Allen's Biography

 

Allen Pezo has been on the monster truck circuit since he was 15 years old. He got the idea for building his own monster truck when he went to a truck pull at the Ponitac Silverdome in Michigan. There, the idea for his first monster truck, the Lone Eagle, was born. It was a 1984 Chevy Silverado pickup, purchased brand new (stock truck) and modified. It weighed 16,000 lbs. Allen started booking shows with SRO Motorsports. He did 20 shows per year to start. Allen’s Lone Eagle was a special attraction which was used as filler for the truck pulls and custom car shows. During these shows, Allen strictly crushed cars. There was no racing, no freestyle, no doughnuts or getting major air off the jumps. The monster truck was only for riding over cars. Allen hauled Lone Eagle around on a flatbed pulled by a 1 ton dually pickup truck. There was just enough room for the monster truck tires and the truck itself. Very few spare parts were carried. This first truck was run on gasoline. Five gallons lasted a month. Allen ran Lone Eagle for 5 years, until 1988. Allen, with the help of his family and a few friends, built this first truck. One of these friends was Larry Jaruzel, who currently shares driving responsibilities in Prowler with Allen’s cousin Dave Pezo. These same people helped Allen with each of his trucks, and are still around helping him out today.

In 1986, SRO was interested in having another truck, a Ford, to be more specific, so the White Knight was born. It was all a Ford-Chevy battle back then. The White Knight was 1986 Ford Ranger single cab short bed truck. This truck was built from all junkyard pieces. This truck weighed only 13,500 lbs. The fact that it was a smaller truck accounted for the weight difference. Allen still used the flatbed trailer with his 1 ton dually to haul this from show to show. This truck was only booked for 10 – 15 shows per year. SRO did not use this second truck as much as they said they would. Allen was running both Lone Eagle and White Knight at the same time, but could only haul one at a time. White Knight was still only used for between show entertainment to crush cars. Nothing more. This was also a gasoline-powered vehicle. This truck was run for two or three years and then was sold in 1989-1990. The person who bought it still owns it today.

In 1988 Lone Eagle was redesigned. Chevy had changed body styles so the Lone Eagle got a new body and a new name. It’s new name was Predator. This body was blue with orange and yellow stripes down the side. This body was a single cab with long bed. Allen was still booking shows through SRO. This first Predator monster truck was booked for 25 – 30 shows per year. This was still hauled on the flatbed using the 1 ton dually pickup truck. This was still just a car-crushing exhibition.

In 1989, the second Predator monster truck was born. The chassis was different on this new truck, but everything else was the same as the first, including body style and paint job. A friend of Allen’s from Detroit did the paint jobs for all the monster trucks. By this time, Allen had acquired an enclosed trailer to haul one of the trucks around. He also built his first motor home to pull this trailer. The motor home was a Chevy Kodiak. The flat bed and dually pickup still hauled the other truck. At this same time, Allen also acquired a tank that he brought to these exhibitions to crush cars. It was also called Predator and had the same paint job as the two monster trucks. This tank was booked at roughly 15 shows per year. The other two Predators were booked at 15 – 20 shows per year. Larry Jaruzel drove the second Predator. Both trucks had their own schedules and rarely traveled together.

In 1991, Allen built his first race truck. This truck was white with neon accents. This was 10,000 lbs – the light-weight tube chassis, fiberglass body vs steel body, lighter axles, and all lighter parts made up the weight difference between this and the previous trucks. This truck was also called Predator. Around this time, Allen bought his first tractor-trailer and retired the dually pickup. He could fit two trucks into this tractor-trailer, and still hauled one truck in the enclosed trailer being pulled by the motor home. This new truck was booked for 25 – 30 shows per year. Big Foot, Carolina Crusher & Grave Digger were also part of this new monster truck racing circuit. The show formats were as varied as they are today with Chicago style (roundy-round) racing, straight drag racing, "U" turn racing and freestyle. They raced over rows of cars with no dirt ramps before or after the piles of cars. The lone promoter of monster trucks was Pace Motorsports, which bought out SRO some time in the 1990's.

The second blue Predator was torn apart and redesigned into a new race truck. This was the first truck with the panther body. The paint scheme was black with a neon orange and yellow logo. This truck was built in 1992 and started racing in 1993. The first race truck, the white one with neon accents, got a black panther body put on it. These two trucks were the only ones he raced. At the same time, the first blue Predator truck was turned into a ride truck with a new black panther body.  The ride truck was only out when booked and was taken with the race truck. In 1993 Allen bought the infamous black trailer with living quarters in it. In 1994 he bought another tractor to pull this new trailer…a 1991 Kenworth, which he still owns today.   Allen’s cousin Dave Pezo started driving in 1993.

In 1995 a third Predator was built. These three were run until 1997 before the first race truck was sold. He then just ran these last two until 1998 when the second one was sold to one of Allen’s friends, along with the tractor-trailer. This friend still races the truck today under a different name. In 1998 Prowler was built out of all new components, including a new frame. The objective was to have two identical trucks (except for the paint job) that traveled together in one trailer. Today, Larry Jaruzel & Dave Pezo share driving duties with Prowler while Allen Pezo still runs Predator.

During the 4th Quarter of 2002, Allen & Diane purchased their original third monster truck and trailer back. It has been run, up until this point, as a Predator black cat. We have a new body and paint scheme that we will introduce in May 2003 at the Conyers, GA show. Keep an eye out for pictures! Also in 2003, Allen decided to build a ride truck. It is still under construction in May 2003 but will soon be finished for the summer season. This ride truck will run with a black Predator body on it.

Favorite track: Orlando, FL

Favorite style of racing: straight drag racing

Hobbies: motorcycle, snowmobiling, jet skiing, water skiing, 4-wheeling, boating, hunting, fishing, biking, snow skiing, playing with John Deere tractors.

Future plans: NHRA Funny Car owner/driver, have a family of his own.

On October 8, 2000,  Allen got engaged.

On April 29th, 2001, Allen was married to Diane.

Predator, Prowler, Pouncer & Lone Eagle are registered trademarks of Predator Racing Inc.