Las Vegas 400

March 7, 1999
Las Vegas, NV

(March 1, 1999) -- State Fair Pontiac driver Derrike Cope would certainly welcome a fling with Lady Luck as the NASCAR Winston Cup circuit hits Las Vegas, but he isn't counting on such a rendezvous.

Cope knows the only one way he and the Bahari' Racing team will become a competitive force in Sunday's Las Vegas 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is to roll up their sleeves and go to work.

"I try not to put too much emphasis on luck, just hard work," Cope said. "First of all, we're going to concentrate on qualifying for the race. Hopefully, we'll be able to have a productive run and continue some of the momentum we had secured at Daytona when we ran so well with the leaders."

Las Vegas marks the debut of State Fair Brand Corn Dogs as the primary sponsor on owner Chuck Rider's Pontiac. State Fair is "The Corn Dog of NASCAR." It's also one of four Sara Lee companies rotating as primary sponsors on the car this year. The others are Jimmy Dean, Bryan, and Rudy's Farm.

Las Vegas is also the starting point for all four brands' "Taste of the Race" sponsorship package with ESPN and ABC. Those networks will combine to televise 17 races this season, and Cope will run an in-car camera featuring the primary hood sponsor in each. In addition, five cars from each race will feature a telemetry statistics graphic, again featuring the primary hood sponsor, which will indicate a car's speed, RPMs, gear and brake light. The primary hood sponsor will also be featured on the networks' half-hour sports tickers. Finally, each brand will receive internet sponsorship banners throughout the season on ESPN.com, the most-visited sports site on the world wide web, as well as NASCAR Online.

The aggressive marketing sponsorship will produce 510 million impressions through the racing season.

"This is the first year for our sponsors in a primary role and it's programs like this that prove what an incredible job State Fair, Jimmy Dean, Bryan, and Rudy's Farm have done in such a short period of time," Cope said. "I'm sure there's a lot of anticipation to see those things on TV and how they're displayed."

Cope believes the in-car camera is one of the primary television creations that has pushed the NASCAR Winston Cup Series to its current popularity heights.

"In my opinion, all the television coverage has escalated the notoriety of the sport," Cope said. "The in-car cameras and the different telemetry things, all the different aspects that they give the fan, gives them a perspective of what its like to be inside the car. It's just a wealth of knowledge that has been delivered to the fan. It's brought them a lot closer to relating to what's going on during a race."

Cope qualified ninth for last year's inaugural race at Las Vegas. But NASCAR was still tinkering with its rules for the various manufacturers and Fords ruled on race day.

"If your car didn't have a blue oval on it on Sunday, under those old rules, you didn't have a chance," Cope said. "It was pretty bad, kind of like auto racing's version of Custer's Last Stand. Ford had everybody outclassed because the rules were just so lopsided. Ford drivers took the first seven positions and 13 of the top 14 finishes. I've been driving full-time for 11 years on this circuit and I had never seen such a rout. It was ridiculous. NASCAR, unbeknownst to them, had the Fords set up pretty well. Ford knew what they had and they had positioned themselves very well. I had never seen anything like that before. I hope I don't see it again."

While his racing brethren might take in a few casinos for a roll of the dice while in Las Vegas, Cope will spend his spare time differently.

"I'm not much of a gambler," Cope said. "I like shows and what I like most in Las Vegas is the shopping. They've got great stores for clothes. They have a nice Armani store and they have some outstanding stores that carry Versace' and different dress clothes that I like to wear. So, more than likely, Las Vegas is going to get some money from me, I can guarantee you that. I'd sure like to get some back on Sunday in the State Fair Pontiac."

After qualifying, Derrike said, "We're just lucky to have a race car really. The car turned sideways going into turn three. I lucked out. I turned back to the right and it caught and it did it again and I got back into the throttle and caught it just right and saved it and still ran a .12, so the car was probably capable of running a 31.80. It was that good. We're just lucky to have a race car and still run that fast. I'm pumped up. It was pretty good in practice. It ran a .90 something. I knew I had a little left for qualifying. I got through one really good, but it didn't have enough grip and I knew turn three was going to be edgy. Sure enough, there was like nothing there. But we're in and now we can go to work on our race setup. This is huge."

