Missouri’s finest is on the property here at Virginia Motorsports Park for the PlayNHRA Virginia Nationals as John DeFlorian took the pole in Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage Mountain Motor Pro Stock. It’s the first pole of the season for DeFlorian, who calls Arnold, Mo., home.
“We knew coming up here that the weather was going to be really, really nasty,” said DeFlorian, driver of the Total Seal-backed Chevrolet Camaro. “We had an early session scheduled, and they moved it up to 9:30 a.m., which was absolutely perfect. We figured we’d go out there and try to get after it a little bit, but we didn’t expect that.”
“That” was a blistering 6.297-second pass at 222.40 on a blazing hot day in Dinwiddie, Va. The pass came in the first session of qualifying for the monstrous Mountain Motor Pro Stockers, with rookie Randi Lyn Butner laying down a 6.311, 222.91 that was second best.
“Was that not crazy,” marveled DeFlorian, reflecting on his own numbers. “We were just trying to get into the top half.”
DeFlorian laid down a 6.371, 220.26 in the second session, then a 6.332, 222.51 in the final qualifier. He will race Alan Drinkwater in the first round.
DeFlorian is the third pole-sitter in three races in the Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage Mountain Motor Pro Stock series. Incoming points leader Bo Butner was No. 1 at the first race of the season – the Four-Wide Nationals in Charlotte – and John Montecalvo was No. 1 in Bristol at the Super Grip Thunder Valley Nationals two weeks ago.
He has raced in the 800-plus cubic inch class in other series for quite a while, and DeFlorian’s NHRA Mountain Motor Pro Stock scorecard started with a win in 2019 at the NHRA New England Nationals, where he defeated Johnny Pluchino. He went on to claim wins in St. Louis (2021) over Elijah Morton, and in 2023, DeFlorian won at the Charlotte fall race over Chris Powers. He reached the final round in NHRA competition on four other occasions, including two weeks ago in Bristol.
Fellow Bristol finalist Bo Butner claimed the first two wins of the season, but DeFlorian believes raceday in Virginia could belong to anybody.
“We have 15 really bad cars here that can go really fast,” said DeFlorian. “[Our] run was really a nice run, and I couldn’t be any happier to be here and sitting in this spot. When you work really hard to run well and you’re No. 1, there are benefits of that – we’ll have our choice of lanes, and we’ll be last [pair out]. We have a lot of data from this racetrack, and that’s going to help a lot.
“We feel really good about it, but every car out there is bad-to-the-bone. It’s not going to be easy. Whoever gets the trophy, they’re really going to have to accomplish something. Hopefully, it’s us.”
The third race of six in the 2024 Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage Mountain Motor Pro Stock Series will conclude on Sunday at the PlayNHRA Virginia Nationals.
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