SOMERTON, Ariz. — In a sense, California sprint car racer Brody Roa is going home this weekend as the USAC-CRA Sprint Car Series opens the season with a tripleheader at Arizona’s Cocopah Speedway.
Ten years ago this coming June, Roa, then 21, scored his first 410 sprint car win when the series raced on the same track.
Roa, who turned 31 this week, first competed on the Copper State track in a 360 sprint car a month prior to his attention-grabbing initial 410 victory. He has not been back to Cocopah since the series contested two races there in 2013. That makes it four races for Roa on the beautiful three-eighths-mile racing facility that is 10 miles north of the Mexican border.
“Yeah, it doesn’t seem like it was that long ago,” the Garden Grove, Calif., resident said. “Really it seems like just yesterday. From the same point, it seems like the last time we were at Cocopah (2013) was ages ago.”
Since that win, a lot has changed in sprint car racing and in the life of the now-married father of a 17-month-old little girl.
“Probably nothing,” Roa stated when asked what he can use from that win for this week’s races. “I am obviously a different driver the last nine or 10 years. The cars are different and we are not even on the same tire anymore. But we found our notebook from 2012 and found out what gear we ran. So, I guess we will take something from 10 years ago to this year.”
Since the series has not been to Cocopah since 2013, all the drivers are pretty much coming into the event on a level playing table. In fact, many of the current drivers were not part of USAC/CRA when the troupe last appeared there. Roa is one of the drivers who remembers the track fondly.
“I did 10 years ago,” Roa quipped when asked if he liked the Cocopah track. “Really, I am excited to go back there. I have wanted to go back since the last time we were there. The last time it went rubber down on like lap three, so it was not a whole lot of fun that time. But the track itself is fun and the casino across the street is cool.”
The three-day event will be broadcast live by SPEED SPORT TV.