Warning, my snarky mode just kicked in about the Cope Twins coming to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series! Or you can think of them as the Truck Racing Twins!
Angela and Amber Cope at the December 2009 ARCA Test
When you can’t even compete decently in a Nationwide or Truck race as a driver, what’s a guy gonna do? Why put his hot looking twin nieces in a firesuit and slap them in a truck! That’s what! (See, I just can’t help my snark!)
Amber and Angela Cope are twin sisters and nieces to Derrike Cope and it’s reported that they’re on a mission to show us that not only can you “beat and bang on the race track“, but look good doing it. (“Not my words,” I swear!)
They have an entire 5 years of racing experience under their belts… or garters or whatever and race under the NASCAR Camping World Series race team called Twin MotorSports.
In the above pic, they represented a sponsor and then waved the green flag for that race, then congratulated the winner at the end of the race. (Strupp Enterprises 2006 News)
The team has limited funding so the pair of drivers will be sharing a ride. Which could work out. Being twins, we won’t be able to figure who is who. If Amber causes a massive wreck, she can say she’s Angela!
The above image is from their 1-2 finish in a Junior Sportsman Class Go-Kart race. (Don’t ever slight a cart driver. My god, driving one of those things is a workout!)
Amber, who is one minute older than Angela, won the IKF Region Six Junior Piston Port Championship in 1998. She finished second in the Gold Cup circuit that year. Angela, meanwhile, won the Junior Sportsman title in the Puget Sound go Kart Association the same year. In 1999, in five Gold Cup events, Angela grabbed three poles. Both dominated at the club level.
Their website says that Angela is more aggressive and makes things happen on the track.
Amber and Angela’s accomplishments in their seven years of driving go-karts include 50 first place wins and setting on pole position 20 times in the Pacific Northwest. Angela also set new track records at five of six tracks in the same region.
They’ve been racing for 5 years, but have been out of a car for over a year when they check out at the ARCA tests on December 18 to 20th. The same time frame that Danica Patrick was testing.
Their truck debut, of all places, will more than likely be at Martinsville. But that may be dependent on getting sponsorship for their truck. Maybelline Makeup? I can’t help but notice the over abundance of eye liner in most pictures of the Cope twins. Would that much makeup be a fire hazard in a wreck?
Oddly, they both went to cosmetology school and got jobs because no one has stepped up to sponsor them. That alone sort of says something to me, but that’s just critical ‘ol me!
Angela Cope and the Air Ride Technologies car
The above picture with Angela Cope, in the car she won the Forza Motorsports Showdown in.
But regardless, they do fear that the NASCAR community won’t take them seriously.
Me, if they figured out which one was the better of the two, slap her in the vehicle full time and have the other twin on the team. That would work out great instead of this ride-share thing. This is not ride-share to work week folks!
And I’ve tried to be fair and peppered my snark with their real-world accomplishments, though there wasn’t much to go on with their late-model racing days, as you can see on their site here.
I think I’ve been pretty vocal on the idea of a successful woman driver stepping into a decent ride and making a name for herself and the gender in the racing grooves of NASCAR, but I am having a tough time taking this serious enough to get any hopes up. No pun intended, seriously… are they single?
On Women In ARCA Test
At the ARCA test the Cope twins attended, there were a few other ladies testing out also.
21-year-old Ali Owens will be running some ARCA races for Venturrini Motorsports.
33-year-old Leilani Munter also tested.
Jennifer Jo Cobb, 36, was also there along with some unknown called Danica Patrick. Who?
You can see the bit on the women at the ARCA test at Motor Heads.
About Bruce Simmons
I've been writing newsletters since 1999. Of late, I've been focusing on the entertainment consumer angle on mostly the sci-fi, fantasy and action genres of TV, movies and books.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Ride sharing, what the friggin’ hell is that.
Anyway, according to the official entry list Amber is driving, Angela is sitting… er standing… or something.
One thing’s for sure they both need to dump the platinum blond thing, it looks like hell.
LOL Marc… or something. Yea… ride sharing makes Danica Patrick’s part time plan look like a pretty solid intro plan.
They should lose the skanky make up and oompa loompa tans if they want to be taken seriously.
LOL… indeed Jenny. I think they’re trying to capitalize on their looks before they get good in their own sport… they need to take better notes on the process.