Derrike Cope

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Derrike Cope
File:Derrike Cope 2014 Gardner Denver 200 at Road America.jpg
Cope at Road America in 2014
Born (1958-11-03) November 3, 1958 (age 65)
Spanaway, Washington, U.S.
Achievements 1990 Daytona 500 Winner
Awards 1984 Winston West Series Rookie of the Year
NASCAR Cup Series career
409 races run over 25 years
Best finish 15th (1995)
First race 1982 Winston Western 500 (Riverside)
Last race 2009 Tums Fast Relief 500 (Martinsville)
First win 1990 Daytona 500 (Daytona)
Last win 1990 Budweiser 500 (Dover)
Wins Top tens Poles
2 32 1
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
264 races run over 22 years
Car no., team No. 70 (Derrike Cope Racing)
2015 position 26th
Best finish 20th (2011)
First race 1990 Budweiser 300 (New Hampshire)
Last race 2016 Hisense 4K TV 300 (Charlotte)
First win 1994 NE Chevy 250 (New Hampshire)
Wins Top tens Poles
1 8 1
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career
15 races run over 7 years
Best finish 51st (2007)
First race 1995 Fas Mart SuperTruck Shootout (Richmond)
Last race 2008 Power Stroke Diesel 200 (IRP)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 1 0
Statistics current as of May 28, 2016.

Derrike Cope (born November 3, 1958) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He is known for his win in the 1990 Daytona 500. He currently drives the No. 70 Chevrolet Camaro for his own team, Derrike Cope Racing, in the Xfinity Series.

Early years

Cope was born in San Diego, California, and was raised in Spanaway, Washington. In high school, he enjoyed auto racing and baseball. He was a catcher on the Bethel High School baseball team, and later attended Whitman College to continue his baseball dreams. While being scouted by major league baseball teams, Cope suffered a knee injury that ended his hopes of a big-league career. He then devoted himself to racing full-time.[1][2]

Cope progressed through the short-track ranks in the Northwest, and later made his Winston Cup debut at Riverside International Raceway in 1982. Cope's No. 95 car finished 36th there after developing an oil leak, and he won $625.

He ran part-time in the Winston Cup series after that, making an attempt at Rookie of the Year in 1987. In 1989, he signed with Bob Whitcomb to drive the No. 10 Purolator Pontiac and later Chevrolet, posting four top-10 finishes.

1990–1995

During the last lap of the 1990 Daytona 500, Dale Earnhardt ran over a piece of debris and cut a tire in turn three. After narrowly avoiding most of the resulting debris, Cope assumed the lead and earned his first win in NASCAR competition. He became an overnight sensation as a result of the win, appearing on Late Night with David Letterman that week. At Dover later in the 1990 season, Cope rallied for another win after running out of fuel and falling off the lead lap. At year's end, he wound up 18th in points.

Following the 1992 season, the Whitcomb team closed down, and drove an originally unsponsored No. 66 Ford for Cale Yarborough. The car was later sponsored by Bojangles, and the number changed to No. 98, reflecting the restaurant's 98 cent value menu.

Midway through the 1994 season, Cope was replaced by Jeremy Mayfield and began driving for Bobby Allison's No. 12 Straight Arrow Ford, after a brief stint with car owner T.W. Taylor. During this season, Cope won his first career Busch Series race at New Hampshire International Speedway, driving the No. 82 Ford Thunderbird for Ron Zock. The 1995 season was Cope's most consistent. He had eight top-10 finishes, and garnered a 15th-place finish in points.

1996–2005

Cope's No. 36 car in 1997

When Allison's team shut down after the 1996 season, Cope signed on with the fledging MB2 Motorsports operation, driving the No. 36 Skittles Pontiac to a 27th-place finish in points. After one year, he was released and signed on with the Bahari Racing operation. Despite missing some races due to an injury, Cope won his first career pole position at Lowe's Motor Speedway, although he failed to post a top-10 finish in the No. 30 Gumout car.

Cope returned to Bahari in 1999 with Sara Lee sponsorship. After failing to qualify for 10 races, Cope was released from the team. He made sporadic appearances for LJ Racing and Larry Hedrick Motorsports, and later signed on to drive the No. 15 Ford Taurus owned by Fenley-Moore Motorsports. Cope became unhappy when the team only ran a part-time schedule, and quit after a few races. He spent the rest of the year on the sidelines, before taking over the No. 86 R.C. Cola Dodge Ram at Impact Motorsports at the end of the season in the Craftsman Truck Series.

In 2001, Cope announced the formation of Quest Motor Racing, a team he would co-own with drag racer Warren Johnson. The team did not qualify for a race all year, and his only start came with CLR Racing. He ran four races in the Busch Series in the No. 94 owned by Fred Bickford, posting a best finish of 21st at Bristol Motor Speedway. The team had mild success the next year, garnering sponsorship from Avacor and Poison. Cope also ran some races with BAM Racing that year.

After 18 starts in 2003 driving the No. 37 Friendly's Ice Cream Chevrolet, Cope merged the team with Arnold Motorsports. Cope qualified 5th for the 2004 Carolina Dodge Dealers 400, but after several starts, Cope was released from the ride, and took back his equipment. He also ran 30 races in the No. 49 Advil Ford for Jay Robinson in the Busch Series that season. His best finish, 20th, came at Daytona.

