derrike might be able to make a decent run tomorrow. The media has made a point of emphasizing fuel mileage but I remember that there were quite a few engine problems last year also, so hopefully the #30 can avoid the accidents and have a strong motor and the team will get a strong finish in the race. I know, I'm an optimist but you gotta have faith. Talk to ya tomorrow after the race.

Sunday
Well, El Niņo strikes again. It was cloudy almost the entire race but luckily no rain except on Derrike's parade. My wife and I got to the track a couple of hours early for the race and after quickly browsing outside arrived at our seats close to the start/finish line to watch the pre-race activities. This was our first time to leave our new baby with a sitter but thanks to beepers and cell phones it was quite painless.

The pre-race had parachutists and an introduction of some of the top 50 of Nascar including Bobby Allison. Derrike rode around the track with Jerry Nadeau after driver introductions and then it was on to the start of the race. The weather was very similar to what the conditions were during happy hour practice so I was still confident as to a good run by Derrike.

At the start Gordon rushed out to the lead as the field stretched out behind him. DC was driving steadily and gradually moving up in the pack. Very little was being said on the radio and occasionally he was able to pass on the high side in turns 3 and 4. During the first pit stop the #30 took on two tires and a track bar adjustment. Cope said the car was tighter but the speeds were better. Derrike was steadily losing ground to the leader and when the caution flew on lap 63 he was about a quarter lap in front of the #2. During the caution Derrike pitted and took 4 tires while many of the cars took just two. DC said he got in slow because he was having trouble picking up his pit and the spotter said he was having trouble picking the #30 out on the track. It showed as Derrike lost several spots and came out almost the end of the cars on the lead lap in 23rd spot. When the green flew again DC was steady as before and holding his own.

About lap 86 Dale Jarrett blew an engine in turn 1 causing a big accident involving the #44 and #94 plus the #3 and #31. The fire and debris from Elliot caused a 26 minute red flag. Derrike ran through the debris and said he felt something hit the bottom of the car and thought he had damage to the front spoiler. He was right and when he pitted they spent a considerable amount of time fixing it. They also put on 4 new tires. After he went back out he said there was a bad vibration in the car so they came in again and replaced the tires and that fixed it so they got a lucky break that they didn't put those tires on during a green flag stop. During the ensuing green flag run Derrike seemed to be holding his own and at lap 143 or so they pitted again for 2 tires and "make sure all the gas is in." Just as he was going back out there was a spin in turn 2 which brought out another yellow. Oh, for just one more lap and he would have put several cars down a lap as he was one of the last cars to come in to the pits. Nevertheless the team decided to pit again and take on the lefts and top off. This set them up for just 1 more stop until the end as far as fuel mileage.

Many cars came in a few laps later which moved Cope up to 12th before the green flag flew again. Things were looking very good as DC was running well and had good fuel mileage also. Unfortunately on lap 153 as the #30 was in traffic Derrike spun out and hit the turn 2 wall. On the radio Derrike was noticeably upset with himself for driving too aggressively at the time and told the crew it was his fault. When asked how the car was he just said "totaled." After a trip to the infield care center MRN reported he was fine and headed home as was the crew who wasted no time cleaning up the pit area.

The rest of the race saw Mark Martin dominate but good racing behind him including lots of 3 wide battles on the front stretch. Joe Nemechek spun through the infield in front of us and there was a multi-car crash exiting turn 4 that saw quite a few cars damaged. Rusty Wallace looked like he might have something for the #6 but near the end lost a cylinder and just a few laps later lost the other 7 in a big puff of smoke in turn 4. In the end Mark Martin became the second winner of the CA 500 in what I would say was a much more enjoyable race than last years even though Derrike had trouble.

I have to admit that I feel like Jeff Cope at Texas in that Derrike does not do well when I go to see the race. I was very confident that Derrike and the team were going to get a solid top ten finish but unfortunately they weren't around at the end again. I keep thinking that they will turn it around for this season but it was not to be this week. Well,there is always the next race. Hope everyone enjoys the off week before the Derrike Cope Fans descend on Charlotte for the race there.