John Allen - NASCAR Modified Racing - Pure Racer

"But they aren't opposed to just standing around and drinking the beer, either."

Friday
John's day job is running a race parts store that shares the building with his dad's machine shop and the race car prep area. He caters to the drivers at nearby Humboldt Speedway, but also sells and ships to teams throughout the country.

He works the counter, dealing parts and giving advice to the drivers dropping by. They come to him because he knows what he's talking about and his recommendations are backed up by years of success.

Outside, Dawn, his wife, is getting the tow rig prepared for the first trip of the weekend. She teaches seventh grade during the school year, which means she gets the summer off to support the race effort. They began dating in high school, about the time John started racing, so she had a pretty good idea of what she was getting into when they married.

She remains his unwavering cheerleader.

"I don't know anyone who works harder or wants to win more than John," she says. "It is just as important to him now as it was when he was starting out."

John knows that he could never keep the schedule he does without Dawn's unwavering support. She's at the shop most evenings, helping where she can or keeping their two active sons either involved or out of the way.

The tow rig is a 12-year-old Freightliner John bought cheap through a friend in the truck repair business. They went in together on a second truck and cut them both in half. Then they welded the frames together to form a long platform on which John and his friends built a unique camper with bedroom, bath, kitchen, and enough seating for most of the crew.

"I could never buy something like this," he says proudly. "We've got a limited budget, so we have to make the best use of every dollar we have."

Because it is Friday and most of the team members have day jobs, only John Allen and Dave Harrison, who owns the Friday car, work on the final preparation.

Dave is a successful businessman who sold a group of Kansas City auto parts stores, invested well, and told his physician wife he'd give up racing when they married.

"During the time I had a different driver, I had John do some testing and setup work for me on the car," Dave says. "I knew he was good because I'd seen him race. I soon figured out I could be a lot more successful with him in the car."

They break for lunch and head across the quiet street to Tall and Shorty's Shrimp Shack, a local watering hole where owner/chef Greg Bolton greets the crew wearing a John Allen Racing T-shirt.

"It's race day," he says proudly. "This is the uniform."

The little restaurant is the team's clubhouse. The food's good, the beer's cold, and the conversation centers on racing. Most of the lunchtime crowd knows John, and they stop by his table to ask about the car, the season, or to tease him about past races.

"I used to drive for the guy in the corner," John whispers. "First night I drove for him I showed up a little late. He was so angry at me that he watered down the seat, and I had to drive all night in a wet uniform, and drove all the way home in wet underwear.

There's a race tire and trophies in the front window, and a collage of race car photos hang from a pair of old shocks suspended from the ceiling. Beat-up body panels decorate the walls.

At exactly 3 p.m., everything's ready to roll. John fires up the big diesel and eases the Freightliner out of the shop parking lot, struggling to find the right gears.

"I'm not much of a truck driver," he says with a grin. "You'll find that out soon enough, so I might as well tell you now."

The road to Kansas City is mostly two-lane rural highway, passing through tiny towns with names like Petrolia, Osawatomie, and Paola. As he wheels the truck and trailer through the rural cities, he reflects on his career and goals.