Young guns chase SVRA glory at COTA

The mention of vintage racing calls to mind an image of, shall we say, "mature" men of financial standing finally living out their motorsports fantasies after spending the better part of a lifetime building their fortunes. While examples of this profile abound in the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association paddock at Circuit of The Americas this weekend, there are also exceptions.

Among those are Theo and Patrick, sons of Toby Bean, who has built a hugely profitable business in the oil exploration and storage industries. Toby, a longtime racing enthusiast (ABOVE) is a talkative dynamo with a personality at least as large as his financial resources. His sons have grown up watching their father race and now 21 and 18, respectively, they're ready to drive anything with wheels.

With the support of his long-time coach and former professional driver Brian Goellnicht, Toby has established himself in the vintage world as a respected competitor. Toby has called on Goellnicht, who has an IMSA GTU victory at the 1973 12-Hours of Sebring on his resume, to mentor his sons.

Theo has been racing since 2011 and to hear Toby tell it, he's a natural who could tackle Formula 1. He scored a third place at Road Atlanta with a 1959 Aston Martin at "The Mitty" annual historic race in his very first outing. Toby stresses Theo had never raced a car before. Brother Patrick is just getting started but both used the same method to train.

"We're always on iRacing or Formula 1 video games," reports Theo. "There is nothing like the feel of the car, but iRacing really helps you learn the track, right down to bumps."

The sons provide something few of their elder competitors would think of: a YouTube Channel, Bean Racing.

For COTA, Toby brought a 1974 DeKon Monza (ABOVE) for Patrick, an ex-Johnny O'Connell/Steve Millen Nissan GTO for Theo (BELOW) and an ex-Wayne Taylor/Tommy Kendall 1991 Intrepid Prototype for himself.

"We have an awesome dad," Theo stresses.