He then retired as a driver after the 1970 American 500 race in order to focus on being a team owner.
This will be the first year without a North American race since the 1950s.
The explosion came at the height of the American presidential race.
Nor had any driver ever won the American race in the year he claimed the title.
Once again, the American race offered a record purse, and the total of $206,000 included $50,000 for the winner.
The stake format was often used in early American races.
For one thing, it has become much more difficult to enter American races at the last minute, agents said.
American presidential races, after all, last nearly two years.
"This is the greatest American race," he said recently.
Cooper was the first to write a journal about the African American race, 1891.