The youngest you can legally be to race a sprint car in the state of California is 14 years of age. Obviously the majority of drivers are much older, but there is one Chico racer, who just meets the cut-off exactly!
He might still be a couple years away from getting his license, but the folks at Placerville Speedway can certainly atest that Kenny Allen already knows how to drive.
Allen says, "Placerville's gone really well. There's a couple nights where you have your down nights but that's just the way it goes and we're working on the 360 rookie of the year and I think we've got that pretty much down."
The one reason that he's not gunning for Silver Dollar rookie of the year instead, is because at such a young age, he and his family thought it best for him to begin with a smaller engine size.
Allen says, "We chose to race in Placerville more because we thought the 360's would be a better start. They don't race 360's around here." He adds, "And we just don't think we're up to the challenge of the 410 yet. But now come to the end of the season I think we're about ready for it."
And that's good, because next week not only will Allen be racing with a 410 engine, he'll be doing it in the Gold Cup against the World of Outlaws, sprint cars best drivers.
Allen says, "Everyone's gotta do it sometime. You just work your way up. It's pretty fun." He adds, "It's the biggest race I've ever entered and it's just a real pleasure to be running with the big boys and hopefully they'll include me inside their family."
A position that Allen will likely have for many years to come. Reporting in Chico with the Silver Dollar Minute, I'm Lee Carrell.
