John DeFlorian and his Total Seal Chevy Camaro picked up their second win of the season and took over the points lead in Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage Mountain Motor Pro Stock Sunday at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals.
Facing defending world champion Johnny Pluchino in his third final round appearance, DeFlorian had a solid 6.630-second pass at 221.23 mph, bettering Pluchino’s 6.405 at 218.94. It is the first time in five meetings that DeFlorian and the Total Seal team have defeated Pluchino.
“There are so many people I have to thank my crew. I have the baddest crew out here, my wife Liann, Jason Petzold, Jeff Graber, Tony Strobl and then Lump, the best crew chief, they’ve given me a killer car. They are unbelievable, we had tricky conditions out here this weekend and they got us through it,” DeFlorian said. “I have to thank Total Seal, wouldn’t be out here without them. Thank you to Eric Latino for his help. This has been amazing. There’s a lot of people to thank who have been with us for a long time, we appreciate all our supporters. I have to thank NHRA for creating this opportunity with this class. Norwalk, Bill Bader, thank you for the Ice Cream Scoop Trophy, that is just too cool. Big Wally to go with the ice cream scooper. We honestly couldn’t be any happier with where we currently are at this point in the season.”
DeFlorian started eliminations from the No. 2 qualifying spot off a 6.380-second pass at 221.23 mph, setting him up to face Vincent Nobile in the first round. Nobile had the starting line advantage, but his Chevy Camaro rattled the tires at the hit forcing him to coast to a 21.229 second pass at 36.34 mph. DeFlorian handled the Total Seal machine to a clean 6.361 pass at 220.30 for the victory.
Facing John Montecalvo and his Montecalvo Paving Corp. Ford Mustang in the semifinals, DeFlorian kept up his consistency, running the quickest pass of the event at 6.343 seconds and 222.25 mph to defeat Montecalvo’s 6.369 at 222.14.
En route to the finals, Pluchino, the No. 1 qualifier after he ran a 6.362 at 220.13, took down Elijah Morton and the Easy Living Wheels Ford Mustang (6.380, 220.62 def. 6.423 at 219.58) and Brad Waddle in the Innovators West Inc. Ford (6.357, 221.60 def. 6.429 at 220.62). It was Pluchino’s seventh final round appearance.
The JHG Mountain Motor Pro Stock Series will next compete at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway August 14-17 in Brainerd, Minnesota.
This story was originally published on July 1, 2025. 
