EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

4 full throttle questions for Rackley WAR owner Willie Allen

4 full throttle questions for Rackley WAR owner Willie Allen
Start your engines!Photo by Todd Warshaw/Getty Images.

Today, I had the privilege of talking to Willie Allen, co-owner of the newly formed Rackley WAR racing team in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. He talks about how the new deal came together with co-owner Chris Sutton, and the challenges of running a new team with the COVID protocols. He also discusses the future of the team and who their driver could be in the next few weeks.

SportsMap: I am joined today by 2007 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Rookie of the Year and newest Camping World Truck Series owner Mr. Willie Allen! Thank you so much for joining me.

Willie Allen: You bet! Thanks for having me.

SM: So first and foremost, a new team here with Rackley WAR, tell us a little bit about how this deal came together.

Allen: So I am partnered up with Curtis Sutton of Rackley Roofing, and we had a driver development late model team called WAR Development (That's where the name Rackley WAR came from plus we have a suspension company called WAR Shocks) and he sponsored one of our drivers named Brittney Zamora, and we just got to talking and hit it off, and he asked me about the possibility of running a truck team. And it had always been a goal of mine, so one thing led to another and here we are.

SM: So starting out, I know a lot of teams have alliances, can you talk about where you guys get some of your motors and the infrastructure of this new team and where your shop is?

Allen: So we are still in our same shop with our late model team here and our shock company WAR Shocks. So it gets a little crowded, but it actually works out well with the trucks. But what helped us get ahead of the learning curve was our alliance with GMS Racing, and they have been tons of help. They paint our bodies, do a lot of the fabrication and help with some of the engineering, so it's been really good to have their help. They have been awesome.

SM: I wanted to talk about your plan to enter William Byron in one of your trucks at Nashville. Are there plans to expand to two trucks in the future?

Allen: We definitely are looking into expanding to a second team. Our five-year goal is to have three teams, but hopefully soon we'll have a full time second team.

SM: That's really exciting to get a peek behind the curtain. For the next three races, you guys will have Josh Berry in the #25 truck. Could you possibly see a scenario where he could run the rest of the season?

Allen: Well first and foremost, I have known Josh and he's a great friend of mine. He should definitely be running full-time in the cup series, but definitely. We plan to take these two races and kind of go from there. But it would be great for us to work together and continue to build this program, but you know how this industry is. Everything changes in an instant so who knows what can happen next weekend, but anytime you can get Josh Berry behind the wheel you know he can get it done.

You can listen to the rest of the interview below:


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The Rays pounded the Astros, 16-3. Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images.

Junior Caminero hit two of Tampa Bay’s season-high five home runs and Zack Littell threw his first career complete game as the Rays sailed to a 16-3 victory over the Houston Astros Saturday.

Littell (5-5) allowed 10 hits and three runs with six strikeouts. The Rays have won each of Littell’s last seven starts and he’s 5-0 in that stretch.

The 21-year-old Caminero had a career-best four hits and drove in five runs. The performance comes after he set a career high with six RBIs on Thursday in a 13-3 victory.

Yandy Díaz, Jake Mangum and Josh Lowe also homered for the Rays, who had a season-best 18 hits and whose 16 runs tied a season high.

Díaz had a two-run shot in the third and Caminero put the Rays in front 4-3 with his solo homer to the seats in left field to start the fourth.

Tampa Bay led by 2 when Brandon Lowe extended his hitting streak to a career-long 13 games with an RBI double with one out in the sixth. Caminero followed with double to make it 7-3.

Mangum, a rookie who came off the injured list Friday, smacked a ball to the bullpen in right-center for his first career homer to push the lead to 9-3 and a two-run shot by Josh Lowe left Tampa Bay up 11-3.

There were two on with one out in the eighth when Caminero went deep again to make it 14-3 and give him his first career multi-homer game.

Jeremy Peña homered twice for the Astros, who fell to 1-2 in this four-game series.

Houston starter Colton Gordon (0-1) allowed five hits and four runs in five innings.

Key moment

Tampa Bay’s six-run seventh inning made it 11-3.

Key stat

Tampa Bay allowed four or fewer runs for the 12th straight game, which is the team’s longest streak since a 16-game stretch to end the 2021 season.

Up next

Tampa Bay’s Taj Bradley (4-4, 4.38 ERA) opposes RHP Hunter Brown (7-3, 2.00) when the series concludes Sunday.

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