Drag Illustrated Issue 127, November 2017 | Page 90
30 UNDER 30
T
he best moment of the 2017
season for Bob Mandell II came at a
drag strip, but it had nothing to do
with a win. He raced his father, who
made his return after a near-fatal
crash in 2016, in a special match race at the Tri-
Five Nationals at Beech Bend Park. With Mandell
experiencing the rush of the 200-mph door car for
the first time in transitioning to Top Sportsman
this season, the added emotion of the moment
was something he will always remember.
“That was just cool,” Mandell II says. “To get
out at the top end, see his smile and my smile,
that’s what it’s all about. We’re all about being
together as a family and that felt really good.
After his accident, they were thinking he would
never race again, but he was determined to get
back in there. We did quarter-mile burnouts, the
place was packed, and to have a father and son do
a six-second, side-by-side pass, it was definitely
a thrill.”
The move to Top Sportsman showed Mandell’s
versatility, which should be no surprise consid-
ering his father’s track record. Adding in the
29-year-old’s previous success in Top Dragster
helped earn Mandell a spot on the DI 30 Under
30 list, and he’s excited to see what the future
holds in Top Sportsman. Mandell is using the
blown Hemi motor out of his father’s wrecked
Corvette – about the only thing saved in his bru-
tal wreck at US 43 – to build another ’55 Chevy
for next year. It means working on the car until
2-3 a.m., but the goal is to get the car completed
in two months to be ready for the 2018 season.
It’s an arduous process, but it’s the journey that
Mandell has always loved.
“Our cars are just beautiful, and this is all I’ve
ever dreamed of doing,” Mandell continues. “I
was always following my dad around as a kid
and I was hooked. Stay ing out here late at night,
working on your own stuff, that’s what our whole
life is about.”
That’s perfectly fine with Mandell, who lives
for the moments like he experienced at Beech
Bend. The thrill of racing a door car at more than
200 mph has him hooked on the Top Sportsman
class, though he will continue to race Top Drag-
ster as well.
“A six-second door car, that makes a man out
of you real quick,” Mandell laughs. “I don’t care
how fast I’ve been in the dragster, it doesn’t
compare with driving a fast door car. I’ve always
loved door cars. We just love drag racing, putting
happy faces on people and doing what we love.”
– JOSH HACHAT
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L
ike many kids with racing
parents, Johnny Pluchino grew up
racing Jr. Dragsters. He won three
track championships and progres-
sively grew as a wrench on his fa-
ther’s mountain motor Pro Stock car, which
ran competitively despite being one of the
most underfunded teams.
The youngest Pluchino grew in confidence
and ability as a tuner and driver. By the time
his father was vying for, and subsequently
winning, the 2016 PDRA Extreme Pro Stock
championship, Johnny was making roughly
50 percent of the tuning calls. He had also be-
gun competing in Outlaw 632 and was quickly
proving himself as a driver. And while his fu-
ture plans are not quite set in stone, one thing
is certain: Johnny Pluchino will be behind the
wheel of a Pro Stock machine soon. At just
27 years of age, the New Yorker has already
earned respect as both a driver and a tuner.
“I like to be able to tune whatever I’m driv-
ing,” Pluchino says. “I expect myself to be in
the top half of the drivers. But as far as driving
goes, that’s only half the fun for me. I like to
tune and work on the car I’m driving, as well.
It’s those nights when you’re not at the race
track and you’re sitting there in front of the
computer, thinking of a new idea or another
way to invent the wheel – that’s what I enjoy
just as much.
“At some point [in the near future] I’m ex-
pected to be in that Mustang. I’m extremely
ambitious and somebody that takes this sport
very seriously. I’m the most competitive per-
son I know, and I’m very excited for when that
day comes.” – LISA COLLIER
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90 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
Issue 127
BOB MANDELL II
JOHNNY
PLUCHINO