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Well-Known Member
Johnny Allen was a rider best known for setting motorcycle speed records as many times as he had fingers. And here’s a hint: he had a whopping ten fingers.
Allen was born in 1929, and grew up in Forth Worth, Texas. He owned and ran a chrome plating business, and held a racing sponsorship from local dealer Pete Dalio. He was a regular racer at the Panther City Speedway, competed in Class C races for eight years, and was a Texas State Champion. His flat track career ended though when he was racing for a dealer out of Oakland, California called Vern Gardner, and sustained a serious leg injury.
In lieu of flat track racing, Allen found his true calling: going fast. Allen started competing for speed records, and by the time he was 27 years old he held six world records for various classes and distances, and held two AMA speed records. One of these records was done in a streamliner called the Texas Ceegar.
The Texas Ceegar was built by airline pilot J.H. “Stormy” Mangham, and dealer, tuner, and AMA Hall of Famer Jack Wilson. The Ceegar’s body was 15’8” long, and 22.5” wide, and had a chromoly tube-frame chassis that could be fitted with different engines when attempting different records.
The Texas Ceegar was always powered by Triumph engines, though. For bigger cc classes, the Ceegar ran a Thunderbird 650 cc engine. For smaller cc classes, the Ceegar used a Tiger 100 500 cc engine.
On August 31, 1956, Allen hit 198.020 miles per hour for the 500 cc class with the Texas Ceegar. Having set that record, he then set his sights on the absolute motorcycle land speed record, held by Wilhelm Herz at 211.4 miles per hour.
On September 6, Allen took the Texas Ceegar out to the Bonneville Salt Flats and attempted the absolute land speed record before the witness of FIM and AMA officials. His average speed during the run: 214.40 miles per hour. Powered by a normally aspirated, production-based Triumph motor. Although FIM later denied the record due to a technicality, AMA upheld it. Bonneville was put on the map as a result, and would-be world record setters began gathering there every year to test their mettle in pursuit of being the fastest person on earth. Three years later, Triumph began producing their iconic line of Bonneville motorcycles in honor of Allen.
In the 60s, Allen and Mangham opened the Johnny Allen Triumph-Suzuki dealership in Fort Worth, which they operated until 1974. Allen continued working in the chrome plating business and also started a successful real estate business.
During his retirement, he learned to fly at Mangham’s airstrip. And crashed three times. But emerged unscathed each time.
He lived out the rest of his life hunting and fishing around his home in Millsaps, Texas.
