1989 Whitcomb Pontiac – Ken Bouchard

02/03/2024 – A rare shot of Ken Bouchard in the Whitcomb Racing Grand Prix at Daytona for 1989’s Speedweeks. Whitcomb was able to eventually secure Simoniz as the race sponsor, so this is capturing the Grand Prix in it’s unsponsored state.  Bouchard wound up finishing a more than respectable 16th (two laps down), but lasted only four more races with Whitcomb (DNQ’ing for race number four) after having an average finishing position of 30th+ following the Daytona 500. Whitcomb replaced Bouchard with Derrike Cope who ran the first five races of the 1989 season in Jim Testa’s #68 Purolator Grand Prix with Cope conveniently taking along the Purolator sponsorship, much to Testa’s chagrin (who never fielded a car again). Cope finished 1989 with Whitcomb with four top-10’s in the Purolator Grand Prix. Cope, of course went on to Daytona 500 glory in 1990 but in a Whitcomb Racing Chevrolet; perhaps the same reskinned car? That short decklid on the Pontiac GM10 body definitely put them at a disadvantage on the superspeedways compared to the other manufacturers.

1999 Derrike Cope’s Nightmare Pontiac Season

08/06/2023 – 1990 Daytona 500 Champion Derrike Cope had a truly nightmarish season in 1999 when he and Pontiac owner Chuck Rider lined up a rotating group of four sponsors through parent company Consolidated Foods to adorn their sharp looking 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix’s. As the graphic shows, the sponsors were committed and hopes were high before the season started. Following an acceptable 18th place finish at the 1999 Daytona 500, the misery and misfortune began.

Cope DNQ’d for Race #2 at Rockingham, which meant the Rudy’s Farm Pontiac never took a green flag. The next 21 races were a combination of DNQ’s (10 races) and an average finish of 35th (not including the Daytona 500) for the other 11 races. Cope was released by Rider following Cope only qualifying for race 20 of races 17-through-22. Overall, Cope managed to get Jimmy Dean in eight races, State Fair in two, and Bryan Foods one; the DNQ menu was Jimmy Dean missing seven races, Bryan Foods two, Rudy’s Farm one, and State Fair one.