Inductees
Betty Cook
Betty Cook
Stats
Category: Power Boats
CLASS OF: 1996
Official Nomination Bio

Betty Cook is widely regarded as having been one of the most successful off shore boat racers of all time having won two UIM World Championships and three APBA National Championships.  Ms. Cook won her first race in 1974 driving the Mongoose, a second-hand 32 foot offshore boat.  After purchasing a new 38 foot Scarab named Kaama, she won numerous races, including the 193 mile Bushmills Grand Prix at a speed of 73.3 mph.  In 1978, she became the first woman to complete, in one day, the 580 mile run down the Gulf of California from San Felipe to La Paz.  Averaging just over 50 mph, she completed the race in 12 hours and 45 minutes in a 29 foot Scarab hull.  A world and national champion driver who could hold her own on any race course in the world, Betty was inducted into the prestigious APBA Hall of Champions in the years 1977, 1978, and 1981 and became a member of the APBA Honor Squadron in 1993.  She retired from active competition in 1982 and passed away on December 23, 1990 at the age of 67.

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