Dexter Bean: “I wish we would have been able to deliver our third top-10 finish at Talladega”
Talladega, Alabama
Oct 09, 2007
Black Jack Racing
Sophomore ARCA RE/MAX Series driver Dexter Bean headed to Talladega Superspeedway last week looking to leave his mark with his third consecutive top-10 finish at the 2.666-mile speedway. Unfortunately, after marching his way into the top-five overheating issues set in on his No. 6 Five Star Telecom-Team GLOCK-Cycle Country Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS forcing a 26th place finish.
Heading into the first practice session, Bean was looking to see what he had. During the lengthy first practice session, the No. 6 machine entered the speeds charts with a time of 53.113 seconds at 180.295 MPH putting the team 39th on the overall rundown. Bean would later explain that the time was deceiving.
“Most of the field was out there drafting and we decided to do runs by ourselves which caused us to post that lap. I’m not worried about the car. We’ve been good here in the past and I think we’ll be good again. ”
Heading into ARCA SIM Factory pole qualifying, Bean had qualified 21st for the past two consecutive races. The Westby, Wisconsin native was hoping to equal or better that position. Drawing a late qualifying run, Bean would have to wait a while for him to take his chance at the Alabama facility.
During his two lap run, Bean posted a time of 53.980 seconds transferring to a speed of 177.399 MPH setting him 47th overall on the qualifying rundown. Out of touch with the guaranteed 32 starters, Bean would have to fall on a provisional to take the green flag for the 22nd event of the season.
Climbing from his machine, Bean was baffled. Reporting to crew chief Chris Bires that something was a miss, the team would have to wait until Friday morning to inspect their automobile as the car had been impounded by ARCA officials.
“I don’t know what to say other than we’re extremely disappointed, ” said Bean. “Something is not right, so we’ll be one of the first ones here in the morning and try to diagnose the problem. ”
On Friday morning, BlackJack Racing entered the garage area and immediately went under the hood of the team’s machine inspecting the engine. The team found a problem with the carburetor which caused a lack of horsepower to the engine resulting in Bean’s disappointing qualifying time. With the problem fixed, the team was looking forward to “Happy Hour” the final practice session before the race.
Unlike the first practice, the team would spend the second practice drafting. Before heading onto the track, BlackJack Racing announced that gun manufacturer GLOCK would show its support on Bean’s machine after their primary entry driven by Kerry Earnhardt also experienced engine woes during qualifying.
In “Happy Hour”, Bean produced a very satisfying fourth fastest lap with a time of 51.005 seconds at 187.746 MPH.
At the start of the 94-lap event, Bean wasted no time trying to move forward in the field. With coaching from Jeff Spraker in the spotter’s tower, Bean patiently worked his way through the stout field of race cars.
Staying in the lead draft, Bean would hover in the top-25 by lap 15. Moving forward in the field, Bean would join the rest of the field for their first round of pit stops approaching lap 32.
Returning to racing on lap 35, Bean would thunder his way forward moving into the top-five by lap 42. The No. 6 Five Star Telecom-Team GLOCK-Cycle Country machine would develop a problem during his impressive march. Bean quickly radioed to the crew that the water temperature was pegged causing extreme overheating conditions. Planting his car competitively in the top-10, Bean would have to remove his car from the front draft in order to cool the engine with clean air. Unfortunately, the damage had been done as the motor took a beating causing Bean to lose horsepower.
Despite gallant efforts to move back towards the front, Bean was unable to draft his way back to the leaders. Keeping in the main pack, Bean would fight inside the top-30 before settling for 26th on the lead lap.
“We had a good car, but the motor lost some muscle after we started to overheat. I am not going to complain, we were in contention and had a good car, just couldn’t bring in the finish that we were looking for. I want to thank my guys on the team and all of our sponsors and supporters for looking out for us this race. I wish we would have been able to deliver our third straight top-10 finish at Talladega. ”
Bean maintains third in the championship standing heading into next Sunday’s season finale at Toledo Speedway.
Leaving Talladega, Dexter Bean has 50 ARCA RE/MAX Series starts to his credit with five top-five finishes and 16 top-10 efforts. He holds a career best finish of second at Salem Speedway and Pocono Raceway (April 2007 and June 2007). He owns the 2006 ARCA SIM Factory pole award at Salem Speedway (September 2006) while hoisting a career-best speedway time trials effort of fourth at Pocono Raceway (June 2006). Bean has also led 138 laps in six races.
BlackJack Racing is still seeking additional primary and associate sponsors for the remainder of the season and for 2008. For sponsorship inquires, please contact BlackJack Racing at 608.634.4242.
