Bobby Allen (born December 28, 1943) is an American racecar driver known for racing winged sprint cars. He currently owns Shark Racing, a

World of Outlaws The World of Outlaws (often abbreviated WoO) is an American motorsports sanctioning body. The body sanctions two major national touring series. It is best known for sanctioning the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series and the World of Outlaws Late ...

sprint car team that fields two cars driven by his son Jacob Allen and his grandson Logan Schuchart.

Early life

Allen was born to Joe and Jane Allen in Daytona, Florida. His father had driven

stock cars Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It ori ...

with

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

during its early years before becoming a pilot and moving the family to Miami. In his teenage years, Allen had dreamed of driving at the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...

Racing career

Allen's first racing experience came in Florida at twelve years old in half midgets, and he soon moved up into

kart racing Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on kart circuit, scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are als ...

. In 1960, he won the World Champion karting event in Nassau, Bahamas, organized by the Go Kart Club of America. The following year in 1961, he won the 100cc karting World Championship in Milan, Italy.

Modified and supermodified racing

In the early 1960s, Allen raced modified and supermodified racecars in Florida. In the mid-1960s, he moved north and settled in Hanover, Pennsylvania. As Allen convinced several other out-of-state drivers to move north to join him, they became known as the "Hanover Gang".

Sprint car racing

Allen built his first sprint car in 1968. He claims over 276 sprint car wins across numerous tracks and series. He was a charter member of the

sprint car series when it debuted in 1978, and finished third in the point standings that inaugural year. He recorded 30 wins in that series, joining fewer than two dozen drivers in Outlaws history who have achieved 25 or more wins. He can also claim 46 wins in the

All Star Circuit of Champions The All Star Circuit of Champions (abbreviated ASCoC), officially known as the Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 for naming rights reasons, is an American motorsports sanctioning body of winged sprint car racing founded in ...

, putting him in the top 10 all-time in that series.

Accomplishments

Knoxville Nationals The NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals is an annual sprint car event held at Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa. An Associated Press writer called winning the event "sprint car racing’s premiere title". It is nicknamed "The Granddaddy of Th ...

winner, 1990 *

National Sprint Car Hall of Fame The National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum is a Hall of Fame and museum for sprint car drivers, owners, mechanics, builders, manufacturers, promoters, sanctioning officials and media members. The museum is located in Knoxville, Iowa, the ho ...

, 1998 inductee *Eastern Motorsport Press Association Hall of Fame, 2006 inductee

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Bobby 1943 births American motorsport people Living people Sportspeople from Daytona Beach, Florida World of Outlaws drivers