Earl Cooper (2 December 1886

Broken Bow, Nebraska Broken Bow is a city in Custer County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 3,559 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Custer County. History Broken Bow was platted in 1882. Its name, likely suggested by a settler who found a b ...

– 22 October 1965

Atwater, California Atwater is a city on California State Route 99, State Route 99 in Merced County, California, Merced County, California, United States. Atwater is west-northwest of Merced, California, Merced, at an elevation of . The population as of the 2020 Uni ...

) was an American

racecar driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organis ...

Racing career

He began his racing career in 1908 in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

in a borrowed car. He won the race, but lost his job as a mechanic after he beat one of his bosses, so he became a full-time racer. He joined the

Stutz The Stutz Motor Car Company, was an American producer of high-end sports and luxury cars based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Production began in 1911 and ended in 1935. Stutz was known as a producer of fast cars including America's first spo ...

team in 1912. In 1913 he won seven of eight major races (and finished second in the other), and won the

AAA National Championship AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Airports * Anaa Airport in French Polynesia (IATA airport code AAA) * Logan County Airport (Illinois) (FAA airport code AAA) Arts, entertainment, and m ...

. He was injured for the 1914 season. He missed the first several months of the 1915 season, but won the AAA championship anyhow. Cooper got another late start in 1916 after Stutz pulled out of racing, and he finished fifth in the championship. He won his third title in 1917 when the season was shortened by the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, after which Cooper officially retired from full-time racing. Cooper raced in the 1919

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...

. Cooper returned to replace Joe Thomas who broke his arm in October 1921, and won a race at Fresno. He returned to racing full-time in 1922, and won five races in 1923. Cooper raced in the 1924 Indianapolis 500, and was leading after . A tire blew, and he had to pit. He returned second, and worked his way back to the lead with left in the race. He blew another tire just as he was passing

Joe Boyer Joseph Boyer Jr. (May 30, 1890 – September 2, 1924) was a co-winner of the 1924 Indianapolis 500. Biography Boyer was born on May 30, 1890, in St. Louis, Missouri and grew up in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Joe Boyer Senior and Clara Libby. H ...

, and the pit stop forced him to settle for second. He started at Indy in 1925, and won the pole in his final Indy 500 in 1926. He retired for good in 1928.

Indianapolis 500 results

Awards

He was inducted in the

Motorsports Hall of Fame of America The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA) is hall of fame that honors motorsports competitors and contributors from the United States from all disciplines, with categories for Open Wheel, Stock Cars, Powerboats, Drag Racing, Motorcycles, Sp ...

in 2001.Earl Cooper
at the

References

External links

BiographyIndianapolis 500 statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Earl 1886 births 1965 deaths Indianapolis 500 drivers Indianapolis 500 polesitters Sportspeople from Nebraska People from Broken Bow, Nebraska AAA Championship Car drivers People from Atwater, California