Chico sprint car driver Kenny Allen is a mere 15 years of age. While he spent last season racing in Placerville, this year he's made the move to the Silver Dollar Speedway and a bigger engine.

Last season at just 14 years old, Kenny Allen drove his 360 winged sprint car well enough to capture rookie of the year honors for both the Placerville Speedway and the Civil War Series. But more importantly, 2009 helped prepare him for his transition to the 410 sprint cars at the Silver Dollar this season.

Allen says, "The difference between a 360 and a 410 I personally think is a little bit more horsepower and a little bit more speed going into corners. You can get out of your situations a little bit better, which I've noticed and it's probably helped me a lot."

And while Allen has done well enough to garner 3 top 10 finishes at the Dollar this season, he's still working on the progression into 410 racing.

Kenny's father Dan Allen says, "360 motors put out approximately 650 horsepower. The transition period between the 360 cubic inch motors and the 410 series, we chose to purchase and use a little bit less rated horsepower just to get him used to that transition of acceleration and control. Now we'll put him up a little bit more in the horsepower ratings, up to 850 to 900 horsepower."

Now Allen is currently racing with a motor that gives him around 800 horsepower and even with that he's managed to move into 4th place in the points race. So when he gets the new motor, well, let's just say Kenny has high goals.

Kenny Allen says, "We're gonna try to go for the rookie of the year and try to win the championship, so we'll see how it goes."