Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1422170
IN THE WIND P28 AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famer Wes Cooley Passes W es Cooley, one of the leading American motor- cycle road racers of 1970's and '80s, died of complication from diabetes at his home in Twin Falls, Idaho, on October 16. He was 65. Cooley won the AMA Super- bike Championship in 1979 and 1980. He also won the Suzuka 8 Hours twice—in 1978, the event's first year, with Mike Baldwin; and in 1980 with Graeme Crosby. His victories in those early years of Suzuka also made him a racing hero in Japan. He was survived by his long- time partner Melody Rose, sister Lisa (Cooley) Cohen, along with son Wes Jr. and daughter Alexis. Cooley, whose dad, Wes Sr., was a racer and West Coast race organizer, was one of the riders that helped usher AMA Superbike into popularity. He was known for his crowd-pleasing wheel- ies, his friendliness and obvious enjoyment in sharing time with fans. It made him one of the most beloved riders of his era. Looking at Cooley, one would never dream he could handle the powerful and ill-handling Superbikes of the era. His legs and arms were pencil thin and he often taped his hands and wrists to give him extra support. Yet despite his frail appearance, Cooley was somehow able to make those beastly of machines submit to his will. And Cooley had to overcome the challenges of diabetes. Jeff Cowan, who bult Cooley's bikes when he turned pro, recalled a hot race at Riverside Interna- tional Raceway, where Cooley came into the pits, stopped and just sat with a blank stare. "His dad immediately recog- nized what was happening," said Cowan who explained it was dia- betic shock. "[we] poured sugar into orange juice and as soon as Wes drank it he came out of it." He twice won the Daytona Superbike 100 and made his- tory by becoming the first rider to win an AMA Formula One National on a four-stroke. It was 1980, at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin—one of Cooley's favorite tracks—that he rode a specially built Suzuki GS1000-based F1 bike to a win over the dominant two-stroke GP machines of the era. Cooley suffered life-threatening injuries in a 1985 crash at Sears Point (Sonoma) Raceway during an AMA National Road Race. He came back and raced again, be never regained the form that led him to 11 AMA National Road Race wins—eight in Superbike and three in Formula One. Two-time AMA Superbike Champion (1979 and 1980) Wes Cooley passed away at the age of 65.