Cycle News

CN III ARCHIVES BY LARRY LAWRENCE W es Cooley Sr., father of two-time AMA Superbike Champion Wes Cooley, died on November 4. He was 82. If you do a Google search on him you'll find that Cooley Sr.'s life was often ensnared in scandal. He had his issues no question, and for many those self-imposed moral and legal problems will be what he's remembered for. But life isn't always black and white. People aren't always simply good or bad. Life is full of complexity. Cooley's life is proof of that. In terms of his contribution to motorcycle rac- ing, Cooley was quite simply one of the seminal figures of the sport in the 1950s and '60s. Time and again he was ahead of his time in recogniz- ing the future of the sport and this column will be dedicated to his influences in that area, much of which helped America gradually emerge as a leading producer of World Champions. Things you should know about Wes Cooley Sr.—he was one of the founders of the American Federation of Motorcyclist (AFM) and American Cycle Association (ACA) rac- ing organizations, which helped foster the establishment of European style road racing in America. In his capacity as president of the ACA, Cooley also presided over some of the earliest motocross races in America. He helped revive Speedway racing on the West Coast in the mid- 1960s, the sport having been largely dormant in this country for over 20 years. He granted the first racing license to a female road racer named Mary McGee in 1960, something considered highly controversial at the time. It was Cooley who was president of the Motorcycle International Commit- tee of the United States (MICUS), which was for a time America's sole affiliate with the FIM. Cooley was in the European meetings and signed off on helping the AMA become an FIM affiliate in 1970. That became complicated as well, but more on that later. Cooley was born and raised in the greater Los Angeles area. He served in the Army and graduated from USC. He was part of the small, but influential group of riders in the 1950s that competed in European-style road racing on the West Coast. He raced a Norton Manx, a bike his son Wes said he thought his dad still owned at his death. Cooley Sr. made his money in the burgeoning vitamin business, for which Southern California was the epicenter. He moved from racer to leader in organizing and running the events. In the 1960s Cooley's ACA ran all forms of racing—primarily road racing, but flat track, motocross and Speedway racing as well. At one point he even bought the dilapidated Speedway P110 IT'S COMPLICATED

• Cover