Jack Cooney made an impact at Lovelock Speedway. So much so, that racers and fans of Lovelock Speedway remembered him this past weekend with the Jack Cooney Memorial Race.
Cooney, 80, died after suffering a heart attack while working at Lovelock on April 3.
“He was called ‘Uncle Jack’ by everyone — he practically lived at the track,” said track announcer Ashley Davis. “[Cooney] would do anything he could do for the speedway: He’d prep the track during the week, fix toilets, clean concessions, finalize the lineups on race day. He was the heart and soul of Lovelock Speedway.”
Cooney, a former racer, banded together with Ed Macedo, among others, to form the Nile Valley Race Club and construct Lovelock Speedway. The 80-foot-wide, 3/8-mile-long oval features a red clay surface, a rarity in Nevada.
“Jack worked in the local mine until he retired, and then devoted his time to the track,” said Brett Wilkins, current Nile Valley Race Club president and promoter. “He and Ed ran all the wiring and did all of the final preparation of the track for its opening in 2008. He worked here until the day he died. Jack loved the speedway. He was opinionated — he’d express his feelings about anything and everything at the track. He may have grumbled about a job, but he always completed the task at hand, and he always was a great person to everyone.”
Clearly, Cooney loved to serve people. He joined the Army in 1963 and later served in Thailand during the Vietnam War. He also volunteered for the Lovelock Fire Department. And, of course, Cooney, loved helping create and maintain Lovelock Speedway for the racing community.
Sport mod and stock car driver Zach Cail read a speech written by Cooney’s nephew, Jordan Gatehouse, during a ceremony honoring Cooney on his memorial night at Lovelock Speedway.
“Tonight, we gather to honor an extraordinary man whose heart and soul were intertwined with Lovelock Speedway,” Cail read. “We share memories of a kind, hardworking individual who always ensured the green flag was ready to drop…. His legacy lives on in every lap raced, every smiled shared, and the spirit of dedication he instilled in Lovelock Speedway.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
