Cocopah Speedway drops Stock Cars from series
Turn out the lights, the show is over.
What had been affectionately called the “Manny and Joe Show” at Cocopah Speedway is no more.
As of this week, Tom Dalen, general manager at the Somerton oval, said the IMCA Stock Car Division will no longer be a part of the Cocopah Speedway Racing Series. Dalen said a lack of participation led to the decision to drop the division.
Through the first two Cocopah Series races in 2018, only four cars had competed in the division, and during the Cactus Clash in February, a non-Cocopah Series event, three cars competed.
The only two Stock Cars that regularly showed up to race at the track belonged to Manny Baldiviez and Joe Haines, both from Yuma.
In fact, the last Cocopah Series event on March 3 featured a two-car shootout between Baldiviez and Haines, with Baldiviez taking the win. Prior to that, the Feb. 2 and 3 Cactus Clash events saw three Stock Cars on hand, with Tommy Daffern, from Brawley, driving the third car, and the season opener on Jan. 13 saw three cars on hand, with the third car belonging to Roger Kerr, of Jamul.
“It was a hard call but two cars doesn’t make for a good show and one of the guys called me and said he couldn’t make the next race, so we didn’t have a choice but to cancel that class,” said Dalen on Thursday.
In a Facebook post on Monday, Dalen stated, “Due to lack of car count in our Stock Car Division, Cocopah Speedway will no longer have Stock Cars on our regular race nights.
“We will announce a new class in the coming weeks. Thanks for your patience during this transition.”
“I won the first IMCA Stock Car race at Cocopah and it looks like I won the last,” said Baldiviez this week.
The first win at Cocopah in an IMCA Stock Car that Baldiviez referred to was the Jan. 16, 2015 feature event. It was the very first IMCA Stock Car event at the track. There were nine cars in the field.
Prior to 2015 the IMCA Stock Car division had been known as the Street Stock Class.
But the new division never fully took hold at the track. The largest fields on any given night, with the exception of the Turkey Classic in November, featured no more than nine or 10 cars.
And that number dwindled to the point where fans in the grandstand recently saw only Baldiviez and Haines dicing it out on the track.
“It’s just a sad day. I wish we had more cars to keep it going,” said Baldiviez.