Posted by Chad
on 2/17/2009, 10:27 am
208.44.231.130
BlackJack Racing just short at Daytona
By JEFF BROWN | jbrown@lacrossetribune.com
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So what if they had their multimillion dollar haulers, their million-dollar motorhomes, and a public relations staff setting up interviews for their drivers between commercial endorsements.
So what if they had race teams and support personnel numbering in the hundreds.
Dave Bean and BlackJack Racing approached the weeks leading up to the Daytona 500 with the belief they were going to run right alongside Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, and Kevin Harvick. It won’t happen.
Sunday’s Daytona 500 will be Bean-less, but the Westby, Wis., businessman — who put together a Sprint Cup team in less than a month — wasn’t that far off.
Bean, with Mauston’s Kelly Bires as his driver, clocked in with the 53rd best qualifying time. Not nearly enough to earn a spot in the field, but considering the names they beat — Carl Long, Geoff Bodine and Norm Benning — it was respectable.
That meant Bires and BlackJack Racing had to try and earn a spot in the Daytona 500 through one of Thursday’s qualifying duels. With little or no help, Bires wound up 20th out of 28 drivers in the second duel. He was one spot behind Travis Kvapil, and two behind Harvick.
Basically, BlackJack Racing missed out on earning a place in the 43-car field by three or four spots.
“We didn’t have anyone to draft with. A lot of that is because we were running with a rookie (driver). There are no partners that usually want to run with a rookie,” Bean said. “We really thought we had a chance, we just couldn’t get anybody to draft with us.
“Kelly was right up in there when he had somebody to draft with.”
While it was disappointing for the entire team to miss the lineup, Bean said everyone learned a lot. Even his wife, Cheryl, who handled the business end of things with NASCAR.
“My wife spent three weeks in Mooresville (N.C.) dealing with NASCAR, doing paperwork. We’re still doing paperwork,” Bean said. “When we bought the cars we had to haul them to the (NASCAR) tech center and have them stripped down to nothing and have the chassis checked. It was like doing a title transaction for a piece of land or something.”
Bean said buying the cars, finding a shop, assembling a team, getting a driver and putting a crew together — all in about 3˝ weeks — was a huge undertaking.
“It was probably the hardest thing I have ever done,” Bean said. “And I have done a lot of things.”
Challenging? Yes, but not overwhelming. In fact, Bean and his team headed back to Mooresville after Thursday’s duels, and are already working hard in preparation for the second Cup race of the season at Fontana, Calif., on Feb. 22. David Starr will be the driver for the team in that race, with Dave Bean’s son, Dexter, set to make his Cup debut the following week (March 1) in Las Vegas.
“We are looking forward to California. We feel we should be able to make that race (field),” Bean said. “We had a small sponsor for Daytona, and have small sponsor for California. We are dealing with some other ones. We’re still out there looking.”
And when the team finishes in California, it’s heading straight to Las Vegas, where it will work out of Chuck Trickle’s shop. Chuck Trickle, the brother of legendary Dick Trickle, is a longtime friend of his, Dave Bean said.
“Dexter has raced some of his cars at the Bull Ring in Las Vegas,” Bean said. “We are going out there to make the race. Our goal is to make every race.”
Bean said the plan still calls for running the first five Cup races, and likely more.
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