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Tom Petty was right. The waiting is indeed the hardest part, and no one knows that better than Allen Firestone, who had to sweat a stressful end to the 2024 season before officially being crowned the Right Trailers Top Sportsman world champion.  

Firestone enjoyed what was easily the best year of his career when he drove his Elite Motorsports-powered Camaro to three wins in five final rounds. For all his success, Firestone didn’t secure the title until the final weekend of the season when he held off two-time Indy winner Bill Yates by a razor-thin margin of just three points, while David Cook was just 11 points behind.  

Firestone went to the season-ending In-N-Out Burger 91���� Finals as the championship leader, and his intention was to block Yates and Cook, but that plan went out the window when he lost in round one to Joe Stannard. No longer in control of his own destiny, Firestone could only watch as Yates and Cook continued to turn on win lights. Yates eventually advanced to the quarterfinal round, where he could secure the title with just one more win, while Cook needed to reach the final in order to improve. 

In a sport where races are routinely decided by infinitely small margins, Yates’ -.001 red-light and Cook’s subsequent semifinal loss ended the battle in Firestone’s favor. Watching from the top end of the track, Firestone could finally let out a deep breath and celebrate. 

“The whole deal was pretty stressful. I was tapped out, so I didn’t go to Las Vegas [for the divisional], but I went to Pomona because I could claim it,” said Firestone. “Everyone got beat first or second round [in Las Vegas], so when we got to Pomona, I was still in the lead. I felt good, but then I shook the tires in the first round. That threw me for a loop, and that’s when things got very stressful.  

“I was surprised when Bill went red, and then David had a problem in the semi’s, which is surprising because they’re both great racers. For me to even be in the lead was surprising. I couldn’t stand at the starting line, so I watched the whole thing unfold from the top end.” 

Firestone came into the 2024 season as an accomplished racer with three national event wins, four divisional titles, and top-10 finishes in four of the last five years, so he was certainly someone worthy of discussion when it came to the Top Sportsman title. A win at the NHRA Arizona Nationals followed by a runner-up finish at the Division 4 event in Noble, Okla., provided even more fuel for optimism. 

“Honestly, I never thought I’d be in the position to win world,” said Firestone. “It’s a long season, and there are so many good racers out there. I won in Phoenix and Noble and went to the semi’s in Chicago, and I still didn’t think I was in it. I knew we were doing good, but we didn’t need to quit doing good.” 

Firestone drove his six-second Camaro to two more divisional wins, in Earlville, Iowa, and Brainerd, but in the interim, he also suffered three straight round-one losses. Another runner-up at the second Earlville event helped boost Firestone’s score north of 500 points, but he wondered if that would be enough.  

“We went to Odessa [Mo.] and lost first round in both races, and that was disheartening,” Firestone said. “I thought, ‘Oh man, I just blew it.’ Then Larry Demers won both of them, and I thought that cost me the divisional championship. Larry is a good friend, but I didn’t want to just hand it to him.”  

Firestone isn’t one to make radical changes in the middle of a points battle, but he did test a new big-inch engine combination from Patterson/Elite at the Brainerd divisional event. He quickly went back to his old tried-and-true combination for the second half of the doubleheader and found the winner’s circle for the third time.  

“After that, I thought we might be able to wrap it up in Dallas, and I came out of there with a second and third round, but I gained a few points,” said Firestone. “I figured it would take about 600 points to win the championship, and we were at 569. I also knew that David [Cook] and Bill [Yates] still had races to claim, and that they were going to be tough. 

“Years ago, my good buddy David Rampy told me, ‘If you want to win a championship, you’re going to have to play chess, not checkers.’ We also needed luck to go our way, and it did.” 

Firestone’s support system begins with his family, including wife Cathy, son Kyle, daughter Ashley Hoggard and her husband, Jimmy, and “everyone who’s ever pulled me up to the line or handed me a wrench.” He also thanked Patterson/Elite, RJ Race Cars, Mickey Thompson, JEGS, NGK, Abruzzi Converters, and Comp Cams.  

Firestone plans to defend his title in 2025, but he also understands that the sport evolves quickly, so he’ll continue testing his 900-plus-cid engine with the hopes of running closer to the 6.10 ceiling.  

“This whole deal has been very satisfying,” Firestone said. “We had so many people cheering for us. I didn’t know just how big a deal it would be.”

Read more 2024 NHRA world champion profiles