Pocono 500 Live Report by Mike Steele

As I return for my third race ever (and third at Pocono) I think how fantastic this sport is. The drivers, the teams, the fans. I was ready for the race weekend.

The Thursday through Monday prior to the race saw a lot of rain back here about one hour from the track. We were all sweating this out. But Tuesday saw little clouds and a lot of sun.

I arrived in the area on Thursday night about 8pm and spoke on the CB with some of the haulers (#35,#96,#75) also arriving. They would not own up to what they were carrying, claiming on board was "nothin' but chickens." I said they were some high octane and extremely fast birds.

Friday brought on qualifying. Derrike came out 31st. You could tell he was not running real good and qualified 31 out of 31 at the time. I knew a little how the drivers and crews felt at that moment. The thoughts of coming a good distance and possibly not making the race played sad songs in my thoughts. There was no way of finding out how 2nd round went until we got to practice after the ARCA race. I was straining to see and hear a Gumout Pontiac coming out for laps. At that moment I happened to look up and the Winston Cup trailer showed DC starting in the 22nd row. Hey - can't win if you don't start. He was in. During his laps he radioed in that turn 3 was ok (6 degree bank) but the car would just not turn in turn 1 (24 degree bank). That was his slow point. He said the right front was heavy and his crew confirmed that with tire temps 35 degrees hotter in the right front vs the left front. He continued to talk to determine what should be done to correct problems. When he pulled off the track and went behind the wall I thought radio transmission would halt. But he kept talking. I guess when you only have 1 hour you don't waste a second.

Sunday brought high hopes and extremely hot sunshine. It was in the 80's by 8:30am when we arrived at the track. We hung out. Nothing to look at because Gumout did not have a trailer there for a high price raiding mission. Hopefully they will have a trailer by the second race. #30 was one of the last cars placed in the starting line-up on pit road. I was dying from the heat waiting but relief would come on lap 42. When the cars rolled off the place went wild. DC was starting 41st. With the green came cheers and chills. I love those chills you get when the green drops. The first couple laps DC was around 40-42. But then he moved up a couple cars. He was reporting the car was extremely loose. They could only run and wait. He got as high as 36 I believe before dropping back.

On lap 42 the skies grew dark and all cooled down. The race was halted for about one hour as the north end of the speedway got poured on and our end got a mild shower. You could look over and see the track drenched to the left and barely wet to our right. After they went back to racing Derrike got together with another car (#36 I believe) and it shot Derrike spinning into pit road. He quickly went down pit road and back on the track. But radio communications between Derrike and the crew told how the car would be. They were getting ready to come in and go to work. The first thought was that the damage was bad. But then they went to work and found it not to be that bad. But it did lose DC 6 laps total. After that he was not in contention due to laps down. But his car ran good. He stayed 6 down the entire race. He could have run with the group all day but for that one incident. Due to the attrition rate Derrike moved up to finish 26th (6 laps down).

Rain or no rain it was a fantastic race. Great people and a great sport. They say once you go to any other track that Pocono loses its luster. This may be true but if you want to have a great time, go racing.

We spent the weekend at a campground near the track and met many new people. Even a bus load came down from Kingston, Ontario, Canada for the race. Without a doubt this sport beats the rest combined.

GO DERRIKE!