DERRIKE WAYNE COPE - 11/03/1958
an American race-car driver in NASCAR, best known for his win at the 1990 Daytona 500. 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. He grew up as a baseball standout, so good as a hard-hitting catcher in high school and college (on a full athletic scholarship) that major league scouts — particularly from the Chicago Cubs and Baltimore Orioles — were regularly attending his games. Cope suffered a knee injury that ended his hopes of a big-league career. “It was a very severe knee injury, a complete blowout, ended all my baseball hopes,” Cope said. “My leg never went straight for the next three years.” It was time for Plan B, and in a sense, follow a family tradition. His father, Don, was a longtime NHRA drag racer, and with his brothers owned a speed shop in Spanaway. In a way, the younger Cope unknowingly began preparing for what would become a lifetime in racing when his father took the then 14-year-old to his race shop and put him to work grinding camshafts. He then devoted himself to racing full-time. Cope progressed through the short-track ranks in the Northwest, and later made his NASCAR Cup debut at Riverside International Raceway in 1982.
Cope's #95 car finished 36th there after developing an oil leak. He raced in three or four races per season over the next four years and got his first top 10 finish in 1986 in the Sovran Bank 500 at Martinsville. He started 17th and would finish 9th. In 1989, he signed with Bob Whitcomb to drive the No. 10 Purolator Chevy. He pulled a major upset in the season opening Daytona 500 of that year. Cope had started 12th and ran with the leaders all day. He and Dale Earnhardt battled through out the late stages of the race and a yellow flag flew with seven laps to go when Geoff Bodine spun. On the restart with five to go Cope, took the green first; but Earnhardt quickly assumed the point, and the next lap Earnhardt was in the lead. It looked like
First Cup win - Daytona 500 1990
Cup Series 1994
Earnhardt was going to win the race; but going into turn 3 on the final lap; Earnhardt ran over a piece of debris and cut down a tire. After narrowly avoiding most of the resulting debris, Cope assumed the lead and earned his first win, as well as his first top 5 (his best finish prior to the 1990 Daytona 500 was 6th) in NASCAR competition. 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 #66 Ford for Cale Yarborough. The car was later sponsored by Bojangles, and the number changed to #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 #12 Straight Arrow Ford, after a brief stint with
car owner T.W. Taylor. During this season, Cope won his first career Xfinity Series race at New Hampshire International Speedway, driving the #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. When Allison's team shut down after the 1996 season, Cope signed on with the fledging MB2 Motorsports operation, driving the #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 #30
Cup Series 1996
1998 Cup car
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 #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 side lines, before taking over the #86 R.C. Cola Dodge Ram at Impact Motorsports at the end of the season in the NASCAR Truck Series. 1999 would be Cope's final season to attempt to race full time in the Cup series. In 2006, Cope intended to run a full schedule for McGlynn with #74 car, but soon cut
back to part-time. His best finish was at Michigan International Speedway, where he finished 34th. In the Xfinity 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 Xfinity Series, but switched mid-season to drive for James Finch and Jay Robinson Racing. Later in the season, Cope began entering his own trucks and cars in the Truck Series and Xfinity Series. In the truck series he fielded the #73 and #74 trucks with Nick Turner and Jennifer Jo Cobb being the primary drivers, while in the Xfinity Series he fielded the #73 and #78 cars with Kevin Lepage driving the #73 and others racing the #78. 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
Amber & Angela Cope
Final NASCAR start - Daytona 2021
successfully attempted his first 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 Xfinity Series and Truck Series. Cope also ran a limited schedule Xfinity and Truck series, fielding cars for Cope's twin nieces Amber Cope and Angela Cope, who split the ride (pictured here). In 2014-2016 Cope only raced in Xfinity Series races. In 2017 Cope was hired by Jay Robinson to be among a bevy of drivers to drive for Premium Motorsports. Cope driver the #55 car for the majority of it's starts (19) while Reed Sorenson drove the team car (#15) for the majority of it's starts.
Copes best finish in 2017 would be in 31st spot. He made three starts in 2018 for StarCom Racing. He was entirely out of racing until he came out of retirement at the age of 62, to make what he said is his final Cup start at Daytona in 2021. He started 32nd; but a cut tire on lap three saw him have a disappointingly short day finishing 40th. At the end of that season, Cope and wife Elyshia sold their interest in StarCom Racing and are looking at new projects. Much like his buddy Morgan Shepherd who raced into his late 70s, Cope isn’t completely ready to hang up his fire suit for good. He’s also eyeing doing a partial race schedule if he can get the right situation and sponsors together. “Honestly, I don’t know,” said Cope, who lives with his wife north of Charlotte. “I think it’s really kind of something that I still would like to kind of piddle around with.” And while he isn’t shutting the door totally on an occasional Cup or Xfinity start, Cope is also quite interested in doing other forms of car racing. Some info from Wikipedia
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