JOHN DEFLORIAN | PART 2
DEFLORIAN IS USUALLY ONE OF THE MOST EXCITABLE GUYS AT THE DRAGSTRIP AT ANY GIVEN TIME, BUT PUTTING A NO. 1 QUALIFYING EFFORT UP ON THE BOARD BRINGS OUT ANOTHER LEVEL OF EXCITEMENT.
DeFlorian opened Team Black Diamond’ s 2014 season at the IHRA event in San Antonio, Texas, by not only winning the race but resetting the group’ s six year-old Pro Stock records with a stunning 6.22 at 226.70 which exceeded the old speed record by over three miles per hour. After a grueling eleven-event series in which he led the point standings several times, DeFlorian still held the records but lost the battle for the IHRA World Championship by a mere four rounds and finished second, the best finish of his career. Moreover, DeFlorian tuned Kevin Bealko to three IHRA final rounds during the year with John’ s partner scoring his first National Event victory at the same track where DeFlorian earned his first title two years earlier. Bealko finished third in the IHRA points.
DeFlorian had another great season in 2015 scoring one win in three final rounds during the IHRA’ s twelve-meet tour. DeFlorian finished third in the championship behind Goforth and John Montecalvo with Bealko in fourth.
In 2016, Bealko relinquished the driver’ s seat of his Black Diamond / AMSOIL 2014 Camaro to Goforth, arguably the toughest driver at the time. DeFlorian remained the teammate with his own Camaro but struggled through the year while Goforth won yet another championship. However, at the end of the season, the IHRA collapsed and cancelled its entire professional racing series. At that time, Bealko elected to quit the sport which left DeFlorian with his own car but, once again, with no engine.
The loss of the ADRL, XDRL and IHRA series left only the PDRA as an option and DeFlorian’ s dream of racing on his own was rapidly fading before his eyes. He had a five year-old race car, a tow rig and he spent the last of his available resources on a used 820-inch Jon Kaase engine and some drivetrain parts. He told Liann and his crew he had enough extra cash to possibly last one more year.
It was a dismal season. DeFlorian didn’ t make a single final round. As is the case with all teams relying on the cash purse to survive, his racing operation lost money. He scraped enough together to continue his program in 2018, understanding sponsorships would never happen if he wasn’ t actively racing. John made a decision to restructure his crew. It now consisted of his wife, Liann,( who handles all computer data logging), his daughter, Ashley,( who was John’ s transport co-driver while Liann worked at home and flew to the events), concrete company owner Jeff Graber of Cincinnati, Ohio,( who was proficient in just about everything), and New York police officer Jason Petzold,( who flew to races on his own and worked as a crewmember). John explained everybody would get meals but the rest of the adventure came completely without remuneration. One exception came with the addition of famed racer and engineer Brian“ Lump” Self of Dallas as crewchief. Self, a longtime friend of DeFlorian who makes a living as a freelance tuner for a variety of Mountain Motor and NHRA Pro Stock teams, was asked by John to join his operation as a paid consultant to“ call the shots”. Self quickly agreed. John told Self he also wanted to adjust his approach to the sport from reactive to“ on the attack” and planned to race that way until the money ran out. Still, the 2018 season was rough. He did manage one PDRA victory at his“ lucky” track in Martin, Michigan, but repeat success evaded him.
However, one monumental occurrence changed everything in John’ s future. Still reeling from the 2008 global financial collapse, the National Hot Rod Association was looking to bolster a seriously low car count in its Pro Stock category. The NHRA had already embarked on a planned three-year renovation of the class which was eventually rejected by the Pro Stock Owners Association. The NHRA gave thought to reanimating the IHRA’ s ill-fated experiment of 1988 in which it allowed Mountain Motor Pro Stockers to compete with a weight penalty against 500-inch Pro Stocks. In order to gauge the performance of the big-inch cars, the NHRA invited a field of them to compete at, of all races, the 64th annual NHRA U. S. Nationals at Indi-
152 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated. com Issue 198