 ADRL Website Recognizes Stan Allens Finest ADRL Season to DateSTRAIGHT FROM THE ADRL WEBSITE - Stan Allen has been a lifer in the ADRL’s Pro Nitrous class and is widely considered one of the veterans in a class that went to new levels in 2011. In fact, his 48 race starts in Pro Nitrous are more than anyone in class history. Never, though, has Allen and the Bankston Boyz team had a better end to the season than what took place in 2011. After debuting a new car in July, Allen and company finished the season with a fury, winning one race and advancing to the final in another, putting the team right in the thick of the championship chase.  His strong late-season run made Allen a dark horse for the championship, and the talented driver ended up fourth in the points standings. It was more than enough for the Bankston Boyz, led by team owner and crew chief Michael Bankston, to declare the 2011 season an overwhelming success. Looking back, Allen thinks the team progressed a great deal in the latter months of the season and is closer than ever than competing for the first-ever world championship in the highly-competitive Pro Nitrous class. “Shannon (Jenkins) always told me that it would take a few years to learn and get there. I think we’re closer (to a championship) than we’ve ever been,” Allen said. “We’re absolutely where we need to be; we just need to keep whittling at it. We’ve got a good crew and a good crew. Everything is just working together.” The new car debuted in Michigan in July, but there were kinks to be worked out. By September, those kinks were gone and Allen put together one of the finest months in his ADRL career. It started with a victory at Dragstock in Rockingham, where Allen went a blistering 3.83.  He followed it up with a career-best 3.80 in the finals at Norwalk, losing in a spectacular side-by-side race with eventual world champion Mike Castellana. Through it all, Allen talked glowingly about how everyone on the team meshed. “It was just that process of learning and having everything that flows together,” Allen said. “Everything came together at the end of the year and worked.” For now, the team is relaxing and freshening everything for a run at a 2012 championship, along with the team’s first trip into the 3.70s. There is still the possibility of a two-car Bankston Boyz team next year with Allen driving one car and David Janes the other, and Allen plans to be ready to test in January or February. The 2012 ADRL season will start in March in Houston, and, based on the end of his 2011 season, Allen will be right in the Pro Nitrous mix. “I think that everybody on this team is on the same level and I feel like we can win a championship,” Allen said. “It’s definitely been a dream of ours to win a championship. We just have to try to put it all together.” “I think I’ve got the best people I can have on this team. Everybody works equally hard.”  |