Career

Early life and career

Allen first became involved in drag racing in 1964 when he attended a drag racing event in Ubly, Michigan. Allen grew up in an area where oval tracks were dominant but had showed no interest but gained an interest into muscle cars. Allen's first car for drag racing was a 1966 Oldsmobile 442 which engine kept breaking with Allen later switching to a Chevrolet L-88 engine.

In 1970, Allen owned and operated a gasoline station and the same year saw him team up with Jim Hanley, a member of the Gratiot Auto Supply team, to run a 1964 Chevrolet Corvette in the D/MP and E/MP racing categories. The team later switched to the Gas and Altered classes with the team eventually racing with.

On October 7, 2005, during a qualifying event at the Texas Motorplex, Allen was competing against Kenny Koretsky in a qualifying pass when his car, a Pontiac Grand Am lost control half-way on the strip and swerved onto its side causing a collision with Koretsky's Dodge Stratus. The resulting collision caused Allen's car to make heavy contact and split his car causing an explosion which destroyed Allen's car with the 500-cubic-inch engine rolling down the strip.

Approach

In an interview with Drag Racing Online in 2000, Allen stated that his approach to drag racing was similar to that of an owner of a Baseball team.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]