If Brownsburg , Indiana , is the capital of nitro racing and Mooresville , North Carolina , is the capital of NASCAR , then it could be said that New York ’ s Long Island is the Mountain Motor Pro Stock capital of the world . ¶ The densely populated island to the east of New York City is home to three of the last five world champions in the PDRA ’ s Extreme Pro Stock division . Commack ’ s John Pluchino won the title in 2016 . Around 45 minutes east in Center Moriches is the home base of John Montecalvo , a MMPS veteran who won the 2019 championship . In 2020 , it was Johnny Pluchino bringing the hardware back to Oakdale , just 15 minutes south of the elder Pluchino ’ s shop . ¶ But unlike those other racing capitals of the world , you won ’ t find mega-shops or tractor-trailer race rigs running around town with massive corporate sponsors emblazoned across them here on Long Island . In Pluchino ’ s case , a small 24-by-24-squarefoot shop houses the 2013 Ford Mustang that both Pluchinos drove to championship finishes . It was built before Johnny was born , and conveniently located in his childhood backyard , it ’ s where he grew to love drag racing .
“ Any time my dad was working on the car , I was there ,” Pluchino says . “ You learn as much as you can as a six , seven , eight , nine , 10-year-old , but the one thing that I learned is how much I love drag racing . That was the time that I learned I wanted to drag race . That ’ s what I wanted to do . When I grew up , I needed to get a job so I could make enough money to go drag racing . That ’ s all I knew as a six , seven , eight , nine , 10-year-old .”
Pluchino spent his early years racing Jr . Dragsters while his father competed in local heads-up races like the Northeast Shootout , which eventually became the Northeast Pro Mod Association . When Johnny was 11 , John decided to take a break from racing and sold the engine out of his car . Five years later , he put together plans for his first Mountain Motor Pro Stock car . “ For those five years , every day , all I wanted to do was get an engine back in his car and go to the racetrack again ,” Pluchino says .
In 2007 , John entered his first IHRA Pro Stock race . With a small crew and a small truck and trailer , the Pluchinos went racing together at IHRA races up and down the East Coast . They battled with some of the biggest players in the class at a time when it wasn ’ t unusual for upwards of 30 cars to show up and try to qualify for a 16- car field . They “ clawed and clawed ,” incrementally setting and achieving new goals like qualifying , winning a round , and winning multiple rounds .
It was 2012 when Pluchino broke through to win the ADRL season opener at Houston Raceway Park . Trevor Eman ’ s Team Aruba team hauled Pluchino ’ s car out to Texas , while John took his first flight in over 30 years after Johnny urged him to run the season opener so he could run the full season .
“ Those were the years I probably learned the most ,” Pluchino says . “ I went from almost a rookie in door car racing to someone who knew the car inside and out in a few years . That time probably really paved the way to where I ’ m at now more than anything .”
Through the years , Johnny learned everything by doing it . It ’ s the way John learned as he was growing up , and though at a much higher level , it ’ s how he taught Johnny during his formative years .
“ We took every piece of the car apart , assembled the engine for it , built the transmissions , fit things in the car , sand it down to get it painted , take the car apart , fabricated , plumbed , wired – whatever had to be done ,” Pluchino says . “ You learn so much about a race car that way . That ’ s how we did things . That has given me more experience than I can really explain .”
Pluchino ’ s intimate knowledge of his father ’ s Pro Stock car started to pay off as soon as he started down the path of someday driving as well . Around 2011 , he started doing burnouts in an ex-Pro Stock car making about a thousand horsepower . A few years went by , then he started putting together a car with car owner Dominic Addeo using one of John ’ s old Pro Stock cars . They didn ’ t know it at the time , but they were basically building an Outlaw 632 car .
After running some Top Sportsman races and local index events in 2014 and 2015 , Pluchino found a race in Florida with a class – Outlaw 632 – that had a rules package that closely aligned with Addeo ’ s car , especially since it offered a weight break for naturally aspirated cars .
“ We went down there and actually qualified No . 2 and went to the finals the first race ,” Pluchino says . “ We said , ‘ Wow , this car is actually competitive and we just slapped this thing together . We can be better .” Moving forward , Dominic wanted to run the 632 deal and it was great for me . It was a stepping stone to where I wanted to eventually get to .”
The PDRA picked up the class at a couple races in 2016 , then added it to four races in 2017 before upgrading it to pro class status in 2018 . That same year , Pluchino launched an assault on the class , going on to win the first of two Pro Outlaw 632 world championships .
While competing for the second title in 2019 , Pluchino was “ called up to the big leagues .” He had put together a deal to drive the elder Pluchino ’ s Mustang in a few of the NHRA ’ s Mountain Motor Pro Stock exhibition races with backing from Strutmasters . com . The plan was for him to prepare for the experience by making eighthmile runs and the occasional quarter-mile pass during prerace testing at the PDRA races , while John continued to run it in PDRA Extreme Pro Stock competition .
With the points lead after winning the season opener , John changed his mind . Going into the third race on the PDRA tour , he informed Johnny that it would be Johnny ’ s name going on the tech card this time around . He needed all the seat
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