JOHN DEFLORIAN | PART 2
DEFLORIAN WAS ONE OF SEVERAL MOUNTAIN MOTOR PRO STOCK VETERANS WHO HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE A PART OF NHRA’ S FIRST MMPS EXHIBITION DURING THE U. S. NATIONALS IN 2018.
with a holeshot loss in the first pair, DeFlorian’ s point lead now stretched to three rounds. Most important to John, however, was the third check he was able to sign over to Jon Kaase and pay off the rebuild from the first event. Although it meant John hadn’ t made a dime during the season, it was typical of DeFlorian’ s morality that he paid his debts immediately. As for the popularity of his first-of-its-kind third straight victory, the crowd simply wouldn’ t allow John, Liann,“ Lump” or any of the team members to leave until well after dark. It was as good as it gets.
The final payment to Kaase came at a perfect time because John DeFlorian was staring at the most ridiculous challenge of his life. After a three-week break, the MMPS teams would be forced to race at Maple Grove Raceway, zMax Raceway and World Wide Technology Raceway on three straight weekends. The racers would be at a racetrack more days than not for two straight weeks. John’ s biggest problem was the fact his rebuilt engine hit its 25-run lifespan between rebuilds, an appointment John never misses. Moreover, John’ s long nonfunctioning“ back up” engine, which was destroyed in an engine explosion several years earlier, sat in a corner at Kaase’ s emporium awaiting funds to be put back into action. DeFlorian knew there was no way he could expect to run three consecutive races without any kind of safety net. It was mandatory the primary engine was freshened but he also needed the backup powerplant. John delivered the 830-inch Chevy to Kaase’ s Atlanta shop via his pickup truck. Fourteen days later, Kaase called John to“ come pick them up”. When John told him he couldn’ t afford to pay, Kaase told him to“ do what he needed to do” and sent him off to the three-week burndown.
John had two days to install the engine and refit the car before heading out on the 853-mile drive to Reading, PA. The weekend started off different than his nearly perfect summer. On the first run, the car was all over the track because John needed new tires so he aborted the run. John put down a great run in the second session but he ended up second behind Waddle with Pluchino right on his heels. On Sunday, DeFlorian advanced to the semi-finals and a critical match up with Pluchino. Both drivers held on as their mounts went all over the track but Pluchino won the pedalfest and then took the victory over Waddle in the final. DeFlorian left the track still with the point lead but his advantage was less than two rounds.
After the routine of servicing the car, arranging the trailer, doing laundry in the motorhome and tearing down their pit area, John and Liann began the 517-mile drive to Charlotte. After setting up their pit area and unloading the trailer, the car ran strong in all three qualifying sessions. In a titanic pairing in Q3 between DeFlorian and Pluchino, the reigning World Champ won the qualifying match by a mere twelve ten thousandths of a second when John ran two thousandths of a second quicker but Pluchino left three thousandths of a second earlier. In the end, both John and Johnny ran identical elapsed times but DeFlorian held on to the pole position by speed. The war was officially“ on”.
In the opening of eliminations, Mike Coughlin once again stunned John Pluchino by dropping him quickly. John advanced with a run which was third quickest of the round but within a hundredth of a second of the quickest pass. This set up a match with Nobile in the second round and, with only one race remaining in the series, a victory over Vince would earn DeFlorian the Championship. In the race, both drivers ran identical elapsed times with DeFlorian running Top Speed of the Meet. However, the reaction deficits which had lingered in the back of John’ s mind finally made a difference. The Total Seal Camaro lost by eighteen thousandths of a second on the starting line. The World Championship battle would be decided thirty miles from John DeFlorian’ s house at the first track on which he ever set foot in front of every person he ever met. John, Liann and the dogs headed 853 miles west to home and the worst week of John’ s life.
Any driver who has ever endured a close point championship battle will agree it is, for all intents and purposes, a year in hell. Racers will always state they pay no attention to points but they’ re lying … especially when they’ re within grasp of a title. When the struggle comes down to the final race, it’ s an agony which can never be understood by somebody who has never been placed in the situation of overcoming all obstacles and achieving the ultimate goal or failing miserably under indescribable pressure. John DeFlorian freely admitted he didn’ t sleep a wink all week before the Madison, Illinois, culmination of the 2025 JHG MMPS season.
The team treated the race at World Wide Technology Raceway the same as if they were a thousand miles from home. They pitted on Thursday, set up their home away from home at home, and lived in the motorhome with the dogs all weekend. They tried to approach their routine tasks as normal but things were different. It was the most important race of the Total Seal team’ s life. The scenario was simple. If DeFlorian failed to qualify or lost in the first round, Pluchino would earn his second World title by winning the event. If John won the first round, he would be an NHRA World Champion.
The first qualifying session was a disaster. For a variety of reasons, only two drivers got down the track at all and one of them was Pluchino. The other was Waddle who led the field. The exact same scenario occurred in the second period with only difference being Mike Coughlin also got to the finish line under power. DeFlorian was in the show but only barely.
The Total Seal Camaro’ s pit area was a sea of humanity. As expected, everybody John ever knew since high school was at the track to cheer him on. Unfortunately, this was the one time he couldn’ t afford to ignore the car. Pluchino made two good runs. John made none. With Brian Self, John discussed the options. They decided on wholesale changes for the final qualifying session, some of which had never been attempted by the team. The examined the track, the computer graphs from the runs and past graphs from other more successful runs John had made at Madison. They made a call and stuck with it, knowing they had nothing … and everything … to lose.
Prior to the final qualifying run, John’ s pit area was again packed. John would never avoid a spectator or brush off a fan. He tried to be friendly while setting up the car completely differently while struggling with the pressure of the moment. Nobody knew it but it was one John’ s
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