BY BRET KEPNER
ALEX OWENS, AUTO IMAGERY, ROGER RICHARDS, JOE MCHUGH, RICK BELDEN AND NHRA
BY BRET KEPNER
PHOTOGRAPHS BY
ALEX OWENS, AUTO IMAGERY, ROGER RICHARDS, JOE MCHUGH, RICK BELDEN AND NHRA
Editor’ s Note: Throughout the 2025 season, drag racing historian Bret Kepner kept tabs on the efforts of fellow St. Louis area native John DeFlorian in the Johnson’ s Horsepowered Garage NHRA Mountain Motor Pro Stock division. DeFlorian, the shop foreman at Jerry Haas Race Cars, went on to win the world championship in a battle with reigning champion Johnny Pluchino that went down to the wire, ending with a triumph in front of DeFlorian’ s home crowd at World Wide Technology Raceway.
manuscript that approaches 12,000 words, Kepner chronicles the moments that led to the storybook ending to De- Florian’ s 2025 season, from the night he took his high school daily driver to the local dragstrip for the first time to the thousands of miles on the road chasing the championship. The first quarter of that story appeared in DI # 197. When the story left off, DeFlorian had agreed with his wife, Liann, that he should sell his Pro Nitrous Corvette and partner up with the Bealko brothers to field a Mountain Motor Pro Stock entry. To read the complete story, visit www. DragIllustrated. com
January / February 2026 DragIllustrated. com | Drag Illustrated | 149