BEAN ON THE MOVE

Joe Bean has a lot going for him, he has steadily been moving up through the points, currently enjoying the 6th position. He fared a little better than some others at Portland and now he is going to a track he loves, the Irwindale Speedway. In fact as he says he loved the track so much he got them to sponsor him for the inaugural NASCAR Winston West race.

This Saturday night the series returns to Irwindale for the second and final race at the facility this season. Bean driving the bright yellow No. 77 Taurus is confident going in. He feels he has a crew that can beat just about anyone and as a driver, he is confident enough to feel he is ready to win a short track, maybe this short track. What a win this would be for the Southern California native. It has been 3 years since his first win and the long dry spell may well be ended this Saturday night.

If Bean should win one, it won't suprise many. He certainly has had his nose up front lately, going door to door with the front runners, leading laps; it is looking more and more like he may have the car to beat. One thing for sure, if he can keep making it to the front he is in that ever-envious position to win.

RacingWest: What was your impression of the first Irwindale Speedway and what did you like or dislike?
Joe Bean: I absolutely loved it. It is a first class facility second to none. Loved it so much that we got the track to sponsor us.

RW: What will you do to improve your finish over the last race at Irwindale. What did you learn?
JB: You have to have patience. Last race we didn't qualify so well and had to move up thru traffic. When you have to go thru all that traffic you end up using up your car. Still we had a car that was able to lead and we showed that we are contenders.

RW: How important are tires at this track and do you feel one brand has any advantage over another?
JB: Tires are very important at all the tracks. One brand of tires has been better at one track and then the other brand works better at the next track. We are a Goodyear car. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. has been very good to our team. The Goodyear tires worked great at both Monroe and at Portland. The Goodyear Engineers have come out with a new tire for Irwindale that will help us qualify up front and has the same characteristics of the last tire we ran there on long runs.

RW: Who will be in charge of the tires for you during the Irwindale race?
JB: Sam Arciero and John Wootten share the tire duties and they both do one heck of a job.

RW: What did you find the most technically challenging part of the track?
JB: Tire and race car conservation. There are times when you have to really take car of your car and save it for the end.

RW: Have you had any practice at the track since the last race?
JB: I ran a Spec Truck there a few weeks ago.

RW: What do you like the most about the Irwindale Speedway?
JB: It's a very smooth track to drive and sometimes you can get too comfortable out there. That's when a race track will jump up and bite you!

RW: Do you ever get a chance to practice pitstops and if you do what kind of time have you been averaging?
JB: Our crew practices twice a week. Lets just say that my team can whip most of the other crews when it comes to pit stops.

RW: After Irwindale you have 2 short-tracks and 2 super-speedway races coming up. Care to predict if your best finishes will be on the bullrings or super-speedways?
JB: We are due to win one on the short tracks, maybe this weekend, but we have a brand new car and motor combination that we have been saving for Las Vegas and Japan.

RW: How difficult is it for you and the crew to have two races, back to back? Does it present any special problems?
JB: This week it is real tough because our car sustained a lot of damage up in Portland. As I am writing this our crew is at the shop putting the car back together. The truck driver drove straight from Portland Saturday night and got the car to the body builder Tommy's shop Sunday afternoon. We got the car back Monday afternoon. We have our work cut out for us this week.