MBNA Armed Forces Family 400 - Derrike Cope Notes

Cope One Of Few To Know Dover’s Victory Lane

Friendly’s Chevrolet Set For ‘Monster Mile’ Weekend

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. - Success can certainly be fleeting at tough Dover (Del.) International Speedway, but few have found it to begin with. Derrike Cope is one of just 13 active drivers who have won a NASCAR Winston Cup race at Dover.

He returns to the “Monster Mile” this week behind the wheel of the #37 Friendly’s Chevrolet.

“Winning at Dover is tough. Winning anywhere is tough but Dover has always been pretty demanding on the cars and on the drivers,” Cope said. “Thirteen drivers who will be in the race Sunday have won before at Dover. That means 30 of them don’t know how good it feels to win there.”

Just seven active drivers have won more Dover races than Cope.

“Winning is getting tougher and tougher, no matter who you are,” Cope said. “There was a time when you saw guys win 10 or 12 races a season. I think those days are long gone. A four or five-win season these days is an incredible year. That’s simply because there are more competitive teams out there and more teams capable of winning week-in and week-out.

“Building that competitive team is what we are working towards right now with Quest Motor Racing,” he continued. “It’s not an overnight thing but it’s something you work towards day in and day out, week in and week out. We want to be better this week than we were last week, and better next week than we will be this week. You want that continual improvement.”

One of the ways Cope is building that team is through a series of regional sponsorships, funding the team in a unique way that many feel could become the trend of the future.

Friendly’s Ice Cream, a family restaurant company serving signature sandwiches, entrees and ice cream desserts, is sponsoring Cope’s #37 Chevrolet this week at Dover, and has at least three other events planned for which it will be the primary sponsor. Friendly’s also sponsored Cope in the season-opening Daytona 500 and May’s Richmond 400, and has appeared on the car in selected other early-season events.

Cope, however, has been working with other companies, attempting to find regional sponsorships in areas outside of the main Friendly’s areas, and to develop cross-marketing and cross-promotions.

“We’re close to announcing a California-based national company that wants a presence in NASCAR racing will be on the car for several races this fall, and we have already had an Internet company sponsor us for two races,” Cope said. “We’re building what we can, and we are giving a lot of companies who either want to get their feet wet and see what this sport is all about or just don’t want to commit $10 or $12 million right now for sponsorship.”

Great Barrier Reef Online, which has its sites set on certain major markets, was Cope’s primary sponsor at California Speedway and at the Winston Open, and will be primary sponsor for the June race at Michigan and the July event at Chicagoland.

www.nextstudent.com, which provides assistance for federal student loans and the consolidation of loans, was an associate sponsor for Cope’s team in the Winston Open and Coca-Cola 600, and will be on the car again at Dover this weekend.

“Sponsorship is pretty expensive for a lot of companies but racing is expensive, and you can’t give the return of investment to a corporate sponsor unless you have the financial backing to do it right,” Cope said. “We looked at this a different way. Instead of, say, one company putting $8 million into a car, why not see if we can work with, say, four companies putting $2 million in each? Or five companies?

“Friendly’s is a great example of what we are looking to do,” he continued. “They want to be a part of NASCAR Winston Cup racing but, at this point, have a hard time justifying marketing in the southwest or midwest where they don’t currently have restaurants. So they picked the areas where they do have restaurants - like Dover this week - and put everything into those select races.”

Cope is considered one of the top business minds among drivers and owners in the sport. Winner of the 1990 Daytona 500 and one of a handful of veteran drivers with multiple wins in the major leagues of stock car racing, he also has background as a television commentator and does commercials through an endorsement with Avocor.

“Twenty years ago when sponsorship costs for a top team were in the hundreds of thousands instead of seven and eight figures, you could find companies willing to take a pro-active look at team sponsorship,” Cope said. “These days, a decision goes to the very top of the company.

“You have to show these companies the value. There has to be a return on investment,” Cope said. “Every time I stand in front of a board of directors or a corporate chairman, I have to keep that in the front of my mind. These people got there because they know business. If I can show them how sponsoring my race team is good for their business, they are going to jump on board, no matter what they think about racing personally. But if I can’t show them that, no matter how much they like it, they aren’t going to do it.”

For Friendly’s, Cope found the right approach.

“NASCAR and Friendly’s demographics are similar, so becoming a sponsor and getting involved with NASCAR was a great fit. This sponsorship fulfills a marketing objective of increasing brand awareness for Friendly’s. We believe Friendly’s and Quest Motor Racing make a formidable team,” said Peter E. Bell, Senior Director, Marketing for Friendly’s.

Two major promotions are planned around the races, including one that has just begun at www.friendlys.com, which allows race fans to win major prizes, including an all-expense paid weekend with Cope and the race team at a race later this season. A second promotion is expected to be announced in conjunction with the Pocono event next week.

“We want race fans to see the ‘Friendly’s’ on the side of our car and realize they are supporters of our sport,” Cope said. “If they haven’t eaten at Friendly’s lately, we want them to go inside and try it. My feeling is once they eat there, they will be back. The food is great, the service is great and it’s a place for families.

“Families is what our sport is all about. We need more family-type, family-supportive companies like Friendly’s involved in our sport, and we’re working towards doing that,” he added.

Friendly Ice Cream Corporation is a vertically integrated restaurant company serving signature sandwiches, entrees and ice cream desserts in a friendly, family environment in more than 550 company and franchised restaurants throughout the Northeast. The company also manufactures ice cream, which is distributed through more than 3,500 supermarkets and other retail locations. With a 67-year operating history, Friendly’s enjoys strong brand recognition and is currently revitalizing its restaurants and introducing new products to grow its customer base. Additional information on Friendly Ice Cream Corporation can be found on the company’s website (www.friendlys.com).

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