Ronald Cooper
Ronald Cooper (born May 26, 1958) is a former NASCAR driver. In seventy-two career Busch Series starts, Cooper recorded one win and one career top-10 points showing.
| Ronald Cooper | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | May 26, 1958 Statham, Georgia | ||||||
| NASCAR Xfinity Series career | |||||||
| 72 races run over 5 years | |||||||
| Best finish | 8th (1989) | ||||||
| First race | 1988 Goodwrench 200 (Rockingham) | ||||||
| Last race | 1994 Goodwrench / Delco 200 (Dover) | ||||||
| First win | 1989 Big Star / Nestle 200 (Lanier) | ||||||
| |||||||
1988
Cooper made his debut with his own #56 Buick, and started 1988 with the intent to run all the races. Cooper would only qualify for 25 of the 30 races, but it was a solid season nonetheless. After finishing 18th in his series debut at Rockingham, Cooper earned his first top-10 at South Boston, finishing 6th. Cooper would earn three other top-10 finishes on the year, highlighted by his first career top-5 with a fifth at Dover. His qualifying was solid, too, with an outside pole at Lanier being the best of six top-ten starts. Despite missing five races, and not finishing five more, Cooper finished an impressive 15th-place points finish in the final tally.
1989
Cooper's best career year came in 1989, when he recorded eighth place in the series. The highlight of the season had to be his first (and only) career victory, as he paced the field at Lanier, his home track. However, Cooper was solid elsewhere, recording four top-fives and ten top-tens. Eight top-ten qualifying efforts also helped the driver to the final points effort, but five DNFs hindered Cooper's effort to move up any higher.
1990
Sadly, Cooper's team began to run out of money, as it was a small family-owned team. Cooper would only make eight starts as a result in 1990. It did not help the team's situation that they struggled early, crashing out of three out of the first four races of the year. The team was solid in the other four, finishing no worse than 16th in the final four starts, highlighted by a fifth place at Dover. The financial situation did not approve and Cooper's team folded following Dover.
1993
Cooper got his team to restart for three races in 1993, driving the #56 Johnny Cotton Chevy late in the season. The races were solid for Cooper, as he finished 16th, 14th and then 12th at Atlanta.
1994
Cooper's #56 team was back for only seven more starts in 1994. Cooper, whose career had been made of saving his equipment, only managed to finish two races on the year. However, they were both solid as he recorded a pair of sevenths at Rockingham and Charlotte. Cooper's team, though, had to fold again, and Cooper has not raced in NASCAR since.
Motorsports career results
NASCAR
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
Busch Series
| NASCAR Busch Series results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | NBSC | Pts | |||||
| 1988 | Speedway Motorsports | 56 | Buick | DAY | HCY | CAR 18 |
MAR 16 |
DAR | BRI | LNG 21 |
NZH 25 |
SBO 20 |
NSV 15 |
CLT 22 |
DOV 26 |
ROU 15 |
LAN 16 |
LVL 12 |
MYB 22 |
OXF | SBO 6 |
HCY 11 |
LNG 12 |
IRP 26 |
ROU 8 |
BRI 18 |
DAR 19 |
RCH 20 |
DOV 5 |
MAR 7 |
CLT 15 |
CAR 28 |
MAR 14 |
15th | 2843 | ||||||
| 1989 | DAY 29 |
CAR 9 |
MAR 14 |
HCY 22 |
DAR 10 |
BRI 11 |
NZH 27 |
SBO 7 |
LAN 1 |
NSV 5 |
CLT 24 |
DOV 11 |
ROU 10 |
LVL 13 |
VOL 6 |
MYB 11 |
SBO 8 |
HCY 12 |
DUB 27 |
IRP 11 |
ROU 21 |
BRI 18 |
DAR 11 |
RCH 21 |
DOV 3 |
MAR 4 |
CLT 11 |
CAR 38 |
MAR 17 |
8th | 3554 | ||||||||||
| 1990 | Ford | DAY 42 |
RCH 26 |
CAR 38 |
43rd | 729 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Buick | MAR | HCY | DAR 39 |
BRI 13 |
LAN 15 |
SBO | NZH | HCY | CLT 16 |
DOV 5 |
ROU | VOL | MYB | OXF | NHA | SBO | DUB | IRP | ROU | BRI | DAR | RCH | DOV | MAR | CLT | NHA | CAR | MAR | |||||||||||||
| 1993 | DAY | CAR | RCH | DAR | BRI | HCY | ROU | MAR | NZH | CLT | DOV | MYB | GLN | MLW | TAL | IRP | MCH | NHA | BRI | DAR | RCH | DOV | ROU | CLT | MAR 16 |
CAR 14 |
HCY | 56th | 363 | ||||||||||||
| 81 | ATL 12 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1994 | 56 | Chevy | DAY DNQ |
CAR 7 |
RCH 30 |
ATL 33 |
MAR DNQ |
DAR | HCY | BRI 28 |
ROU | NHA | NZH 37 |
CLT 7 |
DOV 27 |
MYB | GLN | MLW | SBO | TAL | HCY | IRP | MCH | BRI | DAR | RCH | DOV | CLT | MAR | CAR | 50th | 642 | |||||||||
References
External links
- Ronald Cooper driver statistics at Racing-Reference