The Daytona 500's greatest upset, 30 years on

At the beginning of 1990, things could not have been much more exciting if you were a NASCAR fan. The previous year was the first where every race featured flag-to-flag TV coverage, and the title had gone down to the wire - with the ever-popular Rusty Wallace beating "The Intimidator", Dale Earnhardt, to the title. Dick Trickle won rookie of the year.

Looking ahead, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman among others were polishing off Days of Thunder, which would launch NASCAR even further into the public domain. But, it would get even better for those watching on. For fans of the then-Billboard 100 number one and Phil Collins, the Daytona 500 to kick off the 1990 season was truly another day in paradise.

The main reason for that was a dramatic late twist to the race that took victory away from the archetypal marmite character, Earnhardt - who had led by a proverbial NASCAR calendar at one point - and handed a relatively unknown 31-year-old victory in the 'Great American Race'. His name? Derrike Cope.

Earnhardt (below, right, with Wallace) had been competing full-time for 11 years at this point but, despite being one of NASCAR's best racers on the 2.5-mile super speedways, a win in the Daytona 500 had eluded him. It was a needle as sharp as they get in an ego otherwise untouchable - the 500 being NASCAR's version of Le Mans, a race widely considered to be more prestigious than the championship title it forms part of. Earnhardt already had three of those.

Come February 18 and the final stages of the 1990 edition of the 500, Earnhardt was sitting pretty with a lead of more than 30 seconds, having led three quarters of the laps. The Richard Childress driver looked unbeatable, but he had reckoned without Geoff Bodine.

Eigtht laps from the end, Bodine spun at the first turn, which led to the field closing up for one last shootout and brought Cope into play.

The driver of the #10 Whitcomb Racing Chevrolet had never previously finished in the top five in a Winston Cup race, but when his crew chief Buddy Parrott made the call to stay out as the other competitors pitted, Cope found himself at the front.

"We had a good racecar all day and I knew prior to the race we could be a factor," Cope tells Autosport. "I just really had to take care of the car. I didn't have a great deal of experience, that was only my third [Daytona] race [Cope entered in 1988 but didn't qualify].

"I knew it would change my life drastically and it would elevate my notoriety extensively" Derrike Cope

"We were able to run well and at the front all day long, I just pedalled the car. I knew that we had a lot left. [Crew chief] Buddy Parrott had always told me, we'll probably have a caution late in the race and we'd have an opportunity to have a shot at [Earnhardt], so just take care of the car.

"That was the mindset going in, that's what we did and we were in a position to be there at the last caution. We didn't take on tyres, [Earnhardt] took on tyres.

"I got by Bobby Hillen and we were in the lead, [then Earnhardt] got by us.

"At that point, I had Bill Elliott and Terry Labonte behind me. They tried me [but] knew they didn't have anything for us. It was just going to come down to Dale and I."

But fate hadn't finished conspiring against Earnhardt just yet. A backmarker's engine gave way with just a few laps remaining and Earnhardt, Cope and the remaining frontrunners barrelled through a load of suspension parts at over 200mph.

Cope felt the impact, but knew it was his day as through his side mirror he saw Earnhardt check-up with a punctured tyre. Off the throttle, off the track. Out.

At that point, Cope knew the 500 - the biggest prize in NASCAR - would be his.

"I actually ran over some of the same pieces that Dale did because my tyre had some gashes in it too and the actual piece was lodged in my front grille," explains Cope. "So when he ran over it, some pieces must have come out and went through my grille. It was one of those deals that fate had it. His tyre went down and my didn't.

"The thing that really came to mind was all the hard work and all the planning, my father was very instrumental in his vision of how to get into the sport. It was basically 10 years since I touched a race car, so a culmination of some great people and companies giving me the opportunity to showcase my potential.

"I knew it would change my life drastically and it would elevate my notoriety extensively. It was a moment in time that all of us didn't know what to expect or what it would do for us."

