John Allen - NASCAR Modified Racing - Pure Racer

John Allen leans on the roof of his Modified, kneads a ball of Kansas clay between his fingers, and considers his options for the night. He squeezes the clay inside a clenched fist, pushes it into a ball, and then flattens it between his fingers. He looks at it and tosses it aside.

"It's just nervous energy," he says. "It'll never stay that way all night anyway."

Linn County Speedway, about 90 minutes south of Kansas City, got almost 3 inches of rain just two days earlier, soaking the soil beneath the surface. But during summer, Kansas is blistering hot and sauna humid, so it is anybody's guess what the track will do when the sun goes down and the heat from the tires on the ground-pounding NASCAR Modifieds glaze the clay.

He already guessed wrong once tonight.

The track is rough and has more grip than he anticipated. He miscalculated the setup and finished Third-right where he started-in his heat race.
That's not good enough.

He ponders the conditions before him and considers his options. Will the track change or stay the same? Should he change the car or leave it alone?

"We can't afford to make a mistake," he says. "If we don't win a track championship, I can't win the division. And if I don't win the division, I can't win the national title."

He walks to the oval one more time, fingers the surface, and hustles back to his crew.

"Change the shocks," he tells them. "And get the tools ready to do the bar."

History of Success
There are thousands of drivers just like John, racing at hundreds of tracks every weekend, each trying to stake a claim in NASCAR's Dodge Weekly Racing Series.

Few have the drive or the credentials of John, who began racing 21 years ago at Humboldt Speedway, a long quarter-mile dirt track about 7 miles from his shop door.

He grew up in a racing family. His father competed at Humboldt and other nearby ovals. He built a reputation as an engine builder, cranking out race motors from his machine shop in downtown Chanute, Kansas, about two hours west of Kansas City.

John was working with his father and crewing on another guy's Late Model when he decided to give racing a shot from inside the car.

"The first thing my dad did was make me build my own trailer," he says. "Only then could I work on a car."

He built a '75 Nova-the car of choice for Street Stock drivers back then-and hit the oval midseason. John won the second half of the season points chase and went on to win the class championship the next year.

He moved up the ladder, gaining experience and a reputation for success as he raced through the Limited Late Model and Late Model divisions.

In 1991, he switched to Modifieds and began running throughout the South and Midwest. He raced the US Modified Series in 1995 and 1996, finishing Second and Third in points. He moved to the National Championship Racing Association in 1998, finishing Second in his first year and capturing the season titles in 1999, 2000, and 2001.

The team is in its fourth year in the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Racing Series.

"Usually we approach a season figuring we'll run the series for the first part of the year and see where we are in points," he says. "If we aren't in contention, we'll switch to the big money races that pay the bills."
This Year Is Different.

"We really made a commitment to do the whole series and try to win the championship," he says. "The weekly purses in the NASCAR series aren't as good as running the money races, but the points fund at the end of the season is much better. We decided we were going to stick it out and try to win the championship."