Drag Illustrated Issue 140, January 2019 | Page 92
THE
CHAMPIONS
ISSUE
Pro Outlaw 632 /
JOHNNY PLUCHINO
S
D
rivers in Liberty’s Gears Extreme Pro Stock
faced perhaps the most competitive fields of the past
several years over the course of the 2018 season, as
car counts increased consistently toward the season’s
end. That made the championship chase even more
challenging for Steven Boone, but he wouldn’t have
it any other way.
Boone, a longtime mountain motor Pro Stock wheelman, was officially
declared the 2018 Liberty’s Gears Extreme Pro Stock world champi-
on after winning first round at the World Finals. While 2016 world
champion John Pluchino also won first round and was mathematically
eligible, the New York native was unable to stay for the completion of
the weather-lengthened event on Monday. Boone’s first-round winning
pass of 4.063 at 179.14 in his Boone Motorsports ’07 Cobalt gave the
North Carolina business owner all he needed to secure the title.
“It’s surreal,” Boone says. “We’ve never been in this position, we’re
proud to be in this position, and we hope that we represent mountain
motor Pro Stock to its highest level. That is our goal. This is one big
family here and we’re proud to be the No. 1 representative.”
Boone’s thoughts of a championship chase started in May when he
won his first PDRA 660 Man trophy at the North-South Shootout
in Maryland. A second victo-
ry followed in October at the
Fall Nationals in Darlington,
South Carolina, where Pluchi-
no’s first-round exit boosted
Boone’s title hopes going into
the World Finals.
“We were very concentrated
on this championship,” Boone
says. “Instead of swinging for
the fence and trying for the
3-second barrier, we were
concentrated on being con-
servative but fast. We knew
we had to go a round or two.
Pluchino is a very tough cus-
tomer. I have great respect for
those guys.”
DI DI DI
DI DI DI DI
DI DI DI
Extreme Pro Stock /
STEVEN BOONE
econd-generation PDRA world champion Johnny
Pluchino went into the PDRA World Finals with a couple
scenarios at play that could allow him to secure the title.
One of those scenarios started to play out in qualifying
when he recorded a 4.163-second pass, the quickest in
class history. A back-up would give Pluchino all the points
he needed to clinch.
Sure enough, Pluchino clinched the East Side Auto Transport Pro
Outlaw 632 title in style when he charged to a 4.204 at 169.94 on a single
in the opening round of eliminations. To the thousandth of a second,
the pass was exactly what Pluchino needed to back up his record and
clinch the title over defending
world champion Dillon Voss.
“This championship
couldn’t have come togeth-
er in a better way,” Pluchino
says. “What makes it special
is doing this with the people
I did it with: my dad and my
guys. We all work so hard. We
weren’t able to win a champi-
onship with the Pro Stock car,
but we did it with this car. We
were there all year long, and at
the end of the day we’re un-
derfunded guys who just work
really hard at this and love it.”
The world championship
trophy is Johnny’s latest ad-
dition to the Pluchino family
trophy case, which includes
John Pluchino’s 2016 Ex-
treme Pro Stock world championship trophy. Driving Dominic Addeo’s
Kaase-powered ’06 Ford Escort, Johnny qualified No. 1 at four races
this season and won both GALOT events. In Extreme Pro Stock, John
won the Firecracker Nationals at Virginia and was in the championship
hunt until Sunday evening at the World Finals.
“To race together, win this championship and cement our name in
PDRA history like this is pretty special,” Johnny admits. “Now we both
have one of those trophies, jackets and rings. My dad is my best friend
and my idol, so it’s pretty special.”
DI DI DI
DI DI DI DI
DI DI DI
PAUL MOUHAYET 400 THUNDER PRO SLAMMER // CHRIS MATHESON 400 THUNDER TOP BIKE
92 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
Issue 140