Motor sports: Misfortune bites Arnold team

But the latest step back didn't keep Arnold, the longtime Naples developer and first-year race-team owner, from looking forward.

Even though Cope was the 31st fastest among 48 cars during the morning practice session, his attempt to get Arnold his first spot on a starting grid fell victim to a mechanical gremlin and an ill-handling No. 79 Dodge during qualifying for Sunday's season-ending Ford 400 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway.

It appeared as though the pieces might fall into place -- until, that is, Cope's turn to qualify came and he couldn't get the engine started.

While Cope tried desparately to crank the engine, Dale Jarrett moved around him in line and went about his qualifying business. The engine of the Arnold entry finally did come to life just as Robby Gordon was moved to the front of the line.

But even then, the No. 79's troubles weren't done.

"You know, you sit there and you're ready to go. Then it wouldn't start. I finally got it to start and took off. But it wouldn't run," said Cope, who replaced Naples' Billy Bigley Jr. behind the wheel. "It was like it was off on three or four holes. So I shut it off to try to keep it cool. I came back in, hit the kill switch and changed ignition boxes to see if I could get it to fire, and it did.

"The car just wouldn't stick and then it got sideways. It was all I could do to hang on."

The end result was a two-lap letdown, with the best circuit of the two clocked at 31.415 seconds and 171.892 miles per hour. It was 46th among the 48 who completed qualifying runs and was not good enough to make the race. He needed to be among the 36 quickest.

Pole honors went to Jamie McMurray, whose Havoline Dodge recorded a lap of 29.816 seconds and 181.111 miles per hour. Bobby Labonte's Interstate Batteries Chevrolet will sit on the outside of the front row for Sunday's 1 p.m. green flag at the reconfigured 1.5-mile track that now features 20-degree banking in the turns instead of the previous six-degrees corners.

During the morning practice, Cope put down a lap of 30.247 seconds. Both he and Arnold appeared confident.

But the team's fifth and final chance of 2003 short-circuited.

"We were qualified today. We had the car. We had everything," said a disappointed Arnold. "In three of the five attempts this year, we should have been in. There were two we weren't ready for. So we get past these and go forward. Get rid of the gremlins. Shoot the little boogers."

Though Friday's attempt with Cope at the wheel originally was trumpeted as a "one-race deal," Arnold quickly put the Homestead-Miami numbness behind him and went to work on the 2004 Nextel Cup campaign.

"I bought my new building (in Mooresville, N.C.) yesterday. So where am I going to go?" he reflected. "We're here for the duration and Derrike and I are working on some things. We hope to do a lot of stuff together next year. We're going to do some testing and see what goes on from there.

"We're going to do part of a Busch schedule next year, too, with another driver. That came about in the last half hour since qualifying ended today. So there are a lot of things happening."

The 60-year-old Arnold, a dynamic force on the Southwest Florida real estate scene since 1964, likened the challenge of breaking into the highest division of stock car racing to his labor of love three decades ago.

"I remember 1974 when interest was 18 percent and you borrowed at 5 over prime and paid your 23 percent interest and tried to develop in those conditions," he said with a smile. "This is easy compared to that."

Cope, the 1990 Daytona 500 winner who struggled through his first full season as a team owner this year, had hoped to make a difference despite his short association with the Arnold group. Cope got his No. 37 Chevrolet into 18 events this year, but didn't have the funding to enter the weekend's festivities in South Florida. He said he felt for Arnold.

"You know, every time I don't make a race, I feel like I've failed. It's my job to go out and get the lap done," Cope, of Spanaway, Wash., said. "Today I thought I had a good enough car to make it. It's certainly the best equipment I've sat in motor-wise and all that. I had a good chance to run solid here and just came up short. It's really disappointing for Don and myself."