June 2012 - InMaricopa.com

6m BUSINESS InMaricopa.com
June 2012
Couple perseveres at neighborhood
bar and grill without neighbors
BY JOE GIUMETTE
Jeanna and Rand Del Cotto settled in
Maricopa to start their lives anew, with
a clear plan that would help them reap
rich rewards.
“To sum it up,” Jeanna Del Cotto said,
“we started out to build and operate a
nice, friendly neighborhood place.
“And we did … without the
neighborhood.”
In 1997, using the equity on their
home in Thunderbird Farms, the
proceeds from the sale of Rand’s two
1932 Fords and Jeanna’s 401(k) from
her job at the telephone company, plus
the investments from family members
as partners, the Del Cottos bought 6.6
acres along Papago Road, two miles west
of John Wayne Parkway.
“There were plans to build 7,000
homes in this area,” Del Cotto said. “We
intended to have the closest bar and grill
and convenience store so people didn’t
have to drive to town. They expected no
less than 20,000 people were going to be
living near here.”
They started work on what they
originally called Papago Cantina — now
the Raceway Bar & Grill, courtesy of a
customer who spotted an old sign in
Tim Howsare
Jeanna and Rand Del Cotto wanted to have a
neighborhood watering hole, but the neighbors
have yet to show up.
the bar promoting a place called the
Raceway Diner — and opened in 2008.
The establishment features American,
Italian and Mexican food, all served
amidst a collection of old commercial
signs, metal toys, auto parts, clocks,
cages and musical instruments, the
product of Rand Del Cotto’s habit of
acquiring stuff.
W e A r e C o m f o r t K e e p e r s ®
Comfort Keepers® provides the kind of
trusted, in-home care that helps people
maintain full and independent lives, right
in the comfort of their own home.
maricopa and surrounding Areas
520-233-2848
Each office independently owned and operated. 2009 CK Franchising, Inc.
W W W . C o m f o r t K e e p e r s . C o m
Since the growth spurt that saw
Maricopa grow from 4,000 to more
than 45,000 residents slowed to a
trickle, the couple has managed to get
by, although they lost the home they
borrowed against, and have since moved
to another.
Rand Del Cotto’s mother and father,
who sold a bakery business the family
operated in South Chicago Heights,
Ill. for 70 years, moved to Arizona and
work at Rob’s Convenience Store at the
north end of the same strip mall as the
Raceway in Papago Buttes.
An attorney occupies one of the eight
suites. A few other businesses have come
and gone, but space is available to rent.
“Darn,” Rand Del Cotto said, “there’s
nothing but potential out here – lots of
it.”
The couple, who met in pre-school,
works 12 to 14 hour days, seven days a
week.
“We were always buddies,” Jeanna
Del Cotto said. “Since we were 3 years
old, we shared the same neighborhood,
the same friends and we spent time with
each other’s families.”
When she was 29, Jeanna decided to
expand her horizons.
“I wanted to see what it was like
outside the Chicago area,” she said. She
and a girlfriend quit their jobs and drove
to Arizona, where Jeanna had visited
only once before.
“It wasn’t cold here in the winter,” she
said.
A year later, Rand followed, and the
couple settled in Mesa.
“I heard that a guy who lived around
here had a boat with a big Ford engine in
it,” he said. “And I wanted that engine for
a car I was putting together.”
He and a buddy ventured from the
East Valley to Papago Buttes, a place
neither had been before.
“Long story short, we found out there
was no boat, and no engine.”
Attracted by the open spaces,
however, Del Cotto said he began
thinking the Maricopa area might be a
better place to raise their family, which
now consists of their daughters Randi,
24, Alirose, 21, and son Tyler, 16, an
honor student at Maricopa High School.
Without the throngs of customers
they had counted on, the Del Cottos said
they are still grateful so many people
have become loyal patrons.
“They come from as far away as
Surprise and Superior,” Jeanna Del
Cotto said, pointing to a large map on
the wall, covered with pins representing
where customers live. “And, the Raceway
is really popular with our winter visitors
from Canada.”
Aware people who love antiques and
collectible items have few places to shop
in Pinal County, the Del Cottos offer
something they call “dine and consign.”
Customers are encouraged to travel
here with their stuff, have lunch or
dinner, and leave something to sell,
or even buy something they can’t live
without.
In November, Raceway was featured
on an episode of the History Channel’s
“American Pickers.” That show, its
reruns and a YouTube version of it, has
attracted new patrons.
So extensive have the couple’s
collection become, it occupies the suite
next to the Raceway, as well as a large
barn about six miles away.
The couple said they can continue
to pay the bills and keep their business
operating until Maricopa starts growing
again.
Still, where does Rand Del Cotto
want to be five years from now?
“In a convertible with Jeanna by my
side, getting the heck out of here in the
summer.”