RICHARD FREEMAN |
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races, cut the races. If it’ s staying 24, help NHRA get more sponsors and maybe that filters down to the teams. We just can’ t blame one thing. There’ s a lot of things and there’ s a lot of things to be fixed, but it’ s not just Pro Stock. It’ s the entire landscape of motorsports in general.
It’ s a different era. You can look backwards and talk about 1980, but this isn’ t 1980. This is 2017. You cannot go backwards, you just can’ t. Whoever says that is not very intelligent. I use the car business, because I was raised in the car business, as kind of an example. I remember when I was running a new- and used-cars store and our advertising was done in newspapers. We would spend $ 20,000 for classified ads that only reached those people in Oklahoma City. Well, today, you can spend $ 2,000 and reach a million people, so the landscape has changed. I don’ t care what you’ re doing, it’ s changed. All of it has changed what we do and we have to get better at that, and I think NHRA is doing that but I think it takes time. I try to stay positive about the stuff.
We want to continue racing Pro Stock. We love Pro Stock and we have a lot invested in it, as other people do, and I’ m not just going to throw my hands up and say,‘ Okay, let’ s just quit, let’ s go run Factory Stock.’ I will not do that. If they were to end Pro Stock today, I’ m not running Factory Stock. I’ m not doing it. I have zero interest in that. My next deal would be Pro Modified, but what people have to understand is if they had a 24-race schedule, Pro Modified would change. I promise you those guys, and you can ask any of them that run Pro Modified, they like it just like it is( with a 12-race schedule). They don’ t want to race more. We just need to band together. We don’ t need Pro Stock going away. We don’ t need any class going away. We need to help make it better.
Speaking of Pro Modified, you’ re seeing massive success and participation in that class, as well as other doorslammer classes. What are your thoughts on that? Is there anything Pro Stock can learn from that success?
I think it goes back to making it available. People still have to be able to get the parts, they still have to be able to get something that they can go race. Pro Modified and Top Sportsman, those are big cubic-inch motors, they have power adders, and when you take that stuff away and you have to start relying on the engine just by itself to make power, everything goes sky-high. You can overcome a lot of stuff when you put a turbo on it or twin-turbos or a blower or whatever. I’ m just saying that a lot of the stuff that matters doesn’ t matter as much. Even with Pro Modified, look at the people who win the championships. Who are they? Rickie Smith, Troy Coughlin.
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HAPPY FAMILY
The Elite Performance team might have struggled at times in 2017, but Freeman has thoroughly enjoyed his time with a Pro Stock driver lineup that includes Erica Enders, Jeg Coughlin Jr., Vincent Nobile, Alex Laughlin and crew chief Rick Jones.
What are they? Those are professional racers running. People can say what they want to. There are a lot of people who have as good of power as Rickie Smith. There are a lot of people who have as good of power as Troy Coughlin, from the same
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shop. But perception is I can buy that engine combination that Troy Coughlin has and they’ ll tell me what converter, what transmission, what gear ratio I need and I can go compete. That is the truth, period. That’ s just the way it is. That doesn’ t mean you’ re going to beat them, because they don’ t.
But the perception is you can get your hands on that stuff and that’ s one thing( with) Pro Stock, the perception is you cannot.
There’ s been some rumblings about you getting more and more involved in the Pro Mod world. What’ s the reasoning behind that?
Well, I think it is exciting racing and I think what we would like to do is get our feet into the
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PHOTOS: RICK BELDEN, NHRA / NATIONAL DRAGSTER |