DINWIDDIE, VA – In his Feather Lite Batteries Ford, John Pluchino rallied to his first Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage Mountain Motor Pro Stock victory Sunday at the PlayNHRA Virginia Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park.

In what was his second final round, Pluchino left the starting line first with a .032-second reaction time for a 6.335 second pass at 222 mph to get the win on a holeshot over No. 7 qualifier Elijah Morton. Morton had a .086 reaction time to go with his 6.312 pass at 221.91 in his Easy Living Wheels Ford.

“This is awesome all the guys we raced today, they’re all excellent racers and have great teams. We may be one of the small teams but we’re not scared of anybody,” Pluchino said. “Thank you to JHG and NHRA for having us out here running for points and a championship. I’m just really excited. We are going to make one hell of a run at this thing for the whole season. There’s only one first Mountain Motor Pro Stock world champion and that’s what we want to be.”

En route to the finals, Pluchino handled his Ford past points leader Bo Butner in the first round. Pluchino ran 6.357 seconds at 222.47 mph to better Butner’s 6.370 at 222.69. Butner had won the first two races of the JHG Mountain Motor Pro Stock season. Continue reading →