This page is dedicated to my Grandfather, Glen Cooper, and to my family. These photos and articles are from his scrapbook on his prominent midget-racing career. I wanted to preserve this piece of history for our family and share it with others.Glen was affectionately nicknamed “Hard Luck” for his string of heartbreaking, car-breaking, streak of bad luck and some pretty amazing wrecks. There were no roll bars back then or pretty much any form of safety. (See some of the photos) However, he won many top honors and championships and broke speed records during his career through the 1930s. As one of the fan favorites and among the top ten racers, Glen was always the master mechanic, building all his cars. He constantly pushed the mechanical envelope, reinventing & upgrading engines and fuel systems and complete re-designs.
I’ve gone through the articles and pulled what I could from the articles, but, if you have any additional information you’d like to add please add to the comments below, and I’ll update.
Championship Midget racing is the oldest continuous form of automobile racing in the United States. Midgets evolved from ‘big cars,’ racing machines that raced on mile-plus tracks and in the Indianapolis 500. The original midgets were miniaturized versions of the ‘big cars’ that allowed for more economical racing and provided for exciting racing on smaller tracks. Midget racing began in June 1933, in California, and quickly spread across the nation. Midget racing was extremely popular, as fans thronged to see the small, fast cars on 1/4 mile tracks, primarily dirt. Midget racing reached the height of its popularity following WWII, when a war weary public would pack some of the largest stadiums in the country to see the midgets run. Crowds in excess of 75,000 people were not unusual at venues such as the Rose Bowl, and popular wood tracks sprung up around the country.
The races brought in thousands of fans in California during the 1930s and 1940s. The midget-racing circuit established its Northern California roots on tracks like the Neptune Speedway in Alameda, the San Francisco Motordome, Fresno, and various tracks in Southern California.
Admission back then was 40¢. It’s a tad more expensive now to get a ticket to your local speedway.
Glen was always the master mechanic, building all his cars. He was always pushing the mechanical envelope, reinventing and upgrading engines and fuel systems and completing re-designs.
There are various stories about Glen Cooper’s latest enhancements and machine-smithing skills. Talking with my family, Glen machined 4-cylinder motorcycle engines and converted them to 2-cylinders for his car builds.
Here’s a quote from an unnamed newspaper:
“The midget auto racing industry has been revolutionized in the last several days by the efforts of man who has every driver one and owner in the bay area working like mad over their cars.
Glen Cooper, the revolutionary, brings out his flashy No. 3 tomorrow night upon the Neptune Speedway with the latest thing in midget auto power plants, plus a new fuel and other items which, if theory means anything, will enable him to outrun, outspurt and outspeed any other car that has ever hit this region.” – July 25th, 1939
Lorem Ipsum – The articles are scanned in order, so there are a lot of articles about friends, competitors, and general news about all the races that Glen was a part of. It’s a fun read with some great quotes and quotable newspaper headlines from the 1930s. I picture the reporters covered in track dust, car grease, and cigarettes back then. Talking fast and getting the latest scoop from the latest race.
