Evening star., 1939-07-14
Grandpa Cooper Tops Sport Patriarchs
Boasts Grand Slam
OF 225-Cubic-Inch
Hydro Records
Lured Into Come by Son,
Builds Own Boots; May
Hang Up Mark Here
BY HAROLD CLAASSEN.
Associated Press Sports Writer.

KANSAS CITY. July l4.-lne
fable and the prize ring have had
their jack-th giant killers, but none
of them was a grandfather.
Out here on the edge of the great
plains, where every diversified bath
tub is known as lake, lives Amer
ica's greatest grandfather of sport
Jack (Pop) Cooper Of motor boat
racing fame.
To be bowled over in the fight ring
at so many thousand dollars wallop
is one thing. To have your body
spanked by the seat of craft skim
ming across the water that becomes
as hard as brides biscuit at 80
miles an hour just for fun is another.
but wiry, 59-year-old Pop loves it.
Smooth water is at such a pre-
MUM in this area that Cooper, who
holds all the world records in the
225-cubic-inch hydroplane class,
must take his craft to Iowa or a lake
on the Missouri line to try
them out.
Builds Boats in Garage.
Near Des Moines he has found
OIL SlSll VA AifNi "lllSll pC1
to race mile at top speed, but the
banks crowd in too close for turn.
On the lake he can pivot with ease,
but it's not long enough for him to
get up speed.
Maybe his eyes are getting so
weak that he must make a wide
swerve around flag or buoy to be
sure the turn is correct. Maybe his
hearing is such he doesn't catch the
starters pistol every time Yet even
his sons, one of them a three-time
national champion, can't catch him
after crossing the water line.
And those boats he pilots-they
appear for all the world like a bloat-
ed watermelon seed-are built in his
own garage here, their embryonic
noses resting against the tenders of
the ponderous trucks that bring in
the Cooper fortune and hold Pops
attention In the off season.
He wrecked Tops II establishing a
world competitive record at Lake
land, Fla, in 1888 and brought it
home as motor surrounded by
kindling wood.
Now she's back in the wars.
Makes S7.485 NJ. p. H.
Last week end Tops III won the
Gov. A. Harry Moore Trophy in the
New Jersey State Championship
Regatta. On July it scurried over
q measured mile on Lake Ontario
at an average speed of 81 7485 miles
an hour. That almost equals the
speed of the larger gold cup boats
feat comparable to a midget car
beating the Indianapolis Speedway
victor or glider taking the laurels
In race with pursuit plane
Even as the boats are built in his
garage, so the motors are tuned by
a prosaic truck mechanic. His home
made craft customarily cost $4,000,
those Of his rivals whom he con-
sistently defeats from $25,O0O to
$4,000.
Right now Pop owns the Canadian
crown and the 225 class competitive
record, average time for the miles
Of race, as we'll as the mile straight
away mark. Both speeds are ex-
pected to be increased in either the
National Sweepstakes at Red Bank,
N. j., or the Presidents Cup trials
In Washington this summer.
While the elder Cooper is busy
with the hydroplanes, his son Thorn
Ncofnpetes in the bug type of boat
racing and is the rational champion
in class A and was the 1887 title
holder in both classes A and F..
Another son, Jack, jr, will make
Q comeback this fall after years
retirement. The son has q boat with
an unorthodoX weight distribution
which he believes may make it SUI
perior to his dads craft. He's doubt
full, so calls 1t "Flat-Foot Floogey."
Son Recruits Father.
1t was Jack, jr., who introduced
his father to the sport 10 years ago
by purchasing a numbering inboard
affair that whipped around Min
nesota lake at IL miles an hour.
Pop takes peculiar delight in COM
peting in the all-class event. 1t was
at Washington in 1887 that he saw
an opponents gold cup craft which
Immediately drew his respect.
But the race still was young when
he discovered that Tops II was su-
perior. So he began to lag ito make
1t more interesting for the specta-
tors" and the rival took up the
challenge by pulling ahead on the
turns and faltering in the straight
away.
Finally, Pop ended the strain by
cunning his water lizzie to the finish
line. At the trophy presentation the
opposing skipper, Baritone John
Charles Thomas, conceded the palm
to Cooper on the water, but boasted,
"I can beat him singing"
That's bet" yipped Cooper,
Jumping to his feet.
No one. not even Thomas, called
the wager.