Loy Allen Jr. (born April 7, 1966, in
Raleigh, North CarolinaRaleigh is the capital city of the state of North Carolina, the seat of Wake County and the second largest city in North Carolina. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S...
), is a former NASCAR Winston Cup and Busch Series driver. He found his best results however in the ARCA series, with a win at
Atlanta Motor SpeedwayAtlanta Motor Speedway is a track in Hampton, Georgia, twenty miles south of Atlanta. It is a 1.54-mile quad-oval track with a seating capacity of over 125,000. It opened in 1960 as a standard oval. In 1994, 46 condominiums were built over the northeastern side of the track...
in 1992 and two second place finishes at Talladega and Daytona in 1993.
Allen Jr. made his Cup Debut at
DaytonaDaytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home to the biggest and greatest race in all of NASCAR, "The Great American Race", the Daytona 500. Today the facility has a seating capacity of almost 168,000 spectators...
in July 1993. Driving his father's #37 Naturally Fresh Ford which was an old Robert Yates Racing Car, Allen Jr.
Loy Allen Jr. (born April 7, 1966, in
Raleigh, North CarolinaRaleigh is the capital city of the state of North Carolina, the seat of Wake County and the second largest city in North Carolina. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S...
), is a former NASCAR Winston Cup and Busch Series driver. He found his best results however in the ARCA series, with a win at
Atlanta Motor SpeedwayAtlanta Motor Speedway is a track in Hampton, Georgia, twenty miles south of Atlanta. It is a 1.54-mile quad-oval track with a seating capacity of over 125,000. It opened in 1960 as a standard oval. In 1994, 46 condominiums were built over the northeastern side of the track...
in 1992 and two second place finishes at Talladega and Daytona in 1993.
Winston Cup Career
Allen Jr. made his Cup Debut at
DaytonaDaytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home to the biggest and greatest race in all of NASCAR, "The Great American Race", the Daytona 500. Today the facility has a seating capacity of almost 168,000 spectators...
in July 1993. Driving his father's #37 Naturally Fresh Ford which was an old Robert Yates Racing Car, Allen Jr. started 40th and finished 29th. He ran three other races for his father's team in 1993, the best being a 26th at
TalladegaTalladega Superspeedway is a motorsports complex located in Eastaboga, Alabama, United States. It was constructed in the 1960s in place of the abandoned Anniston Army Airfield by International Speedway Corporation, a business controlled by NASCAR's founding France family along with Daytona...
. In addition, Allen Jr. made his first start for Tri-Star at
PhoenixPhoenix International Raceway, or just PIR, is a one mile tri-oval race track located in Avondale, Arizona. It opened in 1964, as the new home of major open-wheel racing in the Phoenix area, replacing the track at the Arizona State Fairgrounds as an automobile racing venue.-History:Due to a change...
, matching that 26th in the #68
Country TimeCountry Time is the name of a brand of lemonade drinks owned by Dr Pepper Snapple Group .It currently comes in lemonade, pink lemonade, and lemonade iced tea flavors. In some markets it may be spelled Country Tyme. Recently the company has added Strawberry Lemonade. It is made by Kraft Foods....
Ford.
Allen was hired for Tri-Star's #19
HootersHooters is the trade name of two privately held American restaurant chains: Hooters of America, Incorporated, based in Atlanta, Georgia, and Hooters, Incorporated, based in Clearwater, Florida....
Ford in 1994. He won the
pole positionThe term "pole position" comes from the horse racing term where the number one starter starts on the inside next to the inside pole.The term made its way, along with several other customs, to auto racing. In circuit motorsport, a driver has pole position when he or she starts a race at the front of...
for the season-opening
Daytona 500The Daytona 500 is a -long NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held annually at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is one of four restrictor plate races on the Cup schedule. Matt Kenseth is the defending champion of the race....
(the first rookie to ever do so), finishing 22nd. He won two more poles at Atlanta and the
MichiganMichigan International Speedway is a two-mile moderate-banked D-shaped superspeedway located off U.S. Highway 12 on more than near Brooklyn, in the scenic Irish Hills area of southeastern Michigan. The track is used primarily for NASCAR events. It is sometimes known as a "sister track" to...
, as well as the outside pole for that year's running of the Pepsi 400. However, Allen's team missed twelve races due to a tight budget. He only had a best finish of 11th at
CharlotteLowe's Motor Speedway is a speedway in Concord, North Carolina, north of Charlotte. It features a long quad-oval track that seats 167,000 people, with room for 50,000 more spectators in the infield...
