	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NASCAR HALL-OF-FAME INDUCTION CEREMONY

January 23, 2016

Jerry Cook

Charlotte, North Carolina

THE MODERATOR: Jerry Cook got inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame today, and I dare say if there's anyone more deserving than Jerry Cook or is more passionate about the sport of NASCAR. I've had the opportunity to work with Jerry for about 11 years, and I can tell you he's a giant in our sport. Congratulations, Jerry. What does it mean for you to be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame?
JERRY COOK: Well, I've been in racing my whole life, really, since I was about eight years old. But to be in this and win the championships and then retire from racing and go to work for NASCAR, this here is the ultimate achievement in my career right here is to be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Q. Can you talk about, you mentioned the rivalry with Richie. Whenever I tell anybody I'm from Rome in the NASCAR circuit, they immediately say, Richie Evans, Jerry Cook or vice versa. Can you talk about what it means to join Richie here and how you guys put Rome on the map?
JERRY COOK: Well, that's very true between me and Richie, we put Rome on the map. Richie lived there, was born there, raised there. I moved there when I met my wife Sue over at the Utica‑Rome Speedway, and then we lived there, too, bought a home and had two kids, raised our kids there for 25 years, and of course I was racing and running NASCAR, which Utica‑Rome was, and Richie saw that, too, and he thought he wanted a piece of that. So it's when it started between the two of us living in the same town, and of course every race counted for points. Like I said, all the stories you've heard are true, even as crazy as they are, where we tried to outfox each other at different races and what have you.
But he was a tough competitor. He was a winning race car driver, too, you know. We lived two totally different lifestyles, but we were both after the same thing, and when I retired, we were tied at six championships each, and then when he got killed at Martinsville in '85, that was‑‑ I was already working for NASCAR then, and that was the first year, so he won the championship that year because Martinsville was the end of the year.
But we had quite a time, and it was a rivalry second to none for racing, and I don't think it'll ever happen again because of the way things are today, you couldn't do that. But it was a lot of fun when I sit there and think about it, and I even said it today, I don't know how in the world we ever did that much racing. And on top of that, we just kept going. We never got tired, and we didn't know the word quit.

Q. Why were you so good to go first or second in points for 12, 13 years in a row? That's an incredible accomplishment in any sport. What separated you from the competition and what was really the key to your success?
JERRY COOK: Well, first of all, we had equipment. We ran good. We won races, and so did Richie. We set such a pace, because every race counted for points. It didn't matter whether it was in New York or North Carolina or Virginia or wherever, but we set such a pace that nobody else could‑‑ they'd start out the season trying to run like that and couldn't keep it up.
But the two of us did. We just‑‑ we got to do it and just planned on doing it.

Q. You spent so much of your life in modifieds, not only just driving but then later on as an official, what's it like just to watch the Whelen Modified Tour having grown and still going strong even today?
JERRY COOK: It makes me feel really good because I'm the one that started that tour. And a lot of that has to do with the racers. Modified racers are a tough bunch, you know. But when I moved on from that, they kept her going, and I can't even tell you how many years, but it's over 25 that it's‑‑ and they put on one heck of a show.
It makes me feel good every year it runs.

Q. Jerry, when you retired, why did you retire when you did? What was behind that?
JERRY COOK: Retired from driving was what‑‑ well, I had already won the six, and I'd done it a long time, and was starting to look for something else to do. Talked about running a speed shop or building cars, and I really didn't want to do that, and when I got the offer from the France family, I said, now there's something I can do and I know what I'm doing, and that's‑‑ one thing led to another, and I felt like if I could get through a year of that, I'd be okay, and I did get through that year. That's one thing that led to another.
There's never been anything in my whole life that had a structured plan to it. Things just happened and sort of happened for the best for me, and I'm tickled to death about that, especially winding up here like this.

Q. (Inaudible).
JERRY COOK: No, when I got out, I had no idea because I'd always done it. I figured if I could make it through the first year, I'd be okay, and I already had another ride lined up, and it was Ed Close who had a modified car. He said, I'll call you at the end of the season, and if you want to go back racing, you'll have a ride. But at the end of the season, I was happy with what I was doing, and that was the end of that.

Q. I'm sure the people in Rome want to know how your health is. You had the walker up on the stage. I'm assuming it had wheels on it. How is your health?
JERRY COOK: Well, I'm recovering. I wound up with a bacterial blood infection that literally took over my body, and I was in intensive care for quite a few weeks, and of course when you're that way for that long, it just takes‑‑ you've got to learn how to do things all over again, and I spent a couple months in a rehab, and I'm still working at it with physical training and what have you. Got a trainer that's helping me where I can get back.
I thought by now I'd be back, but I'm not there yet. But with some more hard work, I'll get there. I'll be back on my feet without a walker.
THE MODERATOR: Jerry Cook, congratulations. Your lovely family is in the back of the room. I know how proud they are. I want to tell you from the opportunity I've had to work with you, you're a true giant in NASCAR, and we appreciate all you've done for the sport. Congratulations.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297