ABBOTTSTOWN, Pa. — Lincoln Speedway has been hosting sprint car races for 60 seasons and the Allen family has been winning at the track for more than five decades.
On Wednesday night, that synonymous relationship of Shark Racing took the next step with the next generation.
Leading the final 12 laps thanks to brilliant craftsmanship in lapped traffic, Jacob Allen earned his first victory at his home track, located a whopping six minutes from the Shark Racing shop. To make it even sweeter, he did it against arguably the toughest field of the year with 55 World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars in action.
Allen’s win in the Dura MAX Oil / Drydene Performance Products Gettysburg Clash is already his second of the season and the third of his career. He’s the fourth member of his legendary family to win at Lincoln Speedway with his dad Bobby Allen (75 wins), nephew Logan Schuchart (2 wins), and uncle Joey Allen (1 win) previously tasting victory at the track.
In the 50th series race at Lincoln, Bobby and Jacob Allen also became the third father/son duo to win with the World of Outlaws at the track, joining another pair of iconic Pennsylvania racing families in Steve and Stevie Smith and Fred and Freddie Rahmer.
“I feel like the moral of my entire racing career is never give up,” Allen said. “If anyone has followed me, you know I could have easily called it quits through all the struggles, all the bad times, all the poor finishes, but I never did. This shows that with a great family, a great team, and a great attitude you can make it happen one day.
“This is just so amazing. I can’t tell you how surreal it feels to look around and see all of these people cheering for me. I’m so damn happy. It makes me feel even better knowing I can share this with all of you.”
Allen started fifth and rode around in fourth for the first 10 laps, but a lap-12 restart changed everything.
After leading the first eight laps, Anthony Macri was passed by Justin Peck in lapped traffic. After a yellow flag, Macri struggled on the restart and Peck soared into contention.
It was a clash of three fairytale stories with Macri and Peck both eyeing their first World of Outlaws win, with Allen going for his first-career Lincoln Speedway win.
The breaking point was lap 24 as traffic ramped up and Allen closed on Peck for the top spot. He set him up through turns one and two as Peck rode high and then Allen aced the bottom of turns three and four to slide up and take it away with 11 to go.
He survived a final restart with five laps left, but there were no issues at all as Allen cruised to a 1.336-second victory.
“I knew it would be a tough call on where to go at the end,” Allen noted. “I passed Justin [Peck] on the bottom in traffic, but I knew he was super good up top. I’m glad I made the decisions that I did and we got this done. This is such a huge win.”
Peck earned $6,000 for his best World of Outlaws finish in second.
“We put a whole night together against the Outlaws, that’s big for us,” Peck said. “I told Sean [Strausbaugh] that were three-to-four laps prior to getting passed that I had terrible exit and no straightaway speed, so I think that’s what hurt us the most. I knew starting up on the front row you’re kind of playing victim to be that sitting duck. It’s tough when you can’t search around, but this is a step in the right direction for us.”
Rounding out the podium was Carson Macedo, who cut Brad Sweet’s point lead to eight markers.
“Phil [Dietz], Clyde [Knipp], and Nate [Repetz] just keep delivering some incredible race cars for me,” Macedo mentioned. I think we might’ve had a car capable of winning if some things played out better. I had to go into defense mode on that last restart and got caught up battling Spencer [Bayston]. I’m excited to get to Williams Grove and hopefully keep this momentum rolling.”
The finish:
Feature (35 Laps): – 1. 1A-Jacob Allen [5][$10,000]; 2. 13-Justin Peck [2][$6,000]; 3. 41-Carson Macedo [6][$3,500]; 4. 5-Spencer Bayston [3][$2,800]; 5. 39M-Anthony Macri [1][$2,500]; 6. 24-Rico Abreu [4][$2,300]; 7. 2-David Gravel [7][$2,200]; 8. 48-Danny Dietrich [18][$2,100]; 9. 49-Brad Sweet [8][$2,050]; 10. 69K-Lance Dewease [13][$2,000]; 11. 1S-Logan Schuchart [11][$1,600]; 12. 83-James McFadden [20][$1,400]; 13. 15-Donny Schatz [21][$1,200]; 14. 87-Alan Krimes [28][$100]; 15. 27-Devon Borden [22][$1,050]; 16. 44-Dylan Norris [26][$]; 17. 16-Gerard McIntyre [19][$1,000]; 18. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [15][$1,000]; 19. 18-Giovanni Scelzi [16][$1,000]; 20. 71-Buddy Kofoid [10][$1,000]; 21. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [9][$1,000]; 22. 9-Kasey Kahne [23][$1,000]; 23. 11K-Kraig Kinser [25][$]; 24. 6-Bill Rose [27][$]; 25. 8-Freddie Rahmer [14][$1,000]; 26. 55K-Robbie Kendall [12][$1,000]; 27. 39D-Chase Dietz [24][$1,000]; 28. 19-Brent Marks [17][$1,000].