Allen was born in Daytona, Florida. His father drove stock cars with NASCAR during its early years before becoming a pilot and relocating the family to Miami. As a teenager Allen dreamed of competing at the Indianapolis 500.
His first racing experience came at age twelve in half midgets in Florida, before he moved into kart racing. In 1960 he won the World Champion karting event in Nassau, Bahamas, organised by the Go Kart Club of America. The following year, in 1961, he won the 100cc karting World Championship in Milan, Italy.
In the early 1960s Allen raced modified and supermodified cars in Florida. In the mid-1960s he moved north and settled in Hanover, Pennsylvania, where he persuaded a number of other out-of-state drivers to relocate alongside him; the group became known as the "Hanover Gang." At times during this period Allen reportedly slept in the Lincoln Speedway ticket booth while establishing himself in Pennsylvania racing.
Allen built his first sprint car in 1968 and quickly became one of the region's leading drivers. In 1975 he won the Williams Grove Speedway National Open — the 13th running of that prestigious race.
Allen was among the inaugural group of competitors when Ted Johnson launched the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series in 1978. He earned the second win in series history on 16 April 1978 at Eldora Speedway in Ohio, then added another victory at Warsaw Speedway in Indiana, and finished third in the inaugural points standings. Over the following seasons he accumulated 30 World of Outlaws wins in total, placing him among fewer than two dozen drivers in series history to reach 25 or more victories.
Allen also won 46 races in the All Star Circuit of Champions, placing him in the top ten all-time in that series, and captured the All Star Circuit of Champions title in 1980. His combined sprint car total exceeded 276 wins across numerous tracks and series.
Among his most significant individual victories were the Tuscarora 50 in both 1982 and 1989, and his 30th and final World of Outlaws win at the 1990 Knoxville Nationals — outrunning Sammy Swindell to claim what he regarded as his biggest career triumph.
Allen was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1988.
In 2014 Allen co-founded Shark Racing, taking two World of Outlaws teams on the road together with his son Jacob Allen and grandson Logan Schuchart. Despite doubts the operation could sustain a full season, they completed the year and remained fixtures on tour. Logan Schuchart earned Shark Racing's first World of Outlaws win in 2016 at Cedar Lake Speedway; by the time of Allen's death he had accumulated 44 World of Outlaws victories, placing him 20th all-time. Jacob Allen secured his first World of Outlaws win in 2020 and added four more in 2022.
Allen remained an active presence with Shark Racing throughout his final years, attending the Williams Grove Speedway National Open in the days before his death on 5 October 2025, at the age of 81.
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