In 2005, Cope tried merging his team again, joining forces with Larry Hollenbeck and S.W.A.T. Fitness, but lost the opportunity after he failed to qualify for the Daytona 500. Cope had attempted a couple of races with Ware Racing Enterprises before making his only Cup start of the season at Martinsville Speedway, finishing 33rd in the No. 08 Royal Administration/Sundance Vacations[3]/My Guardian 911 Dodge for McGlynn Racing. Cope was later given the team's full-time ride in the No. 00, as requested by the sponsor.

2006–2015

In 2006, Cope intended to run a full schedule for McGlynn with No. 74 car, but soon cut back to part-time. His best finish was at Michigan International Speedway, where he finished 34th. In the Busch Series, his best finish in the 49 car was 33rd at Dover International Speedway, and his best start was 33rd at Bristol Motor Speedway. He intended to run more races with McGlynn in 2007, but the team suspended operations after only attempting one race. He spent the season driving part-time schedules for Robinson and Xpress Motorsports.

In 2008, he signed to drive for Means Racing in the Nationwide Series, but switched midseason to drive for James Finch and Jay Robinson Racing. Later in the season, Cope began entering his own trucks and cars in the Craftsman Truck Series and Nationwide Series. In the truck series he fielded the No. 73 and No. 74 trucks with Nick Turner and Jennifer Jo Cobb being the primary drivers, while in the Nationwide Series he fielded the No. 73 and No. 78 cars with Kevin Lepage driving the No. 73 and others racing the No. 78.

File:DerrikeCopeDodgeMilwaukeeMile2009.jpg
Cope in his No. 73 Nationwide car in 2009

As the 2009 season approached, Cope announced he would be involved on all three of NASCAR's circuits, as he would pilot the No. 75 Cope/Keller Racing Dodge in the Sprint Cup series with BluFrog Energy Drink coming on board as a primary sponsor during Daytona Speedweeks. He began the season as the driver of the No. 41 Metal Jeans Chevrolet Impala for Rick Ware Racing in the Nationwide Series, but was released after three races, and moved to his own team. He has also fielded trucks part-time for himself, Larry Foyt, and Jennifer Jo Cobb. Cope has fielded the No. 78 car for one race in nationwide. He has fielded the No. 73 for most of the races.

In 2009, Cope attempted six races with his self-owned team; he failed to qualify for any of them. At the October Martinsville race, Cope successfully attempted his first Sprint Cup race since 2006 while driving for Larry Gunselman.

In 2010, Cope teamed up with Dale Clemons as co-owners of new racing venture Stratus Racing Group. The team ran a full schedule with Cope as driver in both the Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series. It also ran a limited schedule in the ARCA Re/Max Series, fielding a car for Cope's twin nieces Amber Cope and Angela Cope, who split the ride.

File:Nationwide 28 Derrike Cope 2011 Road America Bucyrus 200.jpg
Cope racing his 2011 Nationwide car

Cope returned to Jay Robinson Inc. for 2011 in the No. 28 Chevrolet. For the 2011 Daytona 500, Cope attempted to qualify the No. 64 Toyota for Larry Gunselman with sponsorship from Sta-Bil. Cope finished 13th in the Budweiser Shootout driving for Gunselman. Cope has decided to field his cup car in select races with manufacturing backing from Chevrolet instead of Dodge. In the 2011 Sprint Showdown, Cope was involved in a crash with Landon Cassill, where he T-boned Cassill's car when he spun out. Neither driver was injured. Cope finished 20th in Nationwide Series standings, competing in all but one event.

Cope returned to the Nationwide Series in 2012, competing in the No. 73 Chevrolet for CFK Motorsports. Cope made his first race of the season in his own car during the fall race a Phoenix. Cope announced that he would run a part-time schedule in 2013. During the test session in Daytona in January 2014, Cope tested the 73 car.

File:70 Derrike Cope 2015 Road America.jpg
2015 Xfinity car at Road America

In 2014, Cope's team bought the equipment from the defunct ML Motorsports. Youtheory agreed to sponsor Cope for the entire 2014 season, enabling Cope to race full-time for the first time since 2011. It was a much needed break for Cope, and he piloted the No. 70 Youtheory Chevrolet to a 22nd-place points finish. In January 2015, Cope announced that he would return to the Xfinity Series for the full 2015 season with Charlie's Soap as the sponsor.[4] Cope missed the race at Daytona after issues in qualifying, but qualified the following week in Atlanta.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Sprint Cup Series

Daytona 500
Year Team Manufacturer Start Finish
1987 Stoke Racing Ford 23 33
1988 Testa Racing Ford 22 27
1989 Pontiac DNQ
1990 Whitcomb Racing Chevrolet 12 1
1991 33 26
1992 20 34
1993 Cale Yarborough Motorsports Ford 35 29
1994 16 21
1995 Bobby Allison Motorsports Ford 22 31
1996 22 41
1997 MB2 Motorsports Pontiac 29 36
1998 Bahari Racing Pontiac 11 37
1999 20 18
2000 Fenley-Moore Motorsports Ford 12 41
2001 Quest Motor Racing Pontiac DNQ
2003 Quest Motor Racing Chevrolet DNQ
2004 Arnold Motorsports Dodge 42 30
2005 SWAT Racing Chevrolet DNQ
2006 McGlynn Racing Dodge DNQ
2007 DNQ
2009 Derrike Cope Racing Dodge DNQ
2010 DNQ
2011 Max Q Motorsports Toyota DNQ

Xfinity Series

Camping World Truck Series

* Season still in progress
1 Ineligible for series points

24 Hours of Daytona

(key)

References

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  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Achievements
Preceded by Daytona 500 Winner
1990		 Succeeded by
Ernie Irvan
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