Nineteen-year-old Lauren Cooper of Southbury gets so revved up that sleep doesn’t come easily on Friday nights.
Cooper is a race car driver, and Fridays are race nights at Stafford Motor Speedway. Last Friday, she posted her first Top 10 finish of the season in the SK Lights division, and it overwhelmed her.
“It felt so awesome,” Cooper said. “I was the happiest person. … And that was only eighth place. I can’t imagine how I am going to feel if I get a top-five or top-three finish, or if I win. “
Cooper is only in her second season of racing in the SK Lights, but she has a really good feeling about this season because it is the first time she has raced for an organized, fully-equipped team.
In the past, she raced family-owned cars and tried to figure things out with the help of her parents, Debbie and John. While she had enough success to make racing fun, she’s ecstatic this season to have the equipment and expertise of Wallingford’s Britain Andersen and Stash Butova behind her.
With their backing and additional help from C.J. Sherman (Wallingford), Jeff Phaneuf (Wallingford) and Kristen Cortiagano (Cheshire), she has set her goals on winning at least one race and finishing in the top eight in the season point standings.
“I go into every race wanting to win like everyone else, but I also set other goals for myself. Last race, it was to finish in the top eight. This week, it will be to finish in the top five and then the week after that to finish in the top three. People have told me that it normally takes three years of racing to get your first win, but I think I can get it this year.”
Cooper started racing go-karts on a dirt track in Shelton when she was 10 after watching her older brother, Jon, and her uncle, Bill Cooper, race them. She took to the sport immediately and now wants to make it her career.
“My goal is to race for the rest of my life,” Cooper said. “I hope that I do really well in the SK Lights this year, and then maybe get an offer to race a full-blown SK Modified next year. I hope to race some Whelen Tour races and get some publicity from that and then go from there. Any offers that come to me I will take, but ultimately my goal would be to race (NASCAR’s) Sprint Cup.”
Like most racers, she is always looking for that big break in terms of sponsorship, but she feels fortunate right now to have the team she does around her.
The candy company You Ought to be on Chocolate is the main sponsor for the car, but Cooper is also receiving sponsorship help from A&L Eastern Hydraulic, Zappo Studio, Ultimate Auto Center, Riverview Restaurant, Total Fence LLC, Newtown Car Care and Kenny’s Oil.
Besides her racing, the 2009 Pomperaug High graduate is also majoring in marketing at Western Connecticut.
“If I don’t end up racing for a living, I definitely still want to work in the racing industry somewhere,” Cooper said.
“If I don’t end up racing for a living, I definitely still want to work in the racing industry somewhere,” Cooper said.
By Roger Cleaveland Republican-American
Posted in Press |