Pocono 500 Live Report by Bob Pristash

Friday was a great day for racing at the Pocono raceway. It started out very warm and the heat did not let up at all during the day. I started out my day by going to Derrike's souvenir trailer and buying a few things. Next I went out to watch practice in which Derrike looked to have a good car.

Just before qualifying began on Friday at 3:00, I went down to Autograph Alley located in the infield. Many drivers including Derrike, Earnhardt, Wallace, Martin and many others stop by to sign autographs for the fans. Pocono is one of the few tracks that does this and is one of the reasons I keep on going back.

In qualifying, the #30 Gumout Pontiac had a disappointing qualifying run recording only the 44th fastest time with a speed of 163.408 mph. On Saturday, the team could not improve very much and had to take a provisional ending up in the 41st position. Although it was not the best qualifying effort, I was still extremely happy that Derrike was in the race and I was looking forward to the race on Sunday.

Sunday again was a warm and humid day in the Poconos. We left for the track at 7:00 in order to get there early. Traffic was bumper to bumper but moving steadily until a 3 car accident near the entrance to the track stopped traffic for about 40 minutes when we were only about 1 1/2 miles from the track. We got in around 9:30 and I again walked around all of the souvenir trailers.

The race began at 1:00 and I was looking forward to Derrike moving up through the pack. He received a warm welcome from the Pennsylvania fans during driver introductions and when the race started, he moved up to around 27th spot and barely missed getting hit by Rusty Wallace on lap 13 when Rusty's engine blew. Rain started on lap 42 postponing the race for 1 hour and 10 minutes. When the race restarted, Derrike was around 30th spot until an accident with Ernie Irvan, ironically in the Skittles car Derrike drove last year, made contact with him spinning both into the pits and narrowly missing the pitting car of Geoff Bodine. After several pit stops, Derrike lingered around 30th spot for the rest of the day eventually finishing 26th.

After all the problems the team had during the day, it was not really as bad as it could have been. After the race, we went to the car and made dinner and finally got out of the track around 10:00 pm after a long wait in traffic. Hopefully Derrike will get things turned around this weekend in Sonoma.