WHEATLAND, Mo. — John Allen has raced sparingly over the last few years. But the 56-year-old from Chanute, Kan., who’s won dozens of championships, is showing that he still knows how to find victory lane.
Allen led all 25 laps Saturday night at Lucas Oil Speedway, beating Mason Beck for the O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars feature victory. It was the headliner of the Pitts Homes and Realty Weekly Racing Series and worth $750.
“When you only race a couple of times a year, it’s hard to get over here,” Allen said after driving the car normally piloted by his son, Kenton, to a second win in two attempts. John Allen also won at 81 Speedway on June 7th.
Front-row starters Allen and Johnny Fennewald battled it out early with Allen leading the way. Caution flew on lap five just after Beck was challenging Fennewald for second place.
Allen was dedicated to the low groove and continued to lead the way as Fennewald and Beck battled behind him. By lap 10 of the 25-lapper, Allen led by 1.1 seconds and he gradually kept extending the margin from there with a 2.3-second command by lap 19.
But the cushion when a caution flew for Dawson Fennewald’s spin, setting the stage for a six-lap sprint to the finish.
It didn’t matter. Allen had a flawless restart and drove away, beating Beck by 1.4 seconds at the finish.
“I had a little rough go in the heat race and I want to apologize the guy we banged into,” Allen said. “It was just a bad deal all around. My guys worked until we lined up, fixing this thing and she held together.”
Track points leader William Garner rallied into third with Christopher Sawyer fourth and Johnny Fennewald fifth.
Other feature winners as 118 cars checked into the pits included Tyler Wolff (Arctic Food Equipment Modifieds), J.C. Morton (Hermitage Lumber Late Models), Derek Brown (Hickamo Super Stocks) and Ryan Gillmore (Clear Creek Golf Cars USRA B-Mods).
