Special
Feature on Derrike
(Aug. 10, 1999) -- Attention race fans -- that just may be Derrike Cope you
see this upcoming weekend dining in a local restaurant near the famed Watkins
Glen, N.Y., road course.
That's because it's an enthusiastic Cope that heads to Sunday's Frontier at
the Glen race. In the midst of a trying NASCAR Winston Cup season, the Jimmy
Dean Pontiac driver likes the makings of his revamped team.
Two weeks ago, the Bahari' Racing team was sold to Boston businessman Jack
Birmingham. He hired a new crew chief, Barry Dodson, and made numerous personnel changes. The new combination made the field for last Saturday's
Brickyard 400, restoring confidence to driver and team.
"Before the sale of our team, I didn't even have the desire to go out to dinner after practice or the race, even if we made the race," Cope said. "I
just didn't feel like I wanted to go out because I would have to talk about
what was going on or why we were having problems. I really saw no end in sight. The team wasn't making the choices that needed to be made. Now, I kid
Barry and tell him that I'm going to take a shower and then go out and have
dinner by myself. Now I can show my face and that is how good I feel. It
feels like a big weight has been lifted off my shoulders. We have our work
cut out for us, but I feel like we are on the mend."
Cope's new found enthusiasm is a direct result of working with Dodson, who
guided Rusty Wallace to the 1989 Winston Cup championship. Cope believes that Dodson's leadership skills can turn Bahari'-Eel River Racing into a
competitive force.
"His decisiveness about his choices and the way he conducts himself have been
positive for our team," Cope said. "You can see by the way he walks at the
track that he has a look of self-assurance. He knows he belongs here. He knows what he needs. He was monitoring the weather at Indy and the track
temperature every ten minutes. He was making all kinds of decisions based on
experience and he was able to correlate all of that and come out with a very
decisive choice whether to stand or not to stand before second round qualifying. The decision to stand wasn't made on a guess, but on actual calculations that he had taken. That's what
it takes, somebody that has experience to draw from and the confidence to make the decision."
As well as a new outlook on the Winston Cup season, the Jimmy Dean team will
take a new road racing car to this week's race.
"It's a car that Steve Leavitt built from the ground up," Cope said. "Barry
and the guys have been looking at it. It should be ready for Watkins Glen,
which is a lot faster road course than Sears Point. At Watkins Glen, you
need to carry more speed and you can drive the car very hard there. Sears
Point has a lot of elevation changes. You have to pitch the car a little more and you go through some slow speed stuff. We've hired T&L Motors to run
our motor program. They will make a big difference for us this week. With
that motor, the combination of T&L and Barry's experience and leadership, we
feel confident about going to Watkins Glen."
Now the only question mark in Cope's head is where he's going to make dinner
reservations this weekend.
In Friday's second
practice, Derrike was 47th fastest with a time of 1:20.968 and speed of
114.155.
In first round
qualifying, Derrike took the track as the 4th driver and produced a time
of 1:15.579 and speed of 116.699. This was good enough for 3rd at the time
and at the end of the round, the Jimmy Dean Pontiac had slipped to 44th
position.
In Saturday's first
practice, Derrike was 31st fastest with a time of 1:14.098 and speed of
119.031.
Rain washed out
second round qualifying so NASCAR had to use first round qualifying to set
the field. Unfortunately that meant the new team missed their first race
of the year.
(Aug. 15, 1999) - Jimmy Dean
Pontiac driver Derrike Cope believed that he had a competitive car for
Sunday's Frontier at the Glen, but was never given a chance to prove it as
bad luck and rain sidelined the team's qualifying efforts.
The Jimmy Dean team blew its
qualifying engine on the third lap of Friday's practice and never fully
recovered. With the team's race engine, Cope posted a speed of 116.699 mph
in first qualifying round. The speed was the 45th best in the field and
sealed the team's fate when Saturday's second round of qualifying was
rained out.
"We went into Friday's
qualifying cold," Cope said. "We were not able to practice the
Jimmy Dean Pontiac with our race engine before qualifying because practice
was cancelled due to rain. We did not feel confident in the car until
Saturday morning's practice and then we were rained out again. It's
disappointing because I thought we had a proficient car. We just weren't
given a chance to showcase it."
Next up for Jack Birmingham's
Bahari'-Eel racing team is the Pepsi 400 at Michigan Speedway on Sunday.
Kathy Burkhart was at the race and
provided
a live report. Kathy's Report |
Top