BO BUTNER WINS JHG MOUNTAIN MOTOR PRO STOCK SEASON OPENER

Bo Butner and his Johnson's Horsepowered Garage Chevrolet Camaro picked up the JHG Mountain Motor Pro Stock season opening victory Sunday at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway.

Butner, who entered eliminations as the No. 1 qualifier, handled his JHG machine to a 6.230-second pass at 225.26 mph to defeat John Pluchino and his Feather-Lite Batteries Ford's 6.294 pass at 224.14 in the final round. Butner's victory marks a milestone of winning a Wally in seven different NHRA categories.

"First of all, thank you to Jason Johnson for backing this class. Today was only like my 15th ever run in a Mountain Motor Pro Stock car, but I'm enjoying this, and getting to do it with Randi Lyn is just awesome. We've got a great team, Frank Gugliotta is our crew chief, our whole crew is just awesome, and I'm really excited about the rest of this season," Butner said. "This was what we were hoping for, to start it out this way, and it's so cool to get a win in my seventh different class. That's something I've been trying to do for a while now, and to join Jeg Coughlin in that accomplishment feels pretty good. I've been doing this a long time, and I'm very fortunate to have driven a lot of great cars for a lot of great people. This is awesome." 

Butner entered Sunday already with a first-round win from Saturday night. Butner had a 6.220-second run at 225.86 mph to defeat Alan Drinkwater and his 6.275 at 222.80 in the first round.

On Sunday morning Butner defeated John DeFlorian in his Graber Concrete Chevy. Butner would have a 6.258 second pass at 225.79 mph while DeFlorian, who made it to Sunday after defeating Butner's wife, Randi Lyn, in the first round, ran into trouble to coast to a 12.682 at 68.11.

En route to the finals, Pluchino on Saturday night ran a 6.266 second pass at 223.54 mph to defeat Elijah Morton who red lit. On Sunday, Pluchino would lay down a 6.247 pass at 225.30 with a .050 reaction time to defeat the 6.246, 224.85 pass and .056 reaction time that Brad Waddle had in his Innovators West Ford.

The JHG Mountain Motor Pro Stock class will run again June 7-9 at the NHRA Super Grip Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway, the second of six events on the season schedule.