Coca-Cola 600 Live Report by Jeff Cope

Wednesday
I arrived at the airport 5 minutes before my brother Bob did in the adjacent gate. We got our rental car and headed to the hotel in Albermarle where other Derrike Cope Fan Club members would be staying. When we arrived, we learned that we were beaten by two other members, Ken Fleming Sr. and Jr.

After others arrived, we headed to the track to watch first round qualifying for the Winston Cup race. Derrike near the back of the qualifying order which was a good draw since the later cars had a good chance to get a faster qualifying time. Derrike finished his lap with a qualifying position in the late teens and we held our breath as following cars kept pushing the Gumout Pontiac to the rear of the field. When the last car went out Derrike was on the bubble and we were biting our nails that he would be able to hold on to the 25th spot. Fortunately, the luck held out and Derrike made the race in the first round.

Thursday
Early in the morning, I went to the Bahari' Raceshop to discuss things with marketing directory Rick Carpenter. Also attending were Patty Leizear, her husband Greg, and Carol Dignazio. We talked about the inaugural fan club meeting that night and the future of the fan club. We were all excited that some good things will be happening.

At 9:30, other fan club members showed up for a shop tour. Rick gave us a fantastic tour of the shop and answered any questions we had. Now we understand why Derrike is so excited to be part of such a wonderful team. On the way out the door, each person attending the tour was treated with a Gumout Motorsports coozie (can holder).

After Bahari', we headed to the Sabco raceshop for a tour. Their shop was also impressive and we appreciated the time they took off to give our group a personal tour.

Everybody then split up for the afternoon. Early evening had us heading back to the track for our inaugural fan club meeting in the infield. We found the tent by a motorhome where the meeting would take place and waited around for other fan club members to attend. Just a personal thanks to Vangie Boswell and Kathee Espinosa for a job well done! Secretary Carol Dignazio provided the minutes from the meeting.

Friday
No events were planned so everybody was on their own for the day. I headed out with my brother Bob to visit some more raceshops. We stopped at the Penske and Rousch shops but having been spoiled by the guided tours from the previous days, it was a bit of a letdown. We also visited the North Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame which was across the street.

After that, we found FoxCo and visited with Patty Fox. We then decided to find the MB2 Motorsports shop and after awhile and a couple directions, finally did. Unfortunately, it was 12:15pm and the place was locked up so they must have been out to lunch.  We then headed to the track to visit the Hendricks shops. As expected, they were very impressive with a museum and gift shop.

Since we missed the Busch qualifying from the previous day, we wanted to see Derrike run in the qualifying race. It was scheduled for 2:30pm and we got to the track at 2pm. There was the roar of engines so we weren't sure what was going on. We bought our tickets, walked up to the gates, and people were walking out. We learned that for some unknown reason, the race was started early at 1:30pm. We were not the only ones duped as there were numerous people upset at this. Fortunately we were able to get our money back.

Back at the hotel the people that were staying there decided to get together for dinner and we all walked to a local restaurant. After dinner, we hung around the pool until we were kicked out at 10pm. It was then decided that a few of us were going to go dancing at a local club where we ended up closing the place. Tammy Gutshall and Carol Dignazio were easily the best dancers in the building. However, the male trio of Tony Dignazio, fellow hoteler Bill, and I stole the show with our dance routine on the stage.

Saturday
Busch day had arrived and even though Derrike would not be in the race, we were still excited to attend. We had great seats past the finish line and enjoyed the race.

After dinner a bunch of us went to Angela Walker's house where she treated us to a fantastic barbecue dinner. We ended the evening with a birthday cake for Carol Dignazio and Bob Cope.

Since the previous evening's dancing was a success an even larger group left for the club. Unfortunately there was a big difference between the two nights and even though everybody had fun, it was a little bit of a letdown from the previous evening.

Sunday
Some of us had arranged to let a bus take us to the track to avoid race traffic. We arrived at the bus location early and waited for the bus to take us in. It was extremely easy getting into the track on the bus and they had designated parking in turn 2. At 2pm, they started serving a barbecue lunch for everybody that was on the bus. (Hmmm, barbecue and North Carolina. Must go together.)

The pre-race activities started at 4pm where we were treated by a show from an airborne division complete with helicopters, guns, and explosions. It was pretty exciting although some people thought it was depressing.

Most of the fan club members had seats together in turn 1 and when Derrike was driven by during the driver introductions, he must have heard us as we all screamed loudly.

The race was exciting and for me, was my first night race. It was a little difficult seeing the car colors and numbers on the other side of the track at night, but watching the flash bulbs go off in the stands was a great sight.

I won't reiterate the details of the race here because it's on the race page.

On the bus back to our meeting location, we were treated with the 1997 NASCAR Year in Review on the buses TV's. Some members had decided to leave directly for home from there so we all said goodbye to each other and promised to get together again next year for hopefully the 2nd annual Derrike Cope Fan Club meeting. If there is a meeting next year, you will not want to miss it as everyone that attended this year's meeting had a fantastic time.