FREEMAN’S DALLAS SUCCESS GIVES ENCOURAGEMENT FOR FUTURE

Back in early August, Pro Stock racer Richard Freeman made the business decision to sell his Elite Motorsports equipment to Steve Kent Racing.

“I sold out to them because they wanted their own engine program,” Freeman said. “We worked with them trying to formulate a plan that we could all stay in it together, but that’s not the direction they wanted to go. It was just a business decision to sell the deal to those guys. We are great friends.”

Kent and teammate Roger Brogdon compete in NHRA’s Pro Stock class. Brogdon is 12th in the point standings.

“They (Kent and Brogdon) didn’t have enough stuff for all of us to run right here at the end of the year with three cars,” Freeman said.

After selling his equipment, Freeman then proceeded to lease motors from fellow Pro Stock driver Mike Edwards for the U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis and Dallas. Edwards is the 2009 Pro Stock world champion.

“Mike and I are very good friends and he said I could lease from him and that’s what I did,” said Freeman, who like Edwards is from Oklahoma. “At Indy, we had clutch issues and then I didn’t go to Charlotte.”

Freeman failed to qualify at Indy with a best run of 6.644 seconds. He bounced back with a career best Pro Stock effort in Dallas, last week,  advancing to the semifinals by beating Ron Krisher and Brodgon before losing to Erica Enders.

“I was absolutely encouraged about how we did in Dallas,” Freeman said. “We got some good breaks and we had a little bit of luck, and I was excited to be there and go rounds. (Dallas) is kind of our home track. The whole family was there and lots of friends, so it was a really neat deal.”

According to Freeman, he will not attend anymore NHRA national events this season.

“We are going to regroup here and figure what we are doing (for) next year,” Freeman said. “We have some sponsor deals we are working on to see if we can secure a deal for next year.”

Freeman said if he does run in 2013 it will be a 10-12 race schedule and he is unsure what motors he will run.

“We are trying to figure out which direction we want to go for next year,” Freeman said. “We are talking to (Edwards) and trying to see what the best plan is for us.”

Freeman debuted his brand-new Rick Jones Camaro at Indy and he also ran it at Dallas.

“I like the Camaro and we will run it again next year,” Freeman said.

All articles and photography published in CompetitionPlus.com are protected by United States of America and International copyright laws unless mentioned otherwise. The content on this website is intended for the private use of the reader and may not be published or reposted in any form without the prior written consent of CompetitionPlus.com.

< Prev		Next >