Cope was born in San Diego, California and grew up a phenomenal baseball player. A career in Major League Baseball looked nailed on, but a knee injury took that opportunity away. While it was a cruel blow, it steered Cope towards short-track racing and he slowly moved up through the ranks, as much as his meagre budget would allow.

He made his Cup Series debut in 1982 at Riverside with Jefferson Racing, but it took until 1988 for a full-time opportunity to emerge. With the backing of Purolator - some of the original members behind that deal will join Cope for an anniversary dinner this weekend to celebrate their win - he was able to score full-time drives in 1988 and 1989 before a big switch to Whitcomb Racing in 1990, and from Pontiac to Chevrolet.

"It was a team that was smaller to start with, Bob Whitcomb had owned a construction company which he sold and he wanted to go racing," says Cope.

"He started the team and had a different driver in the car. At that point they needed funding. I went to Bob and we tried to take the Purolator sponsorship there, that was in 1989, and finished out the year with Bob.

"People see you on David Letterman which was a major happening, your face becomes well known and you can't walk through an airport without someone stopping you" Derrike Cope

"It was a great thing for Bob because his team was in its infancy too, we were able to become a nice stable fixture in the sport at that time. To go on to Daytona and then win again that year [at Dover], we were able to prove that we weren't just a one-hit wonder. That's how it was for that year."

But Cope had already become a star before the Dover win in June, thanks to his Daytona victory. It might be normal for Cruise and Kidman to be featuring on 'late night' shows in America, but it wasn't customary for real NASCAR drivers. Cope was an overnight phenomenon.

It came at a time when NASCAR had plenty of popular heroes, too, with Earnhardt, Wallace, Darrell Waltrip, Bill Elliott, Bobby Allison and Richard Petty (below) drawing crowds to each race.

What none of them offered though was parallels to the Days of Thunder star Cole Trickle, a west-coast driver trying to forge a way in NASCAR's 'bible belt' just like Cope, the underdog story that all fans love. It was a potent combination.

"The magnitude of winning that race, I don't think anyone really realises what it does," Cope adds. "People see you on David Letterman which was a major happening, your face becomes well known and you can't walk through an airport without someone stopping you.

"The sport was really in a special time right about then, that was when Days of Thunder was getting ready to come out, so there was a lot of attention.

"There were a lot of special media tours to the west coast to my home town, it was a special time and it was an exciting moment. You just wish that everyone could experience that, it really is something wonderful that encompasses that race."

After the Dover win, Cope would compete in NASCAR until 2018, when he finally called time on a long and storied career. He wouldn't win another race but, for a driver with none of his own budget to spend, he still achieved more than most.

In 2001, Cope joined forces with Warren Johnson, a drag racer, to form Quest Motor Racing, and has played a role in team ownership or management ever since. He currently works with the single-car StarCom Racing team, running Cup rookie Quin Houff.

Most of his seasons in the 2000s and 2010s were sporadic or at least not full-time efforts behind the wheel. But few people can boast a 427-race, 31-year Cup career and - realistically - there's no way that happens without the 500 win.

"Things have really changed immensely from the 1990s to where we are now in racing," says Cope.

"To have won the biggest race you can win, obviously it did a lot of things for myself and gave me the opportunity to be in rides. Most of the time even back then you had to bring money to drive a car, so all your time was on sponsorship and procure funding just so you could have a ticket to the dance. That remains true now even more so.

"What it did for me was show that I could win races, run up front. I still had a lot to learn, but I proved I could go out and race with those guys who had been around for a long period of time.

"I got to race against all of the greats, Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison, Richard Petty, Darrell Waltrip and I ended up driving for Bobby and Cale. It was a unique time in the sport and I got to see a lot of things.

"[A 500 win] does make an indelible mark in the sport itself that allows you to be here for a long time.

"But it takes work, a lot of passion and desire which I feel my wife and I have - we continue to do that with Starcom - and I think it goes to prove that we still have great relationships. I'm still friends with the CEO, the president, the vice-president at Purolator and that's indicative I think of doing things the right way."