Derrike Cope: The 1990 Daytona 500 Winner and Five-Decade Racer

Derrike Cope is a veteran American NASCAR driver and team owner, remembered above all for an unexpected 1990 Daytona 500 victory. Across decades in the Cup Series he also ran teams of his own, and his final Cup entry came in the No. 15 Chevrolet Camaro. As of 2022 he was the last driver to race in at least one Cup event in five consecutive decades.

Where did Derrike Cope grow up?

Cope was born in San Diego, California, on 3 November 1958, but he was raised in Spanaway, Washington. At Bethel High School he was a catcher on the baseball team and enjoyed auto racing alongside it. He later played college baseball at Whitman College, and scouts from Major League Baseball took an interest in him before a knee injury ended the playing career.

That injury turned his focus to cars. He devoted himself to racing full-time and began a career that took him from the short tracks of the Northwest to the top tier of stock car racing.

A surprise Daytona 500 win opened a NASCAR career that stretched across five decades.

How did Cope break into the Winston Cup Series?

Cope made his Winston Cup Series debut at Riverside International Raceway in 1982. His No. 95 car finished 36th after developing an oil leak, and he collected $625 for the start. He ran part-time after that, made an attempt at Rookie of the Year in 1987, and in 1989 signed with Bob Whitcomb to drive the No. 10 Purolator Pontiac, which later became a Chevrolet.

That stint produced four top-ten finishes. It was a steady rather than spectacular period, and the team's later changes shaped what followed.

What happened in the 1990 Daytona 500?

The race was the turning point of Cope's career. On the last lap, Dale Earnhardt, who had dominated the event, ran over debris and cut a tyre in turn three. Cope slipped past the slowing car, took the lead and won, his first Cup victory and his first top-five finish. His previous best had been sixth.

The win made him a sudden national figure. He appeared on Late Night with David Letterman that week. Later in 1990 he added a second Cup win at Dover, where he had run out of fuel and fallen off the lead lap before rallying. He finished the season eighteenth in points.

How did Cope's career develop in the early 1990s?

When the Whitcomb team closed after the 1992 season, Cope drove an unsponsored No. 66 Ford for Cale Yarborough. After the Daytona race the car gained a sponsor, Bojangles, and the number changed to No. 98 at Rockingham, a nod to the restaurant's 98 cent value menu.

In the middle of 1994 Jeremy Mayfield replaced him, and Cope moved to Bobby Allison's No. 12 Straight Arrow-sponsored Ford after a brief stint with T.W. Taylor. That same season he took his first Busch Series victory at New Hampshire International Speedway, behind the wheel of Ron Zook's No. 82 Ford Thunderbird. The 1995 season was his most consistent, with eight top-ten finishes and a 15th-place finish in points. His best result that year was a runner-up finish at Phoenix, where he led 34 laps before losing to Ricky Rudd in a late shootout.

Which teams did Cope drive for between 1996 and 2005?

This was the most unsettled period of his career. When Bobby Allison's team shut down after 1996, Cope joined the new MB2 Motorsports operation and drove the No. 36 Skittles Pontiac to a 27th-place points finish. He was released after one year and joined Bahari Racing, where he took his first career pole at Lowe's Motor Speedway despite missing some races to injury.

In 1999 Bahari ran Sara Lee sponsorship on his car, but after failing to qualify for ten races he was let go. He made sporadic starts with LJ Racing and Larry Hedrick Motorsports, then took the No. 86 R.C. Cola Dodge Ram at Impact Motorsports in the Craftsman Truck Series. In 2001 he announced Quest Motor Racing with drag racer Warren Johnson. The team never qualified that year, although Cope ran four Busch races with a best finish of 21st at Bristol.

In 2003 he drove the No. 37 Friendly's Ice Cream Chevrolet for eighteen starts before merging the team with Arnold Motorsports. In 2004 he qualified fifth for the Carolina Dodge Dealers 400, but he was released after several starts. In 2005 he made only one Cup start that season, at Martinsville Speedway, where he finished 33rd in a Dodge for McGlynn Racing.

How did Cope run his own teams from 2006 to 2011?

