Allen takes second consecutive ASA Truck win at Irwindale

by Dave Grayson

In a period of less than 30 days Andy Allen has transformed himself from a possible contender to a major player in the ASA-Go Fast-Speed Truck Challenge Series. He more than proved that point on September 1st when the ASA trucks paid their second visit of the year to the Irwindale Speedway the fastest half mile in the west.

Allen, and his #22  RJ Allen Inc/Walker Brothers Moving Chevrolet,led all 50 laps of the ASA Speed Truck feature to score his second consecutive series win.

Commenting on current hot streak during the second half of the season the Fullerton-California driver said “we’ve got a really good motor program now. We’ve also been working very hard. We’ve got two races left in the season and we plan to go out and have some fun.”

Allen arrived at the Irwindale Speedway ranked fifth in the series’ points standings and only 67 markers behind the leader. His lastest win will allow him to gain some ground on the four drivers ahead of him. “I’m not sure where we’re going to end up in the points after tonight,” the race winner said adding “I wish we could have set the fastest time to get those five bonus points. We should be in the hunt now and in the top three. I’d like to thank everyone on my crew and our sponsors. Now it’s time to go out and finish up this season.”

Reigning Series champion, and current points leader, Darren Young piloted his #18 United Nissan-Sudden Impact-Quaker State Chevrolet to second to score his ninth top five finish of the season. Lap after lap Young filled up the race leader’s rear view mirror searching for an opening to score his second Irwindale win of the year.

Opportunity presented itself on lap 47 when the second of two yellow flags flew, due to a spin out created a green-white-checker finish. On the restart Young dived to the extreme low groove of turn one and used that racing line as a momentum gainer coming off of turn two.

By the middle of the backstretch Young pulled his truck alongside Allen’s door and the gambit nearly worked. Allen had just a slight momentum edge going into turn three and was able to hold off Young to save the win.

Commenting on that final move after the race Young said “if I would have had just another foot this old United Nissan truck would have probably pulled it off. If I could have got underneath him a little bit further he would still had that momentum but he would have had to let off.

The two of us had a tough race in the trophy dash where we didn’t give each other any room whatsoever. I’m looking at the big picture here, (a third series championship), so I gave him a little bit of room at the start of the race. As much as I had to bite my lip to do that I had to look at the task at hand and I needed to make sure I stayed out in front of that 80 truck, (Victor Pfluger).

Young arrived at Irwindale with a slim four point lead over Pfluger in what may become the tightest championship run in the series’ history. His second place finish, plus the bonus points for setting the fast time in qualifying, allowed him to leave the speedway with just a little more breathing room.

Young will be the first to tell you that it’s all about the team and added “I’ve got to thank United Nissan and my crew. I just couldn’t do this without them. Their hard work and preparation gets us to where we’re at today. There’s two more races left, I’m really excited and I can’t wait.”

Victor Pfluger brought his #80 Parker Farms-Copperstate Tire-LaHorgue Race Cars Dodge to a solid third place finish at Irwindale. But to get there the multi talented 16 year old, from Morristown-Arizona, found himself dealing with a surprise engine problem prior to the race.

Despite the tension that comes with engine suprises Pfluger was all smiles after the race. “It was actually a lot of fun, I think it was the most fun that I’ve ever had here at Irwindale. Our motor was a little down on power. We found some bad valve springs but we were able to change them in time so we were a little worried about our horsepower. But it turned out pretty good. I got up to third at the start and was able to hang there. I didn’t quite have enough at the end of the race but it was still a great run for us.”

Jason Black piloted his family owned Chevrolet to his second consecutive top five. This is an operation that has really displayed a lot of growth and improvement lately and Black is beginning to garner some well deserved attention from series observers.

Commenting on his night at Irwindale the young driver said “Big tracks has always been my deal. I ran dirt before I came to asphalt and the bigger tracks were always my best finishes. We came here to Irwindale a little over a month ago for the first ASA Speed Truck race and we had our best qualifying run of the season and our best finish of the season. We were hoping for a repeat here tonight and here we are in the post race tech line which means we did good. The second half of this season has been real good and hopefully it will finish out real good. I’m sure that my Golden Made Adventures Chevrolet and my wonderful team consisting of my wife, mom and dad, my brother and my spotter will come through for us. We’ve had a lot of help throughout the season and I’m sure we’re going to do good during the final part of this season.”

Bear Rzesnowiecky drove his #3 United Nissan-Sudden Impact-Quaker State Chevrolet to another top five finish at Irwindale that actually had a Nissan power plant under the hood. Commenting on his race the 15 year old sensation from Las Vegas said “we had a bad loose truck tonight but other than that the United Nissan powered Frontier held its own during some competitive racing with Jason Black and Jim Putman. We’re just going to come back next time bigger, better and stronger. There’s a lot of hard work that goes into this effort and I appreciate that. I love my crew.”

Jay Rutherford, President and CEO of the ASA-Go Fast-Speed Truck Challenge Series, was all smiles after the race and said “some of the guys in the championship hunt were big picture racing. Guys like Victor Pfluger, Darren Young, Andy Allen and Randel King, even though he had a bad night, are all looking at the big picture. They needed to go easy tonight especially on the half mile track at Irwindale Speedway where we all know that anything can happen really quick because it’s such a fast track. We had a great race here tonight and I’m very pleased with the way things went.”