Derrike Cope (Racecar Driver)

Derrike Cope is an American racecar driver who drives in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Derrike is a 2-time race winner in the series including an upset victory in the 1990 Daytona 500. He makes a guest appearance in Douglas Kenney's third Travel Factory film Christmas in Colorado: A Travel Factory Story.

Bio
Derrike Cope was born in Spanaway Washington on November 3rd, 1958. Cope started out as a young baseball player, but, after injuring his leg during a baseball practice session, Cope's anticipated baseball career did not happen. Instead he pursued a career in his other passion; race cars.

In the mid-1980s, Cope began a career in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. Eventually he joined Whitcomb Racing in 1989, a small fledgling single-car team owned by Bob Whitcomb. With the team, Cope won the 1990 Daytona 500 in what was one of NASCAR & Daytona's biggest upsets in NASCAR history. Cope only won because race leader Dale Earnhardt blew a tire in turn 3 on the final lap, allowing Cope to pass him to win the race. Cope further solidified his skills by winning his second-and-last win at Dover later that year. Since then, Cope has done things such as owning a small Xfinity Series team, and driving part-time schedules in the now-renamed Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. In 2017, at the Phoenix International Raceway, Travel Factory producer, Douglas Kenney, met Derrike on pit lane just before the 2017 Can-Am 500 in the penultimate NASCAR race of 2017. Douglas recorded a video of Derrike talking about his 1990 Daytona 500 victory for his film, Christmas in Colorado: A Travel Factory Story. They also got a picture with each other.