California 500 Live Report by Bruce Bates

Friday
Rain,rain,rain. That is about all I can say about today. I got to the track around 10 o'clock and it was raining lightly. I decided to walk around the souvenir trailers and about that time it started raining heavier. I waited awhile and it actually started clearing to the west so I went back up to the track to see if anything was going on. It wasn't and after awhile it started to rain again.

I caught a bite to eat and waited and waited until about 2:30 when I had enough and came back home. I found out on ESPN that qualifying will hopefully be run tomorrow so hopefully Derrike can make the field on time as I don't think he has much of a chance to make it on points. We shall see. The weather here at home is very nice now (5:00 PM pacific time) and the forecast for the weekend is looking pretty good. Hopefully I will have good news to report for tomorrow.

PS. I saw that Tony Roper will start 24th tomorrow. Hopefully there will be a practice tonight so that he can get some quality track time before the race. Go #61.

Saturday
What a difference a day makes. As far as the weather is concerned at least. Today was a beautiful day at the track with just a little bit of fog and breezy conditions. The rain has gone away and the temperature is very nice. Unfortunately there appears to be little change in the season for Derrike so far this weekend. I am happy to say that he will be starting in the race tomorrow. NASCAR for some reason decided to cancel qualifying altogether and set the field by points and postmarks. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, Derrike will go off from the 43rd position. I guess he will not be a candidate for Stock Car Fans big dropper of the week award as there is only one way to go and that is up!

I arrived at the track around 9 o'clock and was able to watch most of the morning practice. Derrike was not posting very fast speeds. The scoreboard here would show the lap speed of each car as they passed the start finish line. While everyone else was going around 178 to 180, Cope was consistently stuck in the 176 mph range. The #30 showed 43rd fastest at the end of the practice session. Listening on the scanner only informed me that they were never able to get the car feeling comfortable or fast. I also felt that there was very little enthusiasm on the part of anyone on the radio.

Next up on the agenda was a great Busch Grand National race. I was pulling for Tony Roper and the IWX team. The race was very exciting and had a good share of two wide racing in the corners. There were also a few more accidents than normal in both the BGN and the Winston West race later on in the day. Unfortunately the #61 had a rough day. Tony was forced into the grass for two incidents in front of him. On the second excursion he suffered quite a bit of front end damage and had to spend valuable time making repairs. He was able to return to the track and picked up a few positions for the team's valiant effort.

Interestingly, Dave Fuge appeared to be doing the spotter duties as well as crew chief. There was also a miscue on Roper and the teams part on one part before the second wreck. Tony was trying to come in a little too fast and overshot the pit stall. He backed it up and the pit work commenced but something else happened as the car was leaving and he was forced to back up again. I believe a lug nut was left off. This cost them a lap and valuable track position. Nevertheless it was very fun to listen to the team on the scanner. There seems to be quite a bit of enthusiasm and effort from everyone on the #61 team. Tony made some awesome moves on the track while also displaying a great deal of patience. Dave Fuge is quite frank and direct with the crew but also seems to know his stuff. I look forward to great things from these guys and gals and hope they continue to improve.

I skipped the Happy Hour practice for Winston Cup as I took that time to grab a bite to eat. After checking NASCAR On-line it appears the Bahari' team is still searching for speed as they ended up with the slowest speed in that practice as well. The Winston West race was a lot of fun as a mix of veterans and rookies put on a good show for us. Ricky Craven got the win in a race that had several crashes and lots of battles for the lead. There was also a scary crash in turn four that produced a huge fireball. Fortunately there were no injuries that were reported. I will send in a report after the race tomorrow. Hopefully the team will guess right on some changes to make the car faster and Derrike can avoid any incidents.

Sunday
Hello everyone once again. Well I finally got home after a bout with California traffic and here is the race report. The weather was a bit foggier and much cooler this morning at the track than yesterday. I am really believing that the weather folks have no clue as to what they are talking about out here. I also know that the Pacific Ocean and all the mountains out here play havoc with their forecast from time to time. Nevertheless by race time the fog was burning off and the temperature was getting at least comfortable to those fools who wore shorts like me. It was also quite breezy from the start of the race.

Upon arrival to the track my wife and I bumped into the State Fair corn dog mascots. I waved my Jimmy Dean cap and yelled "go Derrike Cope" to them. That was when the big corn dog asked me if he could keep my hat. If I had thought quick enough I would have agreed to a trade, for say hospitality tent access or a State Fair jacket. Oh well, I guess I'll never be called a quick thinker. At least I still have my cap.

Derrike was dressed up in his Sunday finest of Jimmy Dean colors for driver introductions. I didn't see Renee Cope with him so I assume he made the trip out West by himself. The governor of California, Gray Davis, also mentioned Derrike when he paid tribute to the drivers with a California connection in the field.

Before the race Derrike and the crew talked about the fenders on the car and if it would push. Derrike made a good start of it and was holding his own in the beginning laps. Johnny Benson smacked the turn 4 wall early on. The spotter told DC to "hold his line" and the #30 made it through. Derrike was asked how the car felt and he said it was a lot better but didn't know how tight it would get later. He also stated that the radio was breaking up when he was on the backstretch. From the conversation it sounded like the team had made some body changes before the race. From what I could see it appeared that it made them better than their practice speeds from Saturday, however he was still not making that many passes on the track.

Around lap 30 another caution flew for Dave Marcis' tire debris and Derrike pitted for 4 tires and an adjustment. The stop looked average to me and he came out in about 36 to 37 place. Unfortunately on the restart Cope started falling to the back of the pack pretty quickly. Around lap 45 the Jimmy Dean Pontiac was slowing noticeably and I could hear the motor had a skipping sound. The spotter also reported puffs of smoke coming from the car. Derrike pitted and the team decided to pull behind the wall to check under the valve covers. I couldn't see the garage area from my seat but at lap 57 I heard someone on the radio say "we're done. It lost a valve." This relegated the team to a 42nd place finish. The hauler left the track before the end of the race.

The remainder of the race was pretty good. I saw the cars go 3 wide through turns 1 and 2 several times without crashing. My second favorite driver, Bobby Labonte, finished third. The track was tough on motors today with several teams including Mark Martin. The finish of the race was all too familiar as Jeff Gordon took his third victory of the season. For those of you thinking Jeff Burton could have caught him given more laps, I wouldn't bet the house on it. The #24 was taking it easy out there knowing they had a sizeable enough lead to win. Jeff Gordon even slowed down with a few laps remaining so as not to put the #55 another lap down. It was also fun listening to Dale Earnhardt say a few choice words on the radio about his teammate.

The traffic was quite a bit worse this year than in the past. I wonder if Penske and the bunch may be taking things for granted after all their initial success as far as fan enjoyment. Hopefully this is not the case and things will be better next year. All in all it was an enjoyable race weekend and I look forward to my next race at Charlotte with the fan club. Hopefully DC and Bahari' Racing will catch a break and see some improvement throughout this season.