Ronald Cooper

For other people with the same name, see Ron Cooper (disambiguation).

Ronald Cooper
Born	(1958-05-26) 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)
Wins Top tens Poles 1 17 0

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.

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

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 improve 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	Ref
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	MAR	HCY																											43rd	729
			Buick						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			Buick	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

External links

• Ronald Cooper driver statistics at Racing-Reference