Like the rest of the teams in the Super Stock class, Team Allen Lawncare and Landscaping took a beating last Sunday during Thunder On Cocoa Beach, the third offshore-racing event produced by the International Hot Rod Association. Still, team owner/throttleman Bill Allen and rookie driver Sabrina Kowalik ran their 32-foot Doug Wright catamaran to a fifth-place finish in the rowdy Atlantic Ocean conditions.
Throttleman Bill Allen and and rookie driver Sabrina Kowalik piloted Team Allen Lawncare and Landscaping raceboat to a fifth-place result in last weekend’s Thunder On Cocoa Beach event off the famous surfing hotbed. Photo by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.
But Allen, who claimed a Super Stock-class world championship in 2022 with driver Cody McDowell and another world title in 2024 with driver Randy Keys, took top honors in another category. The local organizing group in Cocoa Beach awarded him with its Space Coast Super Boat Belt, an annual honor that recognizes a competitor’s history, sportsmanship and dedication to the Central Florida Coast event.
“Bill Allen is a true gentleman,” said Kevin Pruett, a member of the local group. “He is the epitome of a sportsman.”
Unfailingly humble and gracious, Allen, who has competed in the annual Cocoa Beach affair for more than a decade, described the award as “very cool.”
“It was a huge honor for them to even consider our team,” he said.
Fellow Super Stock-class racer Ryan Beckley, who also competed in the Factory Stock ranks last weekend, said no racer in the category is more respected or beloved than Allen—or more deserving of the recent honor.
“That award was well-earned,” Beckley said. “Billy is the best. Everybody loves him and he is the nicest—and funniest—guy in the class. He is from Iowa, and he comes from a background of dirt-track racing. He’s in the Iowa Motorsports Hall of Fame for both his automobile- and powerboat-racing exploits.
Bill Allen got belted in Cocoa Beach, Fla., last weekend.
“He’s a diehard, hardcore racer and always gracious,” Beckley continued. “On any Saturday night on a race weekend, a bunch of us are in the Team Allen pits watching some sort of dirt-track racing while Bill is cooking dinner for us. He’s just the best.”