Colin Allman Hopes to Deliver Win in PLM Opener at Five Flags on Friday

Colin Allman knows where to point the blame.

His Late Model programs fell a little shy of expectation last season and Allman didn’t mince words about whose fault it was.

“The tire guy kept messing up the stagger,” he said.

Before you think the 27-year-old Plant City native is throwing an unsuspecting crew member under the bus, it’s important to note that Colin Allman’s tire guy is Colin Allman.

He has left last year’s miscues firmly in his rearview. Allman comes to Five Flags Speedway this week, riding a hot start to 2025 with a hat trick of top-three finishes.

Allman will be a part of what promises to be dynamic field Friday for the Allen Turner Pro Late Model season opener. The PLMs will race 100 laps and share the marquee with the Faith Chapel Outlaws, Gulf Real Estate Group Pro Trucks and Story and Bleich Roofing Crown Stocks.

Gates open at 5 p.m. Friday. Group qualifying for local classes is set for 6:15 p.m. and single-car qualifying for PLMs at 7 approximately. Racing gets underway at 8 p.m.

Admission is $15 for adults; $12 for seniors, military and students; $5 for children ages 6-11; and free for the little ones.

Allman has already scored podium PLM finishes this season. He scored a third at the Baby Rattler in March and finished second at Cordele Motor Speedway as part of the CARS Tour last week. Allman also posted a second for the Rattler 250 in his family’s Super Late Model.

“We’ve nailed it the last few races,” said Colin Allman, whose only help is usually his dad, Chad. “It’s hard to consistently nail it when you’re a two-man team. You don’t always get a good racecar.”

Against well-funded Late Model teams, the Allman Boys have been an outlier this year. It’s just how they drew it up.

“We love it,” Colin Allman said. “We don’t have the funds and our car’s a little bit older. Us having good runs proves you don’t necessarily need full-fledged teams to be successful.”

He attributes a lot of 2025’s success to the advice of two-time Snowball Derby champion Ty Majeski and Toby Nuttleman, Majeski’s crew chief.

Allman and Majeski became fast friends years ago through the iRacing online gaming platform. Allman has turned wrenches for the famed No. 91 over the years and spotted for Majeski during the short-track racing icon’s run to a fifth Rattler victory in 2022.

Just last year, Allman began using Nuttleman’s spindles for improved geometry when it comes to the science of Late Model racing.

“It has helped a lot working with Toby and Ty,” Allman said. “They’ve given us a good baseline and we just tweak it from there.”

Chad Allman was a perennial winner at short tracks across central Florida in the 1990s and early 2000s. He passed his passion down to Colin, but a wreck in a quarter-midget at age 5 sent the youngster to the diamond.

Colin Allman carved out an impressive baseball career as a shortstop—eventually playing college ball in South Carolina—but the desire to try his mettle at racing always loomed large.

“Let’s go racing,” 15-year-old Colin told his father.

“You gotta work on it,” dad replied.

“That’s fine. That’s what I want to do,” the then-teenager answered.

Colin Allman’s desire to race was fueled by vivid memories of his father winning feature races at Desoto Speedway in Bradenton. Photos in Victory Lane of a young Colin celebrating with Chad still hang in the family’s shop.

“I remember running down the banking at Desoto at 4 or 5,” Colin Allman said. “I can’t believe I didn’t fall.”

He hopes to provide a similar keepsake for his father at Five Flags this week.

“We wanna go out there and compete,” Colin Allman said. “It’s hard to beat (car owners) Anthony Campi and Donnie Wilson and (driver) Bubba (Pollard) and them guys. We just wanna show ’em we can do this.

“We work on cars every night even when we don’t have a race coming up. We like understanding a racecar and how it moves so when we get to the track we are as prepared as possible.”

-Story by: Chuck Corder, Five Flags Speedway
-Photo credit: Reid Scott