In Mountain Motor Pro Stock racing, the premiere engine builders do not field race cars. They may have in the past but, in the twenty-first century, the late Sonny Leonard, Jon Kaase, Gene Fulton, Charlie Buck and other main sources for over 500-inch engines make their most powerful products available to anybody with the cash to match the price tag. The war for supremacy between the engine builders ensures the absolute latest, state-of-the-art equipment is always for sale. More power means more customers. For the racers, more power means more win lights. This is why the Mountain Motor world, regardless of sanction, has never shown the same tendency for“ dominance dynasties” over the same half-century.
At the beginning of the 2012 season, the late Sonny Leonard of Virginia and Jon Kaase of Georgia operated the two largest engine construction emporiums in Mountain Motor racing. They took in the most money from the most racers and powered most of the winning cars in the class. After the global financial crisis of 2008, Pro Stock in all forms took a huge hit since most Pro Stock teams are operated by significantly wealthy owners who race everywhere when times
January / February 2026 are good and, as successful businessmen, know when the time for expensive hobbies is inappropriate. Entry numbers at all events dwindled. Simultaneously, Kaase and Leonard had the knowledge and equipment to advance the 825 cubic inch engines to 900 inches or more. They knew debuting the newest and biggest engines would only force more racers out of the class when faced with an outlay of another $ 100,000 to remain competitive.
In late 2012, a decision was made of which the vast majority of fans,( and even many racers), are completely unaware. The two engine masters proposed an earthshaking agreement with the other builders to which all quickly agreed. They presented their strongly opinionated option to the racers and Mountain Motor sanctioning bodies and, in the end, it was universally accepted by all. Beginning in 2013, the entire sport of Mountain Motor Pro Stock racing would be placed under a technology moratorium. A cubic inch limit of 830 would be instituted and no new research and development in ANY engine or transmission technology would be permitted. All 2012 cylinder head, induction, rotating engine assembly and transmission rules would be frozen for the foreseeable future in an effort to keep price and performance at a constant. Eventually, any racers who didn’ t already have the latest combination soon would. In theory, the ruling would not only make the category even more competitive without increasing costs, it would also save the engine builders by providing a solid customer base. The only change in this plan has been the ADRL’ s decision to allow Electronic Fuel injection in their Extreme Pro Stock category in a move to reduce costs and bring the class into the twenty-first century, a move which was followed by every other sanction within two years. In retrospect, it has been stated by many,( including John DeFlorian), this decision saved the class from total extinction. Twelve years later, the moratorium remains intact.
John DeFlorian began the 2013 season with the best powerplant Sonny Leonard could build stuffed into the best race car he could make. While the ADRL was in its second management mode with a solid schedule, another promoter decided to fill the void left by the IHRA and created the Xtreme Drag Racing League,( XDRL), a near duplicate of the ADRL’ s class structure with impressive purses and a large schedule at some well-known facilities. Team Bealko decided to run as many races as they could between both associations. At their opening race at XDRL Tulsa, DeFlorian qualified on the pole, defeated teammate Kevin Bealko in the opening round and went on to win the event setting both ends of the new group’ s Xtreme Pro Stock Eliminator World Records. The following week at the ADRL’ s Rockingham opener, DeFlorian made drag racing history by clocking the first 180 mph eighth-mile Pro Stock run. At XDRL Bristol, De- Florian qualified first for the third race in a row but Bealko returned the Tulsa favor by putting John out in the first round. Hampered by bad weather, poor promotion and a total lack of fans, the XDRL announced its closure in August, cancelling its final three races,( including events at Indianapolis Raceway Park and Charlotte’ s zMax Raceway), with DeFlorian leading their point standings. However, by the end of the season, DeFlorian ended up winning two events from each association in four final rounds and finished fourth in ADRL points among twenty-six teams. It was John’ s greatest racing season yet.
The ADRL folded at the end of 2013 but the loss of the two“ DRLs” was replaced by the creation of another new association, the Professional Drag Racers Association, which continued the class structure of the previous two organizations, retaining the increasingly popular eighth-mile distance, at excellent tracks all located east of the Mississippi River. Meanwhile, new management at the IHRA rescinded the earlier deletion of the Pro Stock category and returned the division to quarter-mile racing. These changes gave the Mountain Motor racers two venues to support and Team Bealko decided to concentrate first on the IHRA.
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