How many high school sophomores do you know that are set to challenge the cagey veterans of SCRA for a spot in the features? Alan Ballard at sixteen has thrown his helmet into the ring for the 2003 Rookie of the Year title. While he is young in years, he is long on experience, with nine years of racing behind him. At the age of seven, Alan's Dad bought a Go-Kart and he embarked on a racing career. After five years of competition, Alan moved up to the Micro-Sprints racing mostly at Visalia. In 2000, Ballard was crowned the 125 Micro-Sprint Champion. Moving to the more powerful 600 cars in 2001, Alan scored fourteen feature wins and claimed the Budweiser Outlaw National title at Visalia. In 2002, the team decided to move into the 360 sprint cars and ran the full VRA schedule, plus several Bandit shows. Alan logged one feature victory with the VRA, scored tenth in season points and these efforts brought Ballard the 2002 VRA "Most Improved Driver" title. This year he moves up to the more powerful 410 sprinters of SCRA and has already gained some success at the shortened SCRA/VRA Doubleheader, by capturing the "B" Main.

The Ballard team brings a new piece of equipment to SCRA running the Schnee chassis out of South Dakota, primarily used in winged applications. Their horsepower comes from a potent Brad Downing engine. Sponsorship help comes from Quality Diesel Electric, Ernie's Tong Service, Matrix Process Systems, Dick's Automotive, Brad Downing Racing Engines and IBDC.net. The crew consists of Ernie Ballard (Dad), who is the car owner and Crew Chief with help from Dustin Pudiwitr and Dickie Berg. Special recognition goes to Buzz Shoemaker, who has offered tips on preparing the racecar.

Alan stated that he didn't play any high school sports or participate in other hobbies, because racing is a full time endeavor, but he did mention that he might go paint balling on an off weekend. In addition to his schooling and the related studies, Alan works part time for Quality Diesel Electric, rebuilding starters and alternators and then spends time working on the racecar. Ballard's goal is to be a career race driver, running either with SCRA or USAC. He is not real fond of pavement racing at this time, so NASCAR and IRL are not of much interest.

Ballard likes the bigger, faster tracks, specifying Manzanita and Perris as favorites. Damion Gardner and Richard Griffin were noted as heroes, who run hard and fast, but clean. Alan credits his Dad and Don Glenn with keeping him inspired to race. He said that while sitting out of Go-Karts for a short time, Don Glenn prepped the Kart for racing, latched onto Alan and returned to the track. While his Mom is supportive of Alan's endeavors, she finds it difficult to watch her son compete against the veteran drivers.