. In addition, he only had two more top-20 finishes, and had a DNF count of seven. It kept the team from making a serious bid at
NASCAR Rookie of the YearThe NASCAR Rookie of the Year Award is presented to the first-year driver that has the best season in a NASCAR season. Each of NASCAR's national and regional touring series selects a RotY winner each year....
honors, and Allen Jr. finished 39th in points that year.
In 1995, Allen Jr. ran just eleven races, splitting time with Junior Johnson Motorsports team and the Tri-Star team. He had been hired to run the new #27 Hooters Ford. However, he was released and went back to Tri-Star for the remaining seven races. In his first start back with that team at Talladega, Allen started second and went on to finish tenth, the only top ten of his career. However, Allen continued to struggle, and was put to a part-time schedule.
After suffering a
neckThe neck is the part of the body on many terrestrial or secondarily aquatic vertebrates that distinguishes the head from the torso or trunk. The Latin term signifying "of the neck" is cervical.-Bony anatomy: The cervical spine:...
injury at Rockingham Speedway in early 1996, he lost hold of his career, and only made sporadic starts after that. He did manage to return to the team at
PoconoPocono Raceway also known as the Tricky Triangle or the Bermuda Triangle is a superspeedway located in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania at Long Pond...
, with a 23rd, but in six more starts in 1996, he only managed a best finish of 21st at Talladega.
Allen Jr. made two starts in 1997, driving for Tri-Star, making the first two races at Daytona and Rockingham. He was 26th and 43rd respectively.
Gary BradberryGary Bradberry is a race car driver. He raced in the NASCAR All-Pro Series, and had top-ten points finishes from 1990-1993. After that, Bradberry made the jump to major NASCAR leagues...
took over and Allen Jr. was rideless after that.
His last ride came in 1999, two years later, when he qualified for two out of four races for the
SBIII MotorsportsScott Barbour is a businessman. He is currently the CEO of Turbine Solutions, an airplane engine company.Barbour joined the United States Air Force in 1981 and worked as a maintenance mechanic and began taking an interest in aviation...
team before being replaced by
Hut StricklinWaymond Lane "Hut" Stricklin is a former NASCAR race car driver. He was born on June 24, 1961, in Calera, Alabama. He married Pam Allison, the daughter of NASCAR legend Donnie Allison after they were introduced by her cousin Davey. Hut was the last member of the Alabama Gang.In 1986, Stricklin won...
. Both of those starts (Michigan and Daytona) ended with 40th place DNFs. After he couldn't find a ride, he retired.
Busch SeriesThe NASCAR Nationwide Series is a stock car racing series owned and operated by the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing. It is promoted as NASCAR's "minor league" circuit , and is a proving ground for drivers who wish to step up to the organization's "big league" circuit, the Sprint Cup...
Career
Allen Jr. did make periodical appearances in the Busch Series throughout his career.
Driving a #19 Chevrolet at Charlotte in May 1995, Allen Jr. did make a 21st start for his debut. However, he crashed on the 27th lap, and finished for 43rd out of 44 cars.
His next run was in 1997, where he started the inaugural race at
CaliforniaThe Auto Club Speedway of Southern California is a two-mile , low-banked, D-shaped oval superspeedway in Fontana, California, similar to its "sister track" Michigan International Speedway...
. This time, Allen Jr. would pilot the #48 Unifirst
Ford ThunderbirdThe Thunderbird , is an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company in the United States over thirteen model generations from 1955 through to 2005...
for Randy Porter. He barely made the race, starting last with a 42nd place finish. It continued in the race, where Allen Jr. could only manage a finish of 35th, 27 laps off the winner
Todd BodineTodd Bodine is a NASCAR driver. Todd is the younger brother of former racers Geoff Bodine and Brett Bodine. Bodine is known for his reckless driving style and bald head, which has given him the nickname The Onion...
.
Allen would make two races in 1998, his last year in this series. Driving the #78
Church's ChickenChurch's Chicken is a US-based chain of fast food restaurants specializing in fried chicken. The chain was founded as Church's Fried Chicken To Go by George W. Church, Sr., on April 17, 1952, in San Antonio, across the street from The Alamo. The company now has more than 1,650 locations worldwide...
Chevy at Talladega, Allen managed 7th position, his best ever NASCAR finish. However, his last career race ended with a last place finish at Dover, when he only completed 18 laps.
External links