Bi-Lo 200 - Derrike Cope Notes

It’s Not LA – But Darlington Important Market
Owner Jay Robinson talks sponsorship, Darlington

INDIAN TRAIL, N.C. – In a sport driven more and more by large corporate sponsorships, a weekend in one of the smallest towns in one of the country’s least-populated states doesn’t sound like it makes much sense.

But Darlington, S.C., where the first stock car superspeedway was built in 1950, is different.

“It’s like the NFL going to Green Bay or the professional golf tour going to Augusta,” said Jay Robinson, owner of the #49 Advil Ford of driver Derrike Cope and the #39 Yahoo! Ford of driver Tina Gordon.

“You’re not there because it’s the largest market in the country. I don’t know of a single person yet who has confused Darlington with Los Angeles or New York,” he laughed. “But you go because of what it is, and the tradition that is there.”

Robinson, considered one of the most savvy business thinkers among car owners in NASCAR, said there is a marketing and business importance to Darlington.

“You can’t overlook the history of the place. You can’t overlook the greatest names in stock car racing who have won there, and some of the greatest races ever run have been there,” Robinson said. “That’s not lost on Advil or Yahoo! or anybody else on our cars.”

Because of television, major markets aren’t always mandatory, he said.

“No, you can’t run 36 races at Darlington and Martinsville and Bristol, but you can mix them in with these major market races and be really successful with it,” Robinson said. “You look at Darlington as more of a giant television studio. The strange shape of the track and the fact the place has a ‘humanness’ to it – and not always the good side of humanness – and you get some great races there.

“It’s not Los Angeles or Chicago or Dallas but people from those cities will be watching on television. Races at Darlington are pretty high on race fans’ ‘don’t miss’ list.”

Darlington is a 1.366-mile oval of sorts, shaped more like an egg. The first and second turns are narrower than the third and fourth turns, leading to some interest chassis combinations as teams compromise to find the fastest way around the race track. That combined with the asphalt’s abrasiveness which leads to quick tire wear, lends itself to some tremendous racing.

“How can anybody not love to see racing like that? No, it’s not a major market but it’s a heck of a race. These are the types of races that drew large crowds in the first place, and the types of races that first interested the big television networks in our sport,” Robinson said.

He is hoping that translates into success for his teams at Darlington – on the track and off.

“Darlington is tough, no doubt about that,” said Cope, who wheels the #49 Advil Ford, “A driver and a team has to go in there with a positive frame of mind, but you have to be ready to compromise and adjust. If you get through turns one and two well, you’re going to have a hard time doing well in three and four. So you compromise one and two a little to make yourself better in three and four. You have to think things through, and then re-think them.

“Drivers, especially rookie drivers, are looking for consistency but that’s hard to find at probably the most inconsistent track we run. Every lap is different. The turns are different, and your car is different. Experience plays a big role at Darlington simply because you have to know what to expect as each lap progresses,” he said.

Cope, a native of Spanaway, Wash., is a former winner of the Daytona 500 and a two-time NASCAR Nextel Cup race winner. A top athlete whose professional baseball career was cut short by a knee injury in college, Cope has become one of the top athletes in NASCAR racing, and has become one of the top public spokesmen for the sport.

Jay Robinson Racing, in its fourth season of operation, is one of the fastest-growing teams in NASCAR. Robinson, a Charlotte, N.C., native who is a successful businessman, founded the team as a high-value endeavor that offers high-end equipment and efforts, while proving to be one of the most cost-efficient teams in the sport. Robinson fields two sponsored cars fulltime on the Busch Series: Cope’s #49 Advil Ford and the #39 Yahoo! Ford, which Cope is helping mentor.