CONCORD, N.C. — It may have been a first in NASCAR media-center history.
For a few moments, the entire media center fell silent in honor of longtime sportswriter and manufacturer’s representative Ray Cooper.
Cooper died Friday night after a battle with cancer. He was 53.
Just days earlier, Cooper had been named third-quarter recipient of the National Motorsports Press Ass’n’s Pocono Spirit Award, which has recognized character and achievement in the face of adversity since 1992.
Each year, a Spirit Award winner is named from among the quarterly recipients. The award will be presented during the NMPA’s annual dinner in January.
After being diagnosed with cancer several months ago, Cooper, a manufacturer representative with Dodge, remained as active as possible as he underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
“He was one of the joyful guys you’d see at the race track week-in and week-out,” said Bobby Labonte, driver of the Petty Enterprises No. 43 Dodge. “I got a call this morning and I’m broken-hearted about it. You are all journalists and media in here, but everyone in here are friends.”
Ironically, Labonte was involved in a media conference Saturday concerning his team’s partnership with Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure breast cancer foundation for this past weekend’s Bank of America 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
Cooper began covering motorsports more than two decades ago as a sportswriter at the Greensboro (N.C.) News-Record and won several writing awards, including the George Cunningham Award for writing excellence, before moving on to General Motors and Dodge as an at-track representative and public relations manager.
“When you think back about Ray Cooper, you’re going to remember the late-night poker games, the trips into San Francisco and things like that in addition to his hard work,” said Keith Waltz, public relations manager at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. “He was all business at the race track and got the job done. He understood what the media needed because he had been part of the media, but when the races were over he had a good time. He enjoyed being out here and on the circuit.
“There aren’t a lot of people who have been out here for 25 years. It’s become a young man’s sport, so it’s tough for us to lose some of the older guys who have been out here so long.”
Visitations and a celebration of Cooper’s life were held this past Sunday and Monday in Greensboro. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Victory Junction Gang and Hospice of Greensboro.