Mike Cook Jr. has had a passion for motorsports ever since he can remember.
Cook, however, put racing on the backburner a year ago because of some scary health issues.
“Last year, I had two procedures to remove a tumor from my pituitary gland,” Cook Jr., 31, said. “It was not cancerous, but it was a life-changing experience. It definitely gave me a brighter outlook on life that’s for sure. I had one surgery in March and it was unsuccessful, and that was pretty devastating.”
Especially since the second surgery in June was far more complex.
Mike Cook Jr. has had a passion for motorsports ever since he can remember.
Cook, however, put racing on the backburner a year ago because of some scary health issues.
“Last year, I had two procedures to remove a tumor from my pituitary gland,” Cook Jr., 31, said. “It was not cancerous, but it was a life-changing experience. It definitely gave me a brighter outlook on life that’s for sure. I had one surgery in March and it was unsuccessful, and that was pretty devastating.”
Especially since the second surgery in June was far more complex.
“They were basically going to have to cut my face pretty much off and lay it over and drill a hole in my forehead,” Cook Jr. said. “There also was a pretty good chance I wasn’t going to come out normal.”
Fortunately for Cook Jr. the second surgery was a success.
“They went back in again and they were available to remove the tumor completely in June,” Cook Jr. said. “It (the tumor) was pushing down on all of the optic nerves and it took my vision completely away from me and caused severe headaches.”
Cook said his vision was gone for about six months.
“The bad thing was you go to do something and I couldn’t see anything,” Cook said. “You take your eyes for granted. Everything is back to normal for me now, but when it was taken away from me, it really gives you a perspective of how important your eyes really are. It was absolutely scary.”
Especially since Cook’s doctors made him no promises he would be able to make a full recovery.
“They (the doctors) told me this tumor was going on and my eyes were bad,” Cook said. “Then, they said they didn’t know if my eyes were going to get better or not. The first thing I thought about was my kids. Then I thought am I ever going to be able to drive a race car again? My vision came back full circle and I’m 20/20 out of both eyes. There’s no scar tissue damage or anything. I got really lucky.”
During the two surgeries Cook spent a total of 21 days in the hospital, 12 of which were in intensive care.
“It took me almost a full year for recovery,” Cook said.
This past February, Cook was able to return to what he loved to do – race. He began making some test laps in the Stone Woods & Cook Nostalgia Funny Car that is equipped with a 1972 Ford Mustang body.
“It was fantastic to be able to race again,” Cook said. “It felt like I conquered the world. Coming back from two major brain surgeries like that and being able to jump in a car was incredible. I had never even been down a quarter-mile before. I got in the (Funny) car to honor my grandfather, who was Doug Cook in the Stone Woods & Cook team. My grandfather they say is a legend of the dragstrip and my dad, Mike Cook Sr., is kind a legend of the salt (flats) and the dirt.”
Doug Cook and, son, Mike Cook Sr., and Mike’s wife, Penny, are all in the Dry Lakes Racing Hall of Fame.
“I started driving at Bonneville (Salt Flats) right after I got out of high school,” Cook Jr. said. “I was fortunate enough to do the Bonneville and El Mirage (Calif.) (dry lake) racing things pretty successfully. I set five or six records and I was able to join the Bonneville and El Mirage 200 mph clubs. It was cool to be a part of those 200-mph clubs with my dad.”
Although Cook Jr. was a proven racer at Bonneville and El Mirage, he wanted to try his hand at something else. Thus, enter drag racing.
“With the Nostalgia Funny Car thing coming up (growing in popularity), it just seemed like the right thing to do,” Cook Jr. said. “My father and I started building the car, and the more and more we got into it, it felt like the right time not only to honor the Stone Woods and Cook team, but also my grandfather (Doug Cook). He was a big part of that car and a big part of drag racing. My grandfather started drag racing in 1958 and he raced all the way up until 1967.”
Fred Stone, Leonard Woods Jr. and Doug “Cookie” Cook had a car that dominated the NHRA “Gasser Wars” in the 1960s. Cook drove to over 400 drag race victories in the famed Stone, Woods & Cook 41 Willys Coupe cars.
What was especially noteworthy about the team was Cook was Caucasian, and Stone and Woods were African-American. Their partnership is considered the first competitive multiracial team in drag racing.
With drag racing obviously in his blood, Cook Jr. embarked on driving the Stone Woods & Cook Funny Car, which also is a tribute to the original 1965 Darhorse 2 Funny Car.
“It took us two brain surgeries and about a year and a half to build the Funny Car,” Cook Jr. said. “I started the license process Feb. 18-19 and I completed it March 2-3 at the March Meet (at Bakersfield). We did our final two runs at the March Meet to get my license. We went 6.40 seconds at like 211 mph, so we were pretty pleased with that. It felt great. I do not really know how to explain the feeling of it, but it was pretty fantastic.”
Cook Jr. is optimistic he will be able to do some Nostalgia racing in the future.
“If the funding is there we would like to go racing,” Cook Jr. said. “We are hopefully going to try and do some match races with the car and kind of see where it heads from there. We want to keep the generations coming up to remember the Stone Woods & Cook guys.”