The #30 State Fair Corn Dogs Pontiac qualified in the first round with a 24th fastest time.  
 
In the opening laps, DC seems to be able to run with the rest of the pack, despite weather conditions completely different from the forecast.  
 
Lap 10, Benson and Stewart get together in front of DC, but he holds his line and avoids trouble. ABC uses the #30 in-car camera to show a replay of the incident.  
 
On lap 12, the #30 restarts in 22nd, but starts to fall back. No word from the broadcast booth as to any problem. Maybe just missed the setup.  
 
DC fades to 35th by lap 33.  
 
Pit stops start around lap 53, the leader W. Burton spins entering the pits, and we catch a glimpse of DC, apparently a lap down.  
 
DC is in 38th on lap 64.  
 
On lap 102, debris brings out another yellow flag. DC restarts in 36th, 1 lap down.  
 
Lap 118 sees Grissom and M. Waltrip crash, DC is shown in the pits when M. Martin has to pit twice. (One of Martin's tires is thrown toward the #30 pit stall, but a State Fair crewmember intercepts it.)  
 
DC goes to work and seems to be running at par with the rest of the field. Maybe the setup has been adjusted to the track conditions.  
 
K. Wallace and K. Irwin make a mess (in front of DC of course,) and DC cannot avoid this one, but he does a good job avoiding the infield wall.  
 
While DC can get back to the pits, Wallace and Irwin, the causes of the accident, are shown in front of DC in the standings. No explanation for that.  
 
DC gets back on the track and finishes the race 34th, 52 laps down.  

State Fair Brand Corn Dogs Pontiac driver Derrike Cope wasn’t counting on any luck while in Las Vegas, and Sunday he sure didn’t get any.

Cope was swept into a crash midway through the Las Vegas 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and finished 34th. He retained 40th-place in the NASCAR Winston Cup point standings.

Cope was speeding along on lap 131 of the 267-lap race when suddenly Kenny Irwin’s Ford broke loose, nudging the Chevy of Kenny Wallace into the wall. Cope had nowhere to go and plowed into Joe Nemechek, who was also collected in the crash.

The Bahari’ Racing team rushed to make repairs to Cope’s vehicle. They replaced his radiator and made cosmetic repairs to his Pontiac’s front end, allowing him to return to the race after 50 laps behind the wall.

“I got to running up there where I could race with people,” Cope said. “We felt like we were becoming more competitive. But coming off turn two I was on the outside trying to get by Nemechek and it looked like somebody got turned around. They all stopped in front of Nemechek and I. I ran into the back of him and it just started an accordion affect. It tore the nose up and the radiator and we had to come in and change all that.”

After the race, Derrike said, "It was very tight to start the race, way too tight. We didn't put a new set of tires on the last practice and the car was just way too tight. We just couldn't run. It just flat wouldn't turn a lick. We took a bunch of bite out and the car instantly came back. I got to running up there where I could race with people. If we hadn't been one lap down I think we would have been OK because we could have worked on the car from there. We felt like we were starting to become a bit more competitive then. But coming off turn two over there I was on the outside trying to get by Nemechek and it looked like somebody got turned around. They all stopped in front of Nemechek and me. I ran into the back of him and it just started an accordion affect. I saw Kenny Wallace in front of me and I tried to go through a gap and I hit Buckshot or somebody and that was all she wrote. It tore the nose up and the radiator and we had to come in and change all that. Obviously it wouldn't run too well after that."

Cope qualified 24th for the event in Friday’s time trials.

State Fair is one of four Sara Lee companies serving as rotating sponsors for Cope this season. The others are Jimmy Dean, Bryan Foods and Rudy’s Farm.

Next up for owner Chuck Rider’s team is Sunday’s Cracker Barrell 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Bruce Bates and Gil Shaw, Jr. were at the race and provided live reports. Bruce's Report, Gil's Report