Cope, Gumout, & Bahari' Aim High In 1998

You can see it in his body language as well. Nearly every day during the off season, visitors to Bahari' Racing's Mooresville, N.C., racing facility see Cope in the shop talking to crew chief Doug Hewitt, monitoring the team's new chassis construction program, or just stopping by to take his new teammates out to lunch.

This sport isn't old hat to the 15-year veteran just yet, but he has seen all aspects of racing. Cope has climbed to the highest peak when he visited victory lane at the 1990 Daytona 500, and he has endured some lean years with underfinanced or first-year teams.

Now the 39-year-old Spanaway, Wash., native joins Bahari' Racing for the 1998 season, where there are no financial worries. This veteran team expects to break into the top 10 in the points standings -- a goal it missed by a single point in 1997.

"This is the best situation for Derrike Cope in my entire career," said Cope, who replaces Johnny Benson at Bahari'. Cope becomes the first driver to sit behind the wheel of a Bahari' car with a Winston Cup victory on his resume.

Cope knows his goals for the season. "Simply put, our main goal is to win a race. We would like to finish in the top 10. This team missed the top 10 by just a point last year. That still hurts these guys. But, I think they will go into this year knowing what it takes to get there and knowing they are capable of getting there," he said during a recent visit to the Bahari' shop.

His confidence about his ability to return to victory lane and give Bahari' and sponsor Gumout their first victories doesn't waver. "This year isn't going to be about me proving myself, because I don't think there is a need for me to prove myself. I have won races in every series I have entered. I know I can win. I just need people to believe in me, and for the first time in a while my crew guys believe in me. This Gumout Pontiac is going to show that on the race track."

In addition to the leadership of veteran crew chief Doug Hewitt, Ron Puryear's new SB2 engines, and the stability of a solid race team, Bahari' hopes to give Cope an extra advantage when it unveils its new Steve Leavitt-built chassis, probably in time for the Martinsville race in April.

Hewitt said Bahari' decided to start the in-house chassis program to improve consistency among its fleet of race cars. Leavitt joined Bahari' because he built some of Cope's cars when Cope raced for the Bobby Allison-owned team in 1996. Cope drove two of Leavitt's cars to front-row starting positions and strong runs during the races that year.

"Every piece we make here is exactly the same, so we don't go from one Gumout Pontiac to another and have every little thing different," Hewitt said. "If we make a change on one car, we know that change is likely to work on any of our cars. That is a big advantage."

Bahari' Owner Chuck Rider said bringing aboard a veteran driver like Cope and embarking on a chassis program is all about a commitment to winning. "The chassis program will cost about $500,000 more a year, but it enables Bahari' Racing to do everything we need to do, all under our own roof, and we will know that everything we do on the car will meet our exacting standards," Rider said.

"This is what has made teams like Hendrick and Penske the successes they are. You could say this is a growing trend to the degree that you can only go so far as the quality of your people. You have to have highly trained people to run the equipment and the required computer software."

The chassis and the driver aren't the only new additions. The black, red, and silver of Gumout products now adorn the cars that have carried Pennzoil yellow since 1991. Pennzoil's Gumout® brand offers a full line of care-car products, including the new Gumout Long Life Formula™, featured on the #30 car. Gumout also offers automotive chemical products that clean, protect, and improve performance, including America's best-selling carburetor and choke-cleaner, Gumout Jet Spray.

The changes are exciting, but the goals are the same.

"We have a new driver, new chassis, new engine, and new sponsor, but we have the same Pontiac body and the same goals as before," said Hewitt, "a victory and a top-10 finish in the points. We missed by one point last year, so we know we can put the Gumout Pontiac in the top 10 this year."