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AUTO RACING COLUMN

Nothing Can Steal Cope's Day In The Sun

By MARTIN FENNELLY

Published: Jul 6, 2007

DAYTONA BEACH - Has there ever been more horsepower under one roof? It's Pepsi 400 week, but NASCAR is roaring toward February and the 50th running of the Daytona 500. It began with a gathering of living winners of The Great American Race.

They stood for The Great American Group Photo: Richard Petty, Bobby Allison and Junior Johnson. Buddy Baker, Darrell Waltrip and Bill Elliott. A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Sterling Marlin, Ernie Irvan and on and on.

The stories were magical. Memories were made of steel.

"Look around this room," 1980 winner Buddy Baker said. "There's not a fluke in here."

Some would argue different. Their chief exhibit has heard it before. To some, he's a pair of brown shoes on a black tuxedo. In a room of sharks, he still seems the fluke. His smile said it doesn't matter what anyone thinks and it never will.

"I'll always belong to this club," Derrike Cope said.

Of Dale And Destiny

Cope, 48, has been a trivia answer for 17 years. Question: Who raced past Dale Earnhardt's broken heart to win the 1990 Daytona 500?

Derrike Cope has always handled it with class and good humor, but he'll never be able to completely steer away from it. People remind him all the time. Reporters call him every February. For 17 years, he has been Mr. Lucky. For 17 years, the greatest day of his racing life has had a legend in its rear view.

On Feb. 18, 1990, Dale Earnhardt was in Turn 3 of the final lap, 10 seconds from winning his first Daytona 500, when debris shredded his right rear tire. Cope, running second, right behind Earnhardt, raced home with his gift.

It seemed all wrong. Cope was in his first full season. The 500 was his first win. He won only one other time in his career. He raced 328 times after 1990 and never won.

"Oh, I've heard it from fans. I still do," Cope said with a laugh. "But my father always told me, 'Nobody gives you anything.' You earn it. I ran hard that day."

It's a small fraternity, Daytona 500 winners. If Thursday had been "Animal House," Derrike Cope might have been elected Flounder.

Derrike, Mohammet Jugdish, Sidney and Clayton.

The other winners would have none of it.

"You have to be there in the right place," said 1989 500 winner Darrell Waltrip. "He was there that day. Every day? No. But he was there that day. It only takes one."

"I can still close my eyes and feel the warmth of the sun on my face," Cope said.

Two weeks after the 500, he was at a race in Rockingham, walking in the garage area, when he saw Earnhardt walking toward him. The Intimidator was not smiling.

"Seemed like one of those O.K. Corral deals," Cope said.

Suddenly, Earnhardt slammed a shoulder into Cope - and broke into a grin.

Congratulations.

"That meant as much as anything," Cope said.

He'll Always Belong

Dale Earnhardt finally beat the Daytona 500 in 1998.

"It would have been a shame if he'd never won that race," Cope said.

In 2001, Cope was hired as a TV studio analyst. His first assignment was the 500 - Earnhardt's final race.

"Talked through my tears," Cope said. "He was an icon, like Elvis Presley."

There are times when history ain't nothing but a hound dog. But once upon a time it threw Derrike Cope a bone.

He is running a limited Busch Series schedule this season. His Daytona 500 trophy sits by the fireplace at his home in North Carolina. He enjoys a good fire. He looks at the trophy sometimes.

"Every night, actually."

Cope looked around the room Thursday at all the winners.

"It's amazing just to be here," he said.

The mountaintop is the mountaintop. No matter how you get there or who you are.

"You still get your stake in the ground," Cope said. "Driving into Victory Lane here, that's like standing on Mount Everest."

The sun stays warm on your face.