Earl Phillips Cooper (December 2, 1886 – October 22, 1965) was an American

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

Racing career

Cooper began his racing career in 1908 in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

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 automobile Automotive industry, manufacturer based in Indianapolis, Indiana that produced high-end Sports cars, sports and Luxury vehicle, luxury cars. The company was founded in 1911 as the Idea ...

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: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming * AAA (video game industry) - a category of high budget video games *'' TripleA'', an open source wargame Mu ...

. 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 or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, 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 shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indian ...

. 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 an American racing driver, and a winner of the 1924 Indianapolis 500. Early life Boyer was born on May 30, 1890, in St. Louis, Missouri and grew up in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Jo ...

, 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.

Awards

Cooper was inducted in the

Motorsports Hall of Fame of America The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA) is a 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 ...

in 2001.Earl Cooper
at the

Motorsports career results

Indianapolis 500 results

References

External links

Biography

Indianapolis 500 statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Earl 1886 births 1965 deaths Indianapolis 500 drivers Indianapolis 500 polesitters Racing drivers from Nebraska Sportspeople from Nebraska People from Broken Bow, Nebraska AAA Championship Car drivers 20th-century American sportsmen People from Atwater, California Sportspeople from Merced County, California