John DeFlorian, the 2025 JHG NHRA Mountain Motor Pro Stock world champion, is one of the 20-plus drivers gearing up for the newly announced Mountain Motor Pro Stock Shootout powered by Ross Environmental during Summit Motorsports Park’s upcoming 49th annual Cornwell Tools Night Under Fire on August 1. As announced on Tuesday, the nitro and pyrotechnic-focused single-day show will now include a 16-car qualified field of Mountain Motor Pro Stock cars with a total of $100,000 in payouts on the line.
Over its nearly 50-year history, Night Under Fire has grown into the largest single-day event in the sport. This year’s lineup includes NHRA nitro stars Maddi Gordon, Clay Millican, Doug Kalitta, Antron Brown, Ron Capps, Jordan Vandergriff, Cruz Pedregon, and Spencer Hyde, as well as a slew of jet cars, wheelstanders, a $150,000 fireworks show, and more.
“This is a massive opportunity. Actually, it’s a bigger opportunity than a lot of people even realize – even people that are racing our class,” said DeFlorian, driver of the Kaase-powered Total Seal Camaro. “Number one, you’re going to the biggest single-day event there is in drag racing. You’re going to be in front of massive crowds. We’re looking at somewhere in the neighborhood of 40,000-50,000 people at this event. This is the 49th annual, which is a huge, huge deal. It’s been going on for decades and that’s a big deal. To have the Mountain Motor Pro Stock guys be there and showcase what we can do is an absolute golden opportunity.”
This big-money shootout is the first move for the class in the wake of the recent closure of the IHRA Outlaw Nitro Series, which was the class’s home this season. Keith Kelling, a crew member and sponsor of multi-series MMPS world champion Johnny Pluchino, worked together with Summit Motorsports Park’s Bill Bader Jr. and the Cromling family of Ross Environmental to add the Mountain Motor Pro Stock Shootout to the Night Under Fire lineup.
“As soon as I got wind of it, I jumped on the phone immediately and called Keith and said, ‘Put my name on the list,’” DeFlorian said. “Keith goes, ‘John, we don’t even have anything sorted out.’ I go, ‘Doesn’t matter. Put my name on the list. You figure out the details later, but just count me in.’ It is that big of a deal to have an opportunity for us to be able to race at the Night Under Fire. And let’s be honest, it’s a blessing for the situation that we’ve got going on right now.”
DeFlorian enters the Mountain Motor Pro Stock Shootout powered by Ross Environmental as the most recent MMPS driver to win at Summit Motorsports Park. He won the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals last year en route to winning the Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage NHRA Mountain Motor Pro Stock world championship. Along with a Wally, he earned a coveted billet ice cream scooper trophy from track president Bill Bader Jr.
“The Baders do a phenomenal job,” DeFlorian said. “They really do an amazing job with our sport and they’ve been one of the biggest advocates of our sport for a very long time, and so I’m really grateful to them. When we got to race there last year and we won that race, I knew about the ice cream scooper, but I thought that was just for pros. When Bill walks over and he’s handing me that ice cream scooper, it was huge. It meant as much to me as the trophy because the only way you can get that scooper is by winning a race there.”
Before winning the NHRA national event last year, DeFlorian has raced plenty at Norwalk, but this will be his first appearance at the Night Under Fire. He’s watched it from afar, and in case it isn’t already clear, he’s fired up about the opportunity to be involved this year.
“To be able to have that opportunity is an absolute blessing,” said DeFlorian, who thanked his supporters like Matt Hartford and Total Seal Piston Rings, Jeff Graber and Graber Concrete, Kaase Racing Engines, and Ram Clutches. “I think it’s just going to be cool for me and my racing career. That’s going to be another big thing for me to be able to scratch off the list, that we got an opportunity to do this. And who knows, if it goes really well, which I believe it will, maybe we get invited back for next year. That would be really crazy because that will be the 50th annual.”
The Night Under Fire shootout is the first step in keeping the class moving forward. The group of Mountain Motor Pro Stock drivers and car owners will meet during the Norwalk race to discuss what comes next. Eighth-mile versus quarter-mile is just one of the variables on the table as the group decides what’s best for the class as it seeks a sustainable future.
“We have got to stand together,” DeFlorian stressed. “We were splintered and divided for so long. That’s one thing that came out of the IHRA deal is that everybody finally got together and raced at one place at one time. Look at the success – 24-26 cars at every event and there were more coming. There was absolutely more in the background coming. So that’s very promising. As a class, we have to figure out how we can all work together, stand together, and stay together. If we do that, I think our future’s pretty bright.”
Racing for unprecedented prize money in front of one of the largest crowds in drag racing is the first chapter of that bright future, as the always optimistic DeFlorian points out.
“Looking at the past isn’t going to help us other than to learn from mistakes,” DeFlorian said. “But right now we need to be focused on the future and moving our class forward and getting us a good, solid place to race. Night Under Fire is a huge opportunity and a great start, and I can’t thank Bill Bader Jr. and Keith Kelling and Ross Environmental enough for putting this deal together for us all.”
For the first time ever, Night Under Fire will be available to a global audience through exclusive livestreaming coverage on FloRacing.com. Tickets are available at SummitMotorsportsPark.com.
This story was originally published on July 21, 2026. 
The post John DeFlorian Fired Up For $100K Mountain Motor Pro Stock Shootout at Norwalk’s Night Under Fire first appeared on Drag Illustrated.
