Cope's Stock-Car Team Up For Sale

Driver Derrike Cope of Spanaway and his teammates are out of work less than three weeks before the start of the NASCAR Winston Cup season.

Owner Bob Whitcomb has put the stock-car team up for sale, and if a buyer does not surface before the season-opening Daytona 500 on Feb. 13, the Charlotte, N.C.-based team will fold, said Dana Landry, Cope's spokesman.

Cope, reportedly on the road in pursuit of an owner-sponsor, was not available for comment.

Tulsa-based Purolator Products, Cope's prime sponsor the past two years, and Whitcomb have severed their relationship with a year remaining on their contract, said Scott Stirton, director of racing for Purolator.

"Purolator did not initiate the severance," Stirton said. "However, it was mutually agreed upon."

Whitcomb was not available for comment in Keene, N.H., where he operates Bob Whitcomb Enterprises. The company includes the racing team and investments in construction supplies and real estate.

Lloyd McCleary, an engine builder from Coupeville, Wash., who has worked for Cope the past two years, said by telephone from Charlotte that "everything is in limbo." He said the first indication of a problem occurred "when we didn't get paid last Tuesday."

McCleary and Rick Bohney of Tacoma are the only Northwesterners on the 20-plus member team.

Cope, a two-time winner on the Winston Cup circuit, soared to prominence by winning the 1990 Daytona 500.