CHICO, Calif. — In late 2019 Jonathan Allard left California not realizing it would be the last time he’d see the Golden State for nearly three years.
After spending the season mostly as a crew chief but also having some resurgent runs behind the wheel of the Country Builders Construction sprint car, Allard boarded a flight to his New Zealand home where his wife, a New Zealand native, resides.
However, the trip turned into a much longer than anticipated stay as the COVID-19 pandemic spread just before his scheduled return in early 2020, causing uncertainty and, eventually, an inability to travel between homes.
“Unfortunately, with COVID, it came along and everybody got nervous about what was happening,” Allard told SPEED SPORT. “It was like within the week I was supposed to leave and I postponed everything to make sure that my wife and everything was secure in New Zealand.
“With that came the border restrictions,” Allard continued. “Without being a full citizen of New Zealand, there was not the ability to come back and forth. Basically, if I left, I didn’t know when I could get back.”
Allard made the most of his time, thankful to spend it with his wife and still turning plenty of sprint car laps. He collected many trophies in the Dalton’s Landscape machine over the past few years.
Now with New Zealand’s recently relaxed restrictions, Allard is back in California and ready to do what he knows best, wheel a sprint car on the bullrings where he was raised.
Allard is one of the most accomplished wheelmen of the region. The Chico, Calif., native has collected three titles with the NARC Fujitsu General Sprint Cars, along with 40 series victories. He owns four championships at Skagit Speedway’s Super Dirt Cup.
Perhaps most notably, Allard scored one of the most popular hometown wins of all-time when he made a last lap, last corner pass to win the 2014 Gold Cup Race of Champions over the NOS Energy Drink World of Outlaws Sprint Cars.
In what will be a welcome sight of nostalgia for left-coasters, Allard’s homecoming will be aboard the iconic Morrie Williams’ No. 0, the ride he drove to many of his greatest achievements and helped him establish his legacy. A fortuitous phone call a few months ago with Williams Motorsports’ crew chief, Ashley Smith, led to the reunion.
“Ashley said, ‘Well we really don’t have anybody, would you be interested in coming back here?’” Allard explained. “And that’s been something that I’ve really wanted to do with the relationship that I had with Morrie and Katie (Williams) and the whole team. After I left, we still were really close. And then with Morrie’s passing to be able to be a part of this team again has been something that I could only dream of.”
Adding to the storybook elements of Allard’s return is that his first race back will be at none other than his home track, Chico, Calif.’s Silver Dollar Speedway, as NARC begins The Road to Dirt Cup this Friday.
Allard is third on the all-time track sprint car win list and beloved in the community.
“Chico is, of course, home ground for me and probably one of the better spots I can go home and really get my feet on the ground because I have a lot of laps there,” Allard noted. “It’s the ability to refresh myself and reboot and try to get back in the groove as quickly as I can.”
Allard also credits the Butte County bullring as a catalyst to the success he’s experienced throughout his career.
“Chico allowed me to race really hard and I had to race guys that were really, really good at their time and place,” Allard said. “From Friday night local shows to NARC shows to Outlaw shows, you really had to be on your game every race at Chico, and I think that provided me with the ability to have some of the tools in place that it takes to go win at some of those other race tracks.”
Following Chico, Allard and the Williams team will travel north with the series to Cottage Grove Speedway. Then they’ll be on to another facility that will be eager for Allard’s return, Skagit Speedway, as he’ll aim for his fifth Dirt Cup crown.
This year will be the 50th edition of the prestigious event and award $50,000 to the winner. Allard hasn’t competed in the prestigious event since 2014, but his four victories rank second all-time. Dirt Cup holds a special place in his heart as it helped propel him to new levels in his career.
“Dirt Cup is a very special place,” Allard said. “It allowed me to buy my first house and do a lot of things in my life because of the prize money. With the history up there, it’s pretty special to be a part of it and be one of the guys who have won multiple Dirt Cup championships. It’s special to me, and we’ve got a lot of great fans up there. To go right up into there, it’s pretty neat to be able to be in this car again and represent the 0 team.”
After Dirt Cup, Allard will head back to New Zealand to tend to some obligations before returning to the states sometime in August. He then plans to finish out the year competing primarily in NARC races while mixing in some of the major 360ci shows of the California circuit including Trophy Cup.
While winning will undoubtedly be at the front of Allard’s mind as he returns home to pilot the car that was so instrumental in his career at racetracks that were so vital to his development, the 45-year-old’s unexpected hiatus has equipped him with added perspective beyond claiming checkered flags.
Allard intends to soak in as much as he can during the homecoming, finding moments to take a step back and appreciate where he is and the path he’s taken as he looks to take advantage of a special opportunity that he wasn’t sure he’d ever have again.
“I’m really looking forward to being able to enjoy part of what we built a long time ago,” Allard said. “I never really got to stand and, as they say, smell the roses. I’ve never really looked at where I’m at and appreciated what I had until it’s gone. Now, I’ve got an opportunity to shake everybody’s hand, give everybody hugs, and go out and perform, do the best I can do and hold my head high no matter where we finish and just appreciate what we’ve been able to achieve in the past and hopefully in the future.”