Dirt
Sweet
Victory
John Stanley celebrates first-ever
NMCA Xtreme Pro Mod win
By Nate Van Wagnen
Steel Dynamics was one of the major reasons
we stayed in it. The end of 2017 was the end
of our five-year contract. Initially they weren’t
going to renew the contract, but Glenn Pushis,
who races Factory Super Cars in NMCA and is a
senior vice president at SDI, offered to have us
come run NMCA with him. Without them and
all our other sponsors, we couldn’t do this. But it
all came down to me crying to Dad that I didn’t
want to quit racing.
It had been over 10 years since your last
winner’s circle celebration. How sweet was it
to finally get that win at Memphis?
I can say by far this was my sweetest winner’s
circle. Memphis was the best win I’ve had since
I’ve been racing. I was holding back the tears at
the bottom end. It was that good. This was my
first eighth-mile Pro Mod victory and my first
screw blower win.
You’re third in the points after that win. How
do you plan to move forward as you chase that
championship?
Dad told me in the garage the other day, “I’m
not going to Joliet (NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl
of Street-Legal Drag Racing at Route 66 Raceway,
July 25-28) to only run 3.77.” We’re very optimis-
tic. We’d have 200 points over Walsh if it ended
right now because we made all the races. He’s
missed one. You can throw away one. It could
come down to Indy. We’re very optimistic. This
is the first time since my last championship over
10 years ago that we think we have a chance for
a championship.
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24 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
Issue 146
F
ollowing a challenging year in
PDRA Pro Extreme, John Stanley and
his father, Camp, wrapped up the 2017
season facing the very real possibility
of not returning in 2018. The elder Stanley was
growing older and the budget was getting tighter.
But a pep talk from his son and a new opportu-
nity from primary sponsor Steel Dynamics Inc.
reinvigorated Camp enough to convince him to
bring out the father-son team’s unmistakable
’14 Cadillac CTS-V for the 2018 NMCA Xtreme
Pro Mod season.
The Stanleys spent most of the 2018 season
fine-tuning their combination under the new
configuration, going from the near-limitless Pro
Extreme category to the more restricted NMCA
class where numerous combinations race together.
The Hagerstown, Maryland-based group got their
program sorted out this spring, as John piloted
the screw-blown Caddy to a final-round win over
2018 championship runner-up Don Walsh Jr. at
the NMCA Memphis Homecoming at Memphis
International Raceway in May.
Stanley was still elated over the win weeks after
the race when he spoke with D rag I llustrateD
about keeping Dad racing, finding a new home
in NMCA Xtreme Pro Mod and returning to the
winner’s circle.
Your dad was nearly ready to retire from
fielding a car at this level at the end of 2017.
What did it take to convince him to keep go-
ing into 2018?
I live next door to Dad and I told him, “I’m not
going to be bringing you over ice cream to your
recliner and watch you just go away to nothing.”
He brought up the money and his age. I told him,
“If you retire, I’m moving to Florida.” (Racing) is
all I’ve got – no wife or kids or anything.