Drag Illustrated Issue 123, July 2017 | Page 79

time, and I think McGaha could probably help three, and the Grays can help as many as I can, and KB can help as many as I can, and let’s go out and race.  All the secrets, I think that kind of needs to change. Let’s have the lights at the starting line and the crew chiefs, and the power we work on at home, let’s have that speak for itself. You have a star in that regard with Erica, who has won two championships with you. She’s certainly a big name in the sport and you have recently been working with Melling. Is it a goal of yours for her to land a big name as a sponsor, or what is your approach in that regard when it comes to sponsorship? We would like to. I have a gentleman that works on that everyday. It would have to be something that fits us as a whole. We have had many com- panies that would like to be the major sponsor, but they want to be the major sponsor without the major money. To be real honest with you, I July 2017 ERICA & RICHARD Freeman and Pro Stock star Erica Enders have been a dynamic