RICHARD FREEMAN

For Freeman , it started with buying Tom Hammonds ’ engine shop and after seeing there was potential for success in the class , he moved the team from Charlotte to Oklahoma after purchasing Jeg Coughlin ’ s engine shop at the end of 2012 . That same group remains intact today and represents a major reason why Elite Motorsports is a force in the sport . Erica Enders started with the team in 2014 , with the initial plan to attend 15 races . But as things came together perhaps quicker than expected , that turned to 22 races – six of which Enders won – and her first world championship . Enders won nine races a year later in 2015 , putting together a dominant season en route to her second world title and firmly putting Freeman and Elite Motorsports on the map as a top-tier team .

With a stable that now includes Enders , Coughlin , Vincent Nobile and Alex Laughlin , who is current racing Pro Stock on a part-time basis , Freeman has formed a venerable organization . In one respect , he ’ s living the dream .

But even with that success , the class itself is in the midst of what can , even at its most optimistic , be described as a transitional period . The move to EFI has been a bumpy one , with low car counts and seemingly dwindling fan interest in the class coming to the forefront . For many , though , it has only further brought to light the issues that have been facing the Pro Stock class for quite some time .

Opinions on what went wrong , what needs changed and what are the solutions vary wildly , but Freeman is of the firm belief the class can be saved . Perhaps it ’ s being too positive , but Freeman

gives off the impression that Pro Stock can thrive again one day .

In a wide-ranging interview with Drag Illustrated , Freeman touched on a variety of those topics related to the class , including most predominantly what he thinks can be done to get Pro Stock back trending in the right direction . Freeman also discussed the possibility of an 18- race Pro Stock schedule in 2018 , the chance of Elite going Pro Mod racing , including when that could happen and who would be driving , and why a positive outlook leads him to believe things might not be as bad as some people believe in Pro Stock .

Pro Stock has been a longtime passion for you . With that said , why is it important for you that Pro Stock stays relevant ?

First of all , Pro Stock was born from the early days of Super Stock and Factory Modified . My father did it all the way up until 1980 . Pro Stock has been a passion of mine since I was a kid and never in a million years did I think I would have the opportunity to do it at the level that I am right now . I ’ m thankful for that and , you know , Pro Stock is important to us . Yes , Pro Stock is part of our business , but we made it that way , and if Pro Stock were to go away we would fall in somewhere else that we like in the door car ranks , whether that may be Pro Modified or whatever . But at the end of the day , I don ’ t think NHRA or the competitors in Pro Stock , none of us want to see Pro Stock go by the wayside , and at the end of the day , we don ’ t think it will .

The persona of Pro Stock has changed over the period of years because the class of people who run it are very , very good . You got people like KB ( Racing , which includes world champs Greg Anderson and Jason Line , as well current points leader Bo Butner ), my team , the Gray ’ s ( Motorsports ) team , ( Chris ) McGaha , who all do a fantastic job at what they do . It ’ s changed the landscape over a period of years . I like to always use KB as the example because they ’ ve done it the longest , and they really stepped the game up when they started their own in-house program and they just took

BOLD SPEAKER Pro Stock team owner Richard Freeman isn ’ t shy when it comes to voicing his feelings about what can be done to get the Pro Stock class back trending in the right direction .

it to a new level . They ’ re very good competitors and so I think as much as it ’ s NHRA ’ s job , it ’ s the team ’ s job to make it available to people that may want to try it . While there ’ s a cost that comes with it , there is with any form of racing . It doesn ’ t matter what you do . My opinion is , one of the reasons you see so many cars in Pro Modified is the perception is you can get what the other competitors have , and that makes a huge difference .

What Mr . ( Jon ) Asher said that Pro Stock needs to be the Factory Shootout , that is probably one of the most ignorant statements I ’ ve ever heard , in the sense that Factory Shootout stuff is only going to be around as long as the factories want

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