In 1990, Derrike Cope ’80 shocked the racing world by winning the Daytona 500, an annual race for the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) Cup Series. From playing as a catcher for the Whitman baseball team to struggling to find a NASCAR team to race for, Cope’s career path is truly unique. He was given every opportunity to give up but pushed through the hardship to become a full-time NASCAR racer, eventually winning what many fans regard as the most prestigious race in NASCAR.
Cope was born in San Diego, California and raised in Tacoma, Washington, where his father drag raced professionally and built motors for race cars. Growing up, Cope always enjoyed spending time in his father’s shop and working on cars with him. While racing was a big part of Cope’s childhood, he aspired to play baseball and even garnered attention from Major League Baseball teams like the Chicago Cubs and Baltimore Orioles. Despite this attention, Cope opted to accept a scholarship from Whitman to play collegiate baseball in 1979.
While playing a home game in Walla Walla, he suffered a devastating injury when attempting to make a throw to second base; his cleat got stuck in the grass, causing his knee to move in the opposite direction of the rest of his body. Cope tore his meniscus, along with various ligaments. This injury marked the end of his baseball career.
“My knee never really went straight for three years, so you knew it was over,” Cope said in an interview with Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Aug. 21, 2024.
Playing professional baseball was no longer an option for Cope, but a new opportunity soon presented itself. His brother, Derren, enjoyed racing and was gifted a stock car from a longtime client of his father. Cope joined his brother in working on the car and began racing once he had recovered from his knee injury. His brother eventually decided to step away from racing in 1979, leaving the car to Cope.
In 1980, another long-term client of his father was retiring from racing and left Cope with his late model sportsman car. This car was eligible to race in the Winston West Grand National, a West Coast regional series of NASCAR. Cope worked on the car and raced part-time in the Winston West, where he caught the attention of George Jefferson, a Winston West team owner.
Jefferson offered Cope a full-time driving seat in exchange for Cope’s work on the car’s engine. During his time racing for Jefferson’s team, Cope won multiple races and scored several pole positions, bringing in several sponsorships for the team to fund their races. While driving for Jefferson, Cope raced in two NASCAR Cup Series races in 1982 and 1984. Cope aspired to race in the Cup Series full-time, but despite the sponsorships he acquired, Jefferson lacked the funding to make that a possibility. In 1984, Cope made the difficult decision to leave Jefferson and join a team funded by two Seattle businessmen who offered him a seat to race in the NASCAR Cup Series.
“It was a hard decision to leave George in that deal because he was pretty much my mentor,” Cope said to Dale Earnhardt Jr. “[He was] really the reason I had the success that I had.”
After his new team moved back to Seattle, Cope struggled to find a team on which he could consistently compete in the NASCAR Cup Series. Despite living paycheck to paycheck, Cope refused to give up on becoming a full-time Cup Series driver. Cope established a sponsorship deal with Purolator, a manufacturer of oil and air filters for cars, and secured a car from racing aficionado Robert Whitcomb. With Purolator, Cope became a full-time Cup Series racer, going on to compete in the 1990 Daytona 500.
In the week leading up to the Daytona 500, Cope knew that Dale Earnhardt would be his toughest competition. Despite Cope having one of the fastest cars based on practice lap times, Earnhardt, the dominant three-time Cup Series Championship holder, was still favored to win.
“Dale was the guy to beat,” Cope said to Dale Earnhardt Jr. “He is the guy who wants it the worst.”
In the qualifying time trials, Earnhardt placed second, while Cope placed 12th. Once the race began, Earnhardt consistently held first place; Cope was consistently fifth. As the race neared its final laps, Cope crawled his way into second position. In the final lap, Cope began to fall back from Earnhardt, but suddenly, Earnhardt’s car hit a piece of debris, slowing him down. Cope quickly maneuvered his way out of the debris, allowing him to pass Earnhardt for the 1990 Daytona 500 win.
Dale Earnhardt would go on to have one of the most prolific careers in NASCAR history, winning 79 Cup Series races. But what Cope accomplished at the 1990 Daytona 500 earned him his own well-deserved spot in NASCAR history. The accomplishment showed Cope’s dedication, hard work and grit — a man who never gave up.
