NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Stock Eliminator racer Randi Lyn "RL" Butner is adding another category to her 2024 race schedule. This coming weekend, she will make her debut in the NHRA Johnson's Horsepowered Garage Mountain Motor Pro Stock class, and she plans to run for the championship alongside her husband, 2017 Pro Stock world champ Bo Butner, in the monstrous 800-plus-cubic-inch series. 

"I like it; I like the unknown, and this is something different, something outside my normal realm of racing," said RL, who has earned seven wins in NHRA's challenging Stock eliminator category, a Division 3 Stock championship, and the 2021 JEGS Allstars nomination that culminated in a final-round performance at the prestigious U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. 

"I think people often limit themselves, but when you do something like this, it's a good feeling. You get a new idea of what you're capable of." 

RL began the licensing process earlier this year and spent concentrated time with crew chief Frank Gugliotta getting to know the car and making runs down the racetrack. After racking up laps in front of a crowd in eighth-mile races earlier this year, she locked down her quarter-mile license mid-April and it was official. RL's 6.323-second pass at 208.04 mph at Virginia Motorsports Park broke all her own personal records and set her up to officially make her NHRA JHG Mountain Motor Pro Stock debut with Bo at Charlotte's NHRA Four-Wide Nationals.

"I don't know if I would have called it fun in the beginning, because it was very nerve-racking, and I was definitely out of my element," admitted RL. "But sometimes change is good, and it was empowering to make the good runs and be able to do it. I never thought I would have this opportunity – I'd seen Bo do it a million times, but it's so different to be the one inside the car controlling it."

Bo, who was the No. 1 qualifier in the Mountain Motor class at a pre-season event, heads into this new era with enthusiasm along with temperance. He expects a learning curve and is willing to embrace it.

"We had a pretty good start in Mountain Motor Pro Stock, and we're just having fun driving these cars," shared Bo, who clocked a best time of 4.060-second at 178.05 mph to the 1/8th mile finish line. Mountain Motor Pro Stock races to the quarter-mile in NHRA competition. 

"There is such a big learning curve in this, it's all new to us, but we're off to a great start. We have a monster team between the Elite Motorsports guys and our crew chief, Frank Gugliotta. There isn't much more you could ask for in the Mountain Motor world." 

While Bo is looking forward to his own newest endeavor, he's just as excited — if not more — to see his wife step up to a class that is overwhelming different than anything she's ever raced in before.

"She's done awesome," he said. "I was not worried about her at all, and she's doing her job. It's fun for me to stand behind her car and see her do well. She's never let go of a clutch pedal before this, but she's been a very good student. I'm proud of her." 

The Butners will campaign a pair of sleek black-and-red Johnson's Horsepowered Garage-branded Chevrolet Camaro Mountain Motor Pro Stockers owned by Elite Motorsports and tuned by class veteran Gugliotta, who spent the first chunk of his career racing and winning behind the wheel of an IHRA Pro Stocker. He enjoyed a second coming as crew chief for J.R. Carr, and when Elite Motorsports acquired Carr's Mountain Motor Pro Stock assets in 2022, Gugliotta came along to manage the program.

While Bo has been a large part of RL's learning process in the big-torque, big-power Mountain Motor car, Gugliotta has been instrumental. 

"Frank has been really great, and even though I'm not really somebody that's a good listener, I've listened pretty well to him," said RL. "I'm outside of my element, so I take whatever they give me — both him and Bo have been good at showing me the ropes, so when I go up there, I'm very prepared. At first, I was unsure about how this was going to pan out, but the more we're around Frank doing this Mountain Motor deal, the more exciting it gets. He's really a good guy, and it's already been a lot of fun."

The JHG Mountain Motor Pro Stock series is scheduled to start at the spring race in Charlotte, April 26-28, and continue with races in Bristol, Richmond, Brainerd, and Reading, with the season-closer taking place at the fall event at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. 

Participants in the series will race at each of the six scheduled events for a Wally, NHRA's coveted national event trophy. For the first time, the class will compete for a world title, with a champion crowned at the end of the season in Las Vegas.

"I've learned a lot already," said RL, who will continue to race her 1967 Pontiac Firebird in Stock throughout the season, though not in Charlotte. "I have way more confidence in myself now, and I almost feel guilty that the guys go to so much trouble and so much hard work for me to have [six] seconds of fun. 

"I'm very excited about the season. A couple months ago, I didn't even know if I could drive a clutch car. But Bo can drive anything — if it had four pedals, he'd probably be amazing it — and I think that him helping me through all the steps has really made a difference. It's always good for a relationship if you're working toward a common goal, and I think our whole team will be better off because of it."