The Bean Bandits were about the first to use nitro as a fuel in drag racing.
They won something like 137 straight races as top eliminator if I remember
correctly. This would have been in the mid '50's. Joaquin Arnett just
sparkles when you ask about it. He told me that at some meets, other drag
racers would leave their "rail jobs" on the trailer when the Bean Bandits
would show up because they knew they would lose in a head to head race. The
Bean Bandits used a 50/50 blend because that was the easiest way to mix it.
Apparently other racers didn't catch on to exactly what they were doing for
some time. The Bandits were running flatheads and competing very
successfully with ohv V8 engines. Once the ohv guys caught on however the
Bandits quickly started to lose more consistently. Great stories about what
went on with the Bean Bandits during those days. One rumor that was rather
common was that they used either whiskey or tequila to flush out the engine
after a race. They had one black guy on their pit crew along with a bunch
of Latinos. This was at a time when blacks were usually only accepted in
similar situations in the army. Joaquin says that they didn't have the
money to buy fancy speed equipment so the nitro was their leveler.
Mary West says she remembers them as a bunch of good looking guys who were
always smiling and having a good time. One of her happiest moments was when
they made her an honorary member of the club five or six years ago. The
tee-shirt they gave her was suspiciously small.
Wes
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