Bobby Rahal's Only Cup Start as Sponsored Teammate to Derrike Cope & Kyle Petty - November 18, 1984

I almost let the date November 18th slip by without noting it was the 29th anniversary of the only time I ever sponsored three different cars in the same race.

I have recounted the occasion in detail previously, but I just found wonderful photos taken by our RR member Scott Baker at his www.bakerracingpix.com site of all three 7-Eleven cars at the November 18, 1984 Winston Western 500 at Riverside, California.

In car #21 was Bobby Raha l making his ONLY lifetime NASCAR start. He was driving for the Wood Brothers .

In car #7 was Kyle Petty , making his last start for many years out of the Petty Enterprises stable before joining the Wood Brothers for the 1985 season.

In car #95 was a young Derrike Cope just over 5 years before his astounding 1990 Daytona 500 win. Derrike was enroute to the 1984 NASCAR Winston West Rookie of the Year title driving Fords for George Jefferson of Yakima, Washington.

If you have never visited the photo site of our RR member Scott Baker at www.bakerracingpix.com , I strongly encourage you to pay it a visit. The site is full of historic photos, mostly west coast, and it has a terrific search feature.

Again, all of the photos below are from the November 18, 1984 Winston Western 500 weekend at Riverside, California, taken by Scott Baker and posted on his web site. I believe all of these shots were taken during practice days.

Just think if this trio had been one year earlier in 1983. You might have had 3 Creamsicle themed cars on the track at one time.

Dave:

Thanks for the PR!!

Where do I send the check?

Scott

I think we owe you the check for the wonderful pictures!

No way. Strictly amateur here.

I have purchased some software to enhance a correct digital images that should help. That will be my winter project. Lots to do.....

I remember him - that famous southern stock car driver Bobby Ray Hall.

LOL!!!

Russ, I know you've worked around Bobby in IndyCar and he's as nice as they come. Bobby drove for 7-Eleven in the Zakspeed/Roush Ford Probe and in IndyCar - I guess it was CART at the time, before or after Emerson Fittapaldi - I forgert. He'd had a wonderful relationship with the late Jim Trueman, owner of Red Roof Inns and the Mid-Ohio Sports Car course.

With Bobby's road course experience and 7-Eleven taking Kyle to Wood Brothers for the 1985 season, it was just a cool way to start our Wood Brothers sponsorship.

Bobby and Leonard Wood hit it off famously and Bobby was enthralled to hear Leonard tell of pitting the Colin Chapman Lotuses at Indy, including 1965 winner, Jim Clark.

An interesting side note that made for good conversation, also, was the fact that Bobby Rahal and Eddie Wood were each married to a twin and they wre able to laugh about some interesting experiences related to twins.

I recall early on race day morning sitting with Bobby in the 24 hour HoJos adjoining the Riverside HoJos motel where we stayed, each reading a paperback in the wee hours of Sunday morning.

Bobby later made some nice introductions for me in 1988-89 at an M.I.S. CART race when I was trying to hook up the Otter Pops folks with the McKennas and Plasti-Kote Spray paint for a full NASCAR car sponsorship.

By the way, Derrike had the best finish of the the three - 15th.

Photographer, David Allio captured this photo of a young Derrike Cope with his Winston West car owner George "Jeff" Jefferson during practice at Riverside on November 17, 1984:

Very cool Dave! I bet you were holding your breath if all three were running together!?! lol

Unlike the "Boxy Birds" of previous years...I thought this era of Thunderbirds made beautiful racecars. However, much better with race paint than in 'street clothes'.

The Derrike Cope / Bobby Rahal conncetion surfaced years later with the post below at the humor site cheezburger.com as copied from the site totallylookslike.com: