There were a few secrets to keep in mind when sitting down for an on-the-record chat with Loy Allen.

A reporter had to make sure there were fresh batteries in the recorder and plenty of tape. After that, Allen would take care of the rest. Writers never so much interviewed Allen as they just jumped into the middle of what seemed to be an already ongoing conversation. Then, they simply held on for dear life.

Put it this way. When it came to the sheer number of words, Loy Allen put Darrell Waltrip to shame. With Allen, though, it wasn't bragging. Whether it was nervousness or what, the kid could flat-out talk.

Loy Allen

A decade later, he hasn't changed much.

Allen is currently involved in building development, construction and leasing with his brother, Brian. A longtime pilot, Allen also flies the company plane on a regular basis.

"I'm proud of everything we did in racing," he said. "Obviously, I would like to have had more success in it. I wish I could've won a race. I wish I could've had more top-10 finishes. You never are happy. If I would've won a race, I would've wanted to win two. You always want to do more if you're in that sport. I'm sure Jimmie Johnson doesn't think he's won enough championships."

The Raleigh, N.C., native had a meteoric rise to the top of the sport, but it was far from an easy ride. He'd been sponsored by the Hooters restaurant chain on the ARCA circuit, and when Alan Kulwicki was killed in an April 1, 1993 plane crash, Allen was company owner Bob Brooks' choice to replace him. Brooks' son, Mark, also lost his life in the accident.

Others objected, led by Felix Sabates, who oversaw Kulwicki's estate and team in the wake of the tragedy. When Sabates wouldn't budge, Hooters pulled its sponsorship from the team on April 12, less than two weeks after the mishap.

"Mr. Brooks told me he had made a decision as to who would drive the car," Sabates was quoted as saying in the April 22, 1993 issue of Winston Cup Scene. "I said, 'I beg your pardon?' I told him I was the trustee and that if they came up with a reasonable driver for a short period of time, I would recommend him to Mr. [Gerry] Kulwicki [the late driver's father]. If not, I was going to say no.

"He then said Loy Allen Jr. was going to be the driver. I said, 'Who?' The kid had won a couple ARCA races with a Robert Yates motor in a Robert Yates car, but that was it. He told me it was his money and his decision. That's who the driver is going to be. With that, he gets up and opens the door and in come Loy Allen Jr. and Loy Allen Sr. without any warning."

The meeting went downhill from there. Allen Sr. reportedly accused Sabates of trying to destroy his son's racing career.

"I told [Allen Sr. that Allen Jr.] didn't have a career," Sabates continued in the account. "His son was an ARCA driver. I wasn't beating on his son, I was just stating facts. I told him I had no doubt his son may make a good NASCAR driver one day but that I knew how hard it was to have a rookie in the car."

Sabates added that if he had put Allen in the car, it would have brought "Alan out of his grave." The younger Allen, for all intents and purposes, was caught in the middle of a very, very bad situation.

"It was hard, and I felt for what Mr. Brooks and everyone was going through with all that had happened," Allen said. "As far as me and my career in racing, I didn't like the way that all happened, of course. It was a tragedy for everyone. I looked up to Alan Kulwicki and that team. We looked up to them.

"Mr. Brooks did want me in the car, but it wasn't a huge disappointment to me [to not be named to the ride] because I had some other opportunities. I knew the route I wanted to take. I didn't mind racing Busch, [and] taking my steps into Winston Cup. But Mr. Brooks wanted me in that car, and I wanted to make him happy. If he wanted me in that car, I wanted to be in that car for him. If that team really didn't think I needed to be in that car because of experience or whatever, that was fine, too."

Allen shocked the racing world by winning the pole for the 1994 Daytona 500, with TriStar Motorsports. A rookie had never before taken the top starting spot for the sport's biggest race. He would sit on two other poles that year with TriStar Motorsports, yet many credited the team's quick, but unreliable, Hoosier tires for his success.

"The Hoosier deal didn't help things, because we kept blowing out tires, and I was getting concussion after concussion," Allen said. "I was on the pole one week and blowing tires out the next week. That didn't help things."

Allen ran four of the first five races of the 1995 season for the legendary Junior Johnson, and then moved back to Tri-Star Motorsports, where he failed to qualify for numerous events over the course of the last two-thirds of the year. The following year, he sustained a severe neck injury at Rockingham in February. He missed four months, and when he returned, he was involved in yet another serious accident in the season finale at Atlanta.

After his last two Cup races in 1999, Allen stayed in the Charlotte area for several years, trying to land another deal. It never happened.

"Finding the right sponsorship and getting things put together just became a little bit harder in the late '90s," Allen said. "I never found the right opportunity to get in the right car. I stayed in Charlotte for several years, kinda pursuing it. I'm back in Raleigh. It just got a little bit hard to find the right ride and the right opportunity that I really wanted to be in. I tried some one-race opportunities a few times, but they never really seemed to pan out into long-term situations.

"Now, I'm 40. I guess all the guys now are 19-, 20-, 21-year-olds. There was that transition ... but at that time, back in the late '80s, early '90s, they didn't even think about taking kids 19-, 20-year-olds and looking into Nextel Cup or Busch Series."

Still, Allen has few regrets.

"It was exciting, and it was a good part of my life," Allen said. "I loved every minute of it. I would've liked to have gotten a lot farther in racing, but of course, the accident kinda pushed me back a little bit. Sponsorship got kinda lean, I guess. Its kinda feast or famine, as far as sponsorship goes. But it was exciting to me. I wouldn't take anything for it."