What is your name?
Don Allen (AKA: JR, D2, Donny’s or Thomas’s Dad or Big Don)
How did you get involved in boat racing?
My dad, Don Sr started racing in 1953 and took a few years off in the 60’s as he was raising his young family. He started back in 1969. My first race I really remember attending was the 1969 Nationals in Hinton W.V.
When and where was your first race?
1971, If I would have been smarter I could have started in 1969, but Don was waiting for me to ask him if I could race. I found a J engine (60-J) in the garage the winter before 1971, it was buried under a bunch of stuff shoved in a corner. I remember thinking, we have an engine why am I not racing. That night Don & his buddy “Big Mike Johnson” were in the garage building a DSR. I went out and was hanging out with them. As with most of us, I loved hanging out in the garage with my dad and his racing buddies. I remember looking at my dad and saying, how come I don’t get to race? He said, I was waiting for you to ask, as I wanted to make sure, you wanted it, and not just because I put you in it. He took me over to the corner and showed me the engine. (I asked surprised, but later on I told him I had found it earlier) He said, that’s ok, all I wanted you to do, was ask, so I knew you wanted it. That winter he had Bernie Schaller build me a JSR. My first race was JSR at Muskegon Michigan. All I really remember from that race was it was horribly rough. Back then you raced on water that we would never think of going out in. I tried for about 5 minutes to get on plane, but never did. I remember coming in and being really upset. I can remember going and sitting by a tree and Don came over and asked why I was so upset. I said, all I wanted to do was race a boat and have been thinking about it for years and I let you down. You can imagine how that conversation went. Funny thing is about 5 years later we were racing there again. It was always an ocean there, I came out of the first turn in either my ASH or BSH and stuffed it so hard I thought I was dying.
What classes have you raced?
Pretty much every Hydro class in Stock Outboard. JH, ASH, BSH, 25SSH, 20SSH, CSH, DSH. I raced JSR, and ran ASR a little, but I was not a great runabout driver. I tried Don’s Austin BSR again later on, spun it out every corner so I bailed on runabouts and stuck to hydro’s. Which actually worked out well because Don ran the runabout’s and I ran the hydro’s.
Who have you looked up to in the sport?
Wow, that can be looked at in many different ways. In the big picture obviously my Dad’s, I’m sure most of us would say their dad’s. But he did so much for us, and worked so hard for this sport for many years until he passed. As a youngster I really looked up to Vic Brinkman & Tom Nuccio. These guys were tough, and my favorite classes all time are small roll-up runabouts. Maybe that’s because I sucked so back I worshiped those that made it look so easy. As I got older it’s not that I looked up to him as hero’s, but I really admired David Dewald, that kid (at the time) was so smooth in a runabout it was crazy. Others that I looked up to , because Don strongly suggested we get involved on helping at races, I looked up to everyone that was involved on putting on races, and involved politically. I really enjoyed going to monthly club meetings, region meeting and eventually National meetings. I knew I was doomed to be involved when Don would come home from the national meeting and I would just start grilling him at about age 13, on what rules did they pass what did they talk about.
Favorite race to attend?
You know, I really don’t have a favorite race. I always like Depue, Wakefield is up there, I like Hinton W.V., but as for favorite, not sure I have one. I will say that attending Valleyfield was a shocking/great experience. People can describe it to you, but until you see 10’s of thousands of spectators sitting in stands, huge concerts, vendors everywhere, it’s hard to imagine.
Greatest accomplishment in racing?
Ha, I have none, that’s why I had kids, hoping they would be better than me. Which I would say, I was able to accomplish. The kids have all had their successes, Donny obviously more so than the rest of the kids. But the girls, Margaret & Kathleen in their days were tough. Thomas clearly is good also, I often wonder what I had done if he hadn’t taken a break from racing to focus on wrestling to go on to be a State Champion in high school and stayed racing. Maybe Donny would have had to share some of his success, LOL. Monica has clearly taken to racing in official capacity.
If you could pick a final heat at the nationals, Who would be the best 12 drivers in this heat!
I’m going to do hydro and runabout and in no particular order
Runabout:
Vic Brinkman
David Dewald
Tom Nuccio
Fred Miller
Rich “Worm” Runne’
Stover Hire
Ed Hearn
Tim Ross
Peter Lauer
Don Pontius
Craig Bowman
Bobby Austin
1st Alternate: Billy Simmons
2nd Alternate: Ron Hill
Hydro
Steve Warnock
Joe Pater
Mark Miskerik
Dana Holt
Jeff Hutchins
Donny Allen
J. Michael Kelly
Tom Kargus
Brian Palmquist
Mike Pavlick
Clark Maloof
Leigh Furnal
1st Alternate: Matt D’Agostino
2nd Alternate: Jim Sweeney
What are some activities you enjoy outside of racing?
I really enjoy anything with my family especially the grandkids. I like to Hunt & Fish but racing does interfere with that. Now a days, watching the grand kids wrestle and play sports.
Best Advice you have to give?
This is advice but also something I wish I could do. Don’t take this sport so serious that it becomes an obstacle. Not that I regret anything, but at the end of the day, this is just a hobby and I take it way too serious. But then that is my personality, I tend to go overboard on whatever I’m doing. We are all competitive or we would probably not be doing this.
Don’t let winning get in the way of having fun.
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