{"id":104405,"date":"2026-07-21T20:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T20:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/john-deflorian-fired-up-for-100k-mountain-motor-pro-stock-shootout-at-norwalks-night-under-fire\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T20:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T20:44:10","slug":"john-deflorian-fired-up-for-100k-mountain-motor-pro-stock-shootout-at-norwalks-night-under-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/john-deflorian-fired-up-for-100k-mountain-motor-pro-stock-shootout-at-norwalks-night-under-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"John DeFlorian Fired Up For $100K Mountain Motor Pro Stock Shootout at Norwalk\u2019s Night Under Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/a> Mountain Motor Pro Stock Shootout powered by Ross Environmental during Summit Motorsports Park\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Over its nearly 50-year history, Night Under Fire has grown into the largest single-day event in the sport. This year\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a massive opportunity. Actually, it\u2019s a bigger opportunity than a lot of people even realize \u2013 even people that are racing our class,\u201d said DeFlorian, driver of the Kaase-powered Total Seal Camaro. \u201cNumber one, you\u2019re going to the biggest single-day event there is in drag racing. You\u2019re going to be in front of massive crowds. We\u2019re 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\u2019s been going on for decades and that\u2019s a big deal. To have the Mountain Motor Pro Stock guys be there and showcase what we can do is an absolute golden opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s home this season. Keith Kelling, a crew member and sponsor of multi-series MMPS world champion Johnny Pluchino, worked together with Summit Motorsports Park\u2019s Bill Bader Jr. and the Cromling family of Ross Environmental to add the Mountain Motor Pro Stock Shootout to the Night Under Fire lineup.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as I got wind of it, I jumped on the phone immediately and called Keith and said, \u2018Put my name on the list,\u2019\u201d DeFlorian said. \u201cKeith goes, \u2018John, we don\u2019t even have anything sorted out.\u2019 I go, \u2018Doesn\u2019t matter. Put my name on the list. You figure out the details later, but just count me in.\u2019 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\u2019s be honest, it\u2019s a blessing for the situation that we\u2019ve got going on right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

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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\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Baders do a phenomenal job,\u201d DeFlorian said. \u201cThey really do an amazing job with our sport and they\u2019ve been one of the biggest advocates of our sport for a very long time, and so I\u2019m 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\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s watched it from afar, and in case it isn\u2019t already clear, he\u2019s fired up about the opportunity to be involved this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be able to have that opportunity is an absolute blessing,\u201d 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. \u201cI think it\u2019s just going to be cool for me and my racing career. That\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s best for the class as it seeks a sustainable future.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have got to stand together,\u201d DeFlorian stressed. \u201cWe were splintered and divided for so long. That\u2019s 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 \u2013 24-26 cars at every event and there were more coming. There was absolutely more in the background coming. So that\u2019s 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\u2019s pretty bright.\u201d<\/p>\n

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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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking at the past isn\u2019t going to help us other than to learn from mistakes,\u201d DeFlorian said. \u201cBut 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\u2019t thank Bill Bader Jr. and Keith Kelling and Ross Environmental enough for putting this deal together for us all.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the first time ever, Night Under Fire will be available to a global audience through exclusive livestreaming coverage on FloRacing.com<\/a>. Tickets are available at SummitMotorsportsPark.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This story was originally published on July 21, 2026. \"Drag<\/p>\n

The post John DeFlorian Fired Up For $100K Mountain Motor Pro Stock Shootout at Norwalk\u2019s Night Under Fire<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s upcoming 49th annual Cornwell Tools Night Under Fire on August 1. As announced on Tuesday, the nitro and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104405\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}