MBNA America 400 - Derrike Cope Notes

LINED UP BY POINTS, DERRIKE COPE WILL START 42ND IN SUNDAY'S RACE. HE HAS WON A WINSTON CUP RACE AT DOVER BEFORE

Rarity In Professional Sports

Cope says he ‘has to do right thing,’ Will run girl’s car at Dover at own expense

DERRIKE COPE FELT BAD THIS PAST FRIDAY AFTERNOON AT NEW HAMPSHIRE INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY. A TEAM FAILING TO MAKE A NASCAR WINSTON CUP RACE IS CERTAINLY NOT UNHEARD 0F – SOME BIG NAMES HAVE MISSED RACES THE PAST COUPLE OF SEASONS.

SENECA TEDFORD, A 12-YEAR-OLD GIRL FROM LEBANON, CT., HAD DESIGNED HIS CAR FOR NEW HAMPSHIRE, THOUGH. WINNER OF A COLORING CONTEST AT FRIENDLY’S RESTAURANTS, HER DESIGN OF A ROYAL BLUE AND HUNDREDS OF ICE CREAM CONES HAD WON THE PRIZE FROM AMONG THOUSANDS OF ENTRIES. COPE AND HIS FRIENDLY’S CHEVROLET TEAM BROUGHT THE CAR BY HER SCHOOL IN SOUTHEASTERN CONNECTICUTT THE DAY BEFORE NEW HAMPSHIRE OPENED, AND EVERY PERSON FROM HER SCHOOL SAW THE CAR AND WAS PART OF A SCHOOLWIDE ICE CREAM PARTY.

COPE SAID HE WOULD TAKE THE SAME CAR TO THE ONE-MILE DOVER (DEL.) INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY THIS WEEK FOR SUNDAY’S 400-MILE NASCAR WINSTON CUP RACE. HE AND THE TEAM HE OWNS IS FOOTING THE BILL FOR THE RACE, PAYING ALL OF IT OUT OF THEIR OWN POCKETS.

THE NEW HAMPSHIRE EVENT WAS THE LAST OF THE SIX SCHEDULED FOR FRIENDLY’S SPONSORSHIP OF COPE’S CAR, AND COPE IS NOT CONTRACTUALLY REQUIRED TO CARRY THEIR COLORS AT ANY ADDITIONAL EVENTS. PARAMOUNT HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT LLC OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF., ANNOUNCED SUNDAY IT WOULD SPONSOR COPE FOR THE FULL 2004 SEASON.

SAID DERRIKE COPE OF SPANAWAY, WASH.:

“This is just the right thing to do. I felt bad we missed the race at New Hampshire but I really felt bad for Seneca. She came to the track Sunday (at New Hampshire) and I know she and her family had a great time but the whole deal was having her paint scheme on the race track. So we’re going to fix the same car up, and take it to Dover - same car, same design.

“This is not anything Friendly’s said I had to do or anything like that. It’s something I felt like I had to do. For some people, it’s easy to let things slide sometimes, I guess, and just try to forget your obligations. As busy as the season gets, you can get distracted pretty easily.

“But Seneca (Tedford) worked hard, and she was really excited her car was going to be in a race. Our contract doesn’t call for a ‘make-good’ for Friendly’s, and they don’t expect it. But sometimes you have to go beyond a contract and just do the right thing. In my mind, this is a ‘make-good’ for Seneca Tedford, and for all of the kids who entered the contest. I owe them, and I am going to try to pay them back by getting Seneca’s design on the track at Dover this weekend.”

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