Truck series racer Jennifer Jo Cobb thought someone stole her team’s van following a promotional event at a Ponce Inlet restaurant, an official said. But it turns out the van wasn’t stolen, but taken in an attempt to repossess it by a man with whom Cobb is involved in a civil dispute, according to a Ponce Inlet police report.
Cobb made a promotional appearance with her racing crew Wednesday night at Down the Hatch and discovered her team’s van that crew members’ luggage and racing equipment inside was gone, according to the report. Cobb and 10 members of her crew filed out reports detailing what they had lost. Cobb, who owns JJC Racing and will run Friday’s Truck Series race, said she did not think the van had been repossessed or taken by David Novak, who she is in litigation with over the ownership of the team, according to the report. Soon after the van was discovered missing, between 8 and 9 p.m., Ponce Inlet police were contacted by Novak who said he is the rightful owner of the van as well as JJC Racing.
Novak told police he did have someone repossess the van. He supplied police with documents showing he had been making payments on the van and holds the insurance on it. Novak cut ties “personally and professionally” with Cobb last December. Cobb’s crew found the van at a home in Daytona Beach on Ekana Circle. Daytona Beach police responded to the home on Ekana Circle at about 11:10 p.m. Wednesday and spoke with Denise Mixon who works for Novak, according to a Daytona Beach police report. Mixon said she and a man named Terry Watkins were instructed by Novak to take back the van. After parking the van in the home’s garage, Mixon received a call from Novak who said someone on Cobb’s crew needed medication from inside the van, according to the report.
Mixon went to get the medication, and as the garage door was opening, several people rushed in and attempted to take back the van. Mixon said a man named Eddie Troconis (crew chief of the #6 Eddie Sharp Racing entry) jumped into the driver’s seat and tried to back the van out while the garage door was still opening, damaging the garage door and van in the process, according to the report. The van was returned to Cobb as the registered owner. No one was charged in the van incident. (Daytona Beach News-Journal)
