ALLEN CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC PROVISIONAL ADRL POLE

There’s nothing to celebrate—not yet, anyway. That was the sentiment of New Iberia, LA’s Stan Allen after finishing Friday at Dragstock IX on top of the 16 car Pro Nitrous (PN) field with a 3.905 at 194.97 mph in his Reher&Morrison-powered ’69 Camaro.

“It’s not real to me yet. There’s still two more sessions and I’ve learned over the years that you ain’t won nothin’ until you actually won it, so I’m not getting over excited right now,” said Allen, who last started a PN race from the top spot at the 2006 ADRL season ender in Kennedale, TX.

He also said he doesn’t expect his current time to stand up through Saturday’s now two rounds of qualifying after rain postponed the scheduled Friday-night opportunity.

“I think we would’ve gone a little quicker tonight and I think everyone else would’ve, too, but we would’ve been right there,” Allen said. “I also think the track will get better, but we can step it up, too. I think the track will be really good in the morning, especially if we don’t get too heavy rain. We just have to wait and see.”

After experiencing an up-and-down season so far, Allen credits team owner Michael Bankston for stabilizing their efforts.  

“As far as a team deal we changed up several people this year and now it’s starting to mesh together and everyone knows their jobs. But it all goes back to Mike; he’s got everything and everybody working really well together,” Allen stated.

“We had some electrical issues with the car at the last race (in July at Martin, MI), so we tore the car completely apart and went over everything and then Mike got everybody together and just said let’s slow down and think about what we’re doing; everybody’s got a job to do and if we all do our jobs and go A to B we should be okay and that’s what we’ve been doing.

“We actually slowed down and concentrated just on our own stuff and didn’t worry about what anyone else was doing or how fast they were going and I think that’s what’s helped us the most,” he added. “We slowed down to go faster.”

First-round qualifying leader Randy Weatherford dropped to second place, with Pat Stoken third and Robert Mathis fourth. Shannon Jenkins had the first non-’69 Camaro on the list with his 2012 Camaro placing fifth. Tommy Franklin held onto the 16th and final position ahead of four non-qualifiers with a 4.274 at 177.79 in another ’69 Camaro.

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