GNCC Racing Family Mourns the Passing of Catherine Cook

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (November 1, 2018) - The GNCC Racing Nation suffered a devastating loss this past weekend at the Ironman season finale in Crawfordsville, Indiana. With only one hour left in Sunday afternoon’s pro race, officials were notified that a spectator had been injured in the woods. When officials arrived, they found Catherine Cook, mother of Open B racer Jonathan Cook, unconscious as a result of injuries sustained when she was struck by a fallen tree. Despite the heroic efforts of her husband, Jonathan Cook Sr., and track officials and emergency crew responders to resuscitate her, she later succumbed to her injuries at the hospital.

Catherine Cook and her family have been attending and competing in GNCC Racing for over 20 years. Since 1995 Catherine has been supporting her husband and sons’ racing quests, pitting for them, traveling with them, cleaning their gear, and overall being their biggest fan. On Sunday afternoon she and her husband chose to pit their son Jonathan out in the woods near a checkpoint. The woods are an integral part of GNCC Racing, indeed for any east coast off-road racing series. The woods are especially alluring in the fall with the changing of the leaves. It is a cruel irony then that what usually brings us so much joy could inflict so much harm.

She is survived by her husband of 26 years, Jonathan Cook Sr. of Veedersburg; her two sons, Jonathan Cook Jr. of Veedersburg and Daniel Cook of Fort Hood, TX; her mother, Catherine M. Maiers of Veedersburg; her mother-in-law, Judy Ann Cook; sister-in-law, Teresa Cook; two brothers, Herb Ferrier and Doug Bowling; and several aunts and uncles. 

Services will be held Friday, November 2^nd, at Sanders Funeral Care in Kingman, Indiana, with public visitation from 3:00 to 6:00 pm, and services to follow at 6:00 pm. For more details, please visit https://www.sandersfuneralcare.com/notices/Catherine-Cook.

Godspeed Catherine.