VOLUME 58 ISSUE 43 OCTOBER 26, 2021 P29
"I think physically I was able
to go as fast as I had before,"
Cooley said in a 2004 interview.
"But I lost that mental edge that
it takes to run at the highest level
of racing."
His infamous crash into a steep
trackside hill outside of the first
turn, was one of the incidents
that spurred on safety improve-
ments in AMA road racing.
Cooley was fifth on the all-
time AMA Superbike wins list
when he suffered the accident
in 1985. He was first in career
podiums. His 37-career AMA Su-
perbike podiums was the record
in the series all the way until
1995, when Fred Merkel finally
eclipsed the mark.
Cooley made a gradual
comeback after his accident and
raced on the national level spo-
radically, and he also enjoyed
success racing in WERA Nation-
al Endurance and sprint events
for Team Hammer and went on
to become lead instructor for the
team's riding school.
Cooley began medical
schooling before his racing ca-
reer took off. After his accident
he continued his education and
worked in the medical field for
the rest of his life.
Cooley was inducted into the
AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame
in 2004. In recent years he was
honored by the AMA as Grand
Marshal for Vintage Motorcycle
Days in 2016. He was also
special guest of honor at several
MotoAmerica events in the last
couple of years.
Tributes to Cooley poured in
on social media after word of his
passing spread.
No memorial has been set as
of yet.
Larry Lawrence
Cooley after winning the Daytona 100 in 1981.