In 2006 Cope intended to run a full schedule for McGlynn in the No. 74 car, but he cut back to part-time. His best finish that year was 34th at Michigan International Speedway. The McGlynn team suspended operations in 2007 after a single attempt, and he spent that season driving part-time for other owners.

From 2008 Cope began entering his own trucks and cars, with other drivers at the wheel in several events. In 2009 his plan had him in a Dodge carrying the No. 75 and run with Keller as co-owner at Cup level, with a drink brand, BluFrog, as lead backer. His own team attempted six races that year and qualified for none. He returned to a Cup start at Martinsville in October 2009, driving for Larry Gunselman.

In 2010 he teamed up with Dale Clemons to form Stratus Racing Group, which ran a full Nationwide and Truck schedule with Cope driving. In 2011 he returned to Jay Robinson Inc. in the No. 28 Chevrolet, attempted the Daytona 500 in a Toyota for Gunselman, and finished thirteenth in the Budweiser Shootout. He ended the Nationwide season twentieth in the standings.

How did Cope use his trucks and cars as an owner?

Cope's team ownership went beyond his own driving. In 2008 he fielded the No. 73 and No. 74 trucks in the Craftsman Truck Series, with Nick Tucker and Jennifer Jo Cobb as the main drivers. In the Nationwide Series that year his entries were the No. 73 and No. 78 machines, with Kevin Lepage piloting the former and other drivers the latter.

He also fielded trucks part-time for himself, Larry Foyt and Jennifer Jo Cobb. Much of the team work came down to the No. 73, which he ran for most of the races, and that same number came back in 2012 under the CFK banner.

What did Cope do in the Xfinity Series from 2012 to 2016?

In 2012 Cope ran the No. 73 Chevrolet for his own CFK Motorsports in the Nationwide Series. The following year he went part-time, failing to qualify at Darlington and then starting only some events. In 2014 Youtheory sponsored his No. 70 Chevrolet for the full season, and he finished 22nd in points, his first full-time season since 2011.

The 2015 season was a harder one. Cope ran a part-time schedule with Charlie's Soap as sponsor, and at Auto Club his hauler was swarmed by bees, with several crew members stuck inside. In 2016 he drove 28 races. At The Glen, his car suffered a tyre failure during the Zippo 200 that led to a front-end explosion, and NASCAR later traced the cause to heat from a broken spindle. He was unharmed.

Did Cope return to the Cup Series in 2017?

Yes. In January 2017 he closed his Xfinity team after sixteen years and signed with Premium Motorsports for a Cup return. He qualified for the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on 3 March 2017, his first race at the top level since 2009, and finished 36th after power steering trouble.

The partnership with Premium ended in September 2017. Cope then ran for StarCom Racing in the No. 00 car. StarCom withdrew from Dover, but he made the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas, starting 39th and finishing last with mechanical problems. At Phoenix he charged from the back to finish 32nd. He also ran a Darlington throwback with a No. 55 car styled after his Mane 'n Tail car from 1994 to 1996.

What was Cope's role in the Cup Series in 2018 and 2021?

StarCom secured a charter for the 2018 season, with Cope and Jeffrey Earnhardt sharing the bulk of the schedule. When Earnhardt left, Landon Cassill was hired. Cope's No. 99 car made its debut at Dover, the site of his second Cup win in 1990, and he also ran Pocono and Darlington that year.

After focusing on management in 2019 and 2020, Cope returned to driving in 2021. He took the wheel of Rick Ware Racing's No. 15, a Camaro sponsored by Jacob Companies, in a tie-up with StarCom for the Daytona 500. StarCom shut down at the end of that season, leaving Cope a free agent.

What is Derrike Cope doing now?

After StarCom closed, Cope and his wife sold their shares of the operation. He joined Nick Tucker's SCCA team, Nitro Motorsports, in the managing department of its Trans-Am 2 operation. He has also been active in the GT America Series, continuing his involvement in motor sport beyond the Cup garage.

What does Cope's career table show?

Is Cope related to other people in racing?

Several relatives have raced. His first cousin is NASCAR crew chief Ernie Cope, and his nieces Angela Ruch and Amber Cope have also competed in NASCAR. His cousin Nick Tucker has raced as well. Angela still races on a part-time basis, whereas Amber stopped driving in 2012 following a clash with Kevin Harvick.