Last season, NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle ace LE Tonglet’s run to the NHRA championship before he was even old enough to legally drink alcohol had everyone chattering, as he became the youngest professional champion in the series’ 59-year history; and he did it as a rookie. But while Tonglet deservedly can lay claim to that dubious honor, he certainly isn’t the first youngster to wreak havoc on the drag racing world. When Jeb Allen burst onto the NHRA scene in the early 1970’s, not only was he not old enough to patronize any drinking establishments, but he couldn’t even vote or purchase cigarettes.

During the mid to late 1960’s Jeb’s father, Guy Allen, and brothers Ed and Les competed in a series of injected gas and injected-fuel dragsters, providing the young Jeb plenty of opportunity to learn his way around every inch of a race car. During the summer of 1971, he toured with the famed Steve Carbone, but all the while, carried the itch to drive around with him. He would eventually license in a front engine car at Lions Drag Strip and earned his Top Fuel license at the age of 17; the youngest driver ever to do so.

His professional debut occurred at the 1971 Supernationals at Ontario Motor Speedway in California, where he advanced to the semifinals behind the wheel of a newly-built rear engine dragster. Looking to put that early success to the test, the Allen’s toured the country in 1972 and it was during the Summernationals that year that Jeb became the youngest professional winner in NHRA history at 18 years, two months of age when he defeated future Hall of Famer Tom “The Mongoose” McEwen. This record still stands to this day. Other late round showings that year caught the attention of sponsors Revell and English Leather, who would become familiar names on the sides of his racing machines.

Image: Dragracealberta.com

The turning point in Allen’s career came in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1973 while competing alongside good friend Jon Wiebe, his car was struck from the side by a tire-shaking Wiebe, destroying both cars in a spectacular crash. Allen received third-degree burns to his hands in the crash.

Image credit: nhra.com

His return to the winners circle came at Seattle in 1976 after s runner-up finish at the Summernationals, and followed that up the next season with a final round showing at the very same race. It was ’77 that he won his first championship with the AHRA, and also garnered wins at the Summers in ’78 and ’79.

Jeb won one race and had three final round appearances in 1980 and 1981, carried a career-high four wins into the NHRA Finals, where he

was locked in a tight battle for the Top Fuel championship with Gary Beck. In a scene reminiscent of Tony Schumacher’s last-second 2006 triumph in Pomona, Allen was forced to watch as Beck won the race but came up just two miles per hour short of the speed record that he needed to overtake Allen for the title. At the age of 27, he was the youngest Top Fuel world champ in history.

After years spent on the road, nickel and diming his way to the next race, Jeb walked away from the sport for good following the 1982 season.

In a recent interview with National Dragster’s Phil Burgess, Allen discussed his struggles prior to and after his retirement from racing, in which alcohol use began to take a grip in his life. As any champion does, Jeb found a way to prosper, becoming sober in the late 80’s and along with his wife, Sue, founding Palomar Buildings in 1990. Today, his business is one of the largest home building businesses in the city of Redding, California.