Lisbon resident Tanner Allen will have a second opportunity to race at the Chili Bowl National Midget Car Races in Tulsa, Okla., this coming January.
“This is one of the biggest and most prestigious indoor midget car races that’s run every year,” Allen said. “It’s a race where a lot of NASCAR racers and the best in the open classes compete.”
Allen will be making the race for the second time in his life, having raced at the event for the first time last year.
A fundraiser to help Allen raise funds for the competition and competing at the ARCA NASCAR event in Daytona will be held Saturday, Dec. 11, at Regal Crowne in Lisbon, from 5 to 9 p.m. Events include a 50/50 raffle, silent auction and a racing simulator, as well as food and the full service bar.
The Lisbon native has been racing in the professional circuit the last two years, but is a name dirt track enthusiasts probably know from his time racing on local tracks in Tipton and West Liberty, among others.
Allen has been racing cars since he was 12 years old, getting some of his first races in larger cars at the Tipton tracks.
For Allen, his favorite thing about racing is the people he gets to meet as a part of the sport.
“The racing community is very tight knit,” Allen said. “You frequently attend a lot of the same races and get to know one another, and it’s a pretty cool sport from that perspective.”
Allen has been racing in the Power I National Midget circuit over the past couple of years.
“The biggest difference between the previous circuits and the professional circuit has to be the caliber of racers I’m up against,” Allen said.
Over the course of this past year, Allen noted he has raced in more than seven races.
“I got in a bad wreck this past June,” Allen said. “I got a concussion and a compression fracture of my vertebrae, but the wreck also severely damaged my car, which has financially impacted me.”
Hence another reason for the racing fundraiser, as Allen will also be needing to rebuild his car for the 2022 season.
During the trip, Allen is also hoping to get a chance to race at the ARCA NASCAR Series Car in Daytona Jan. 14.
“My hope is with that I will get an opportunity to race at Daytona to help me get connections and inroads to possibly compete in ARCA NASCAR races that are held in Newton this coming June,” Allen said.
When it came to his return to the Chili Bowl, the person who sponsored him as a racer last year has asked him to return to race again this year.
“It’s one of the first times someone has offered me the chance to drive for them,” Allen said. “It’s a big risk, because if I tear up or damage the car, I’m going to be on the hook for it, but it’s also an opportunity to race at a big national race again.”
Allen also expects to run in the national circuit for Midget cars in 2022, but expects he won’t be running in as many races as he did this past year.

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Tanner Allen races on a dirt track earlier this season.