When you have won as much as Bo Butner has and done so in as many divisions, rarely does a first time look like a first time. But on Sunday, at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMax Dragway, Butner did something new - he won a Mountain Motor Pro Stock race. And it looked like business as usual. 

Butner also joined Jeg Coughlin Jr. as one of two drivers to have won in seven different categories. He now has 31 career national event victories. 

It was only fitting that Burtner's victory came in the Johnson's Horsepowered Garage Mountain Motor Pro Stock series, the large displacement Pro Stock division back by his sponsor. 

Butner didn't just back into the victory as he dominated from start to finish, qualifying No. 1 in the Q1 session and beating multi-time champion Johnny Pluchino in the season-opener for the specialty series. 
 
"First of all, thank you to Jason Johnson for backing this class," Butner said. "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, our crew chief Frank Gugliotta; Darrel Herron, who's been with me forever; Gage Green; Rodney Crabtree; Mike Earle; Jack Line; and Davey Allison was helping us out this weekend, too. Our whole crew is just awesome, and I'm really excited about the rest of this season."
 
After qualifying No. 1 on a very quick 6.205-second pass at 227.04 mph, Bo launched into eliminations with a Saturday night win over 2023 PDRA Extreme Pro Stock champion Alan Drinkwater, 6.220, 225.86 to 6.275, 222.80.
 
Sunday eliminations began with a round-two meeting with John DeFlorian, who won the most recent event in Charlotte – the NHRA Carolina Nationals – last fall. DeFlorian had ousted Randi Lyn in the first round of competition this weekend, but Bo came around to even the score with a 6.258, 225.79 triumph over a tire-shaking 12.682.
 
The final round set up a match with Johnny Pluchino, two-time PDRA Extreme Pro Stock champion. His opponent posted a blistering .009-second reaction time, but the Gugliotta-tuned JHG entry came on full steam to win on a 6.230, 225.26 over a 6.294, 224.14.
 
Butner leaves Charlotte with the points lead and a healthy dose of confidence. 
 
"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," Butner said. "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. But this is awesome."
 
The next event for the Johnson's Horsepowered Garage Mountain Motor Pro Stock series is at Bristol Dragway's Thunder Valley Nationals, June 7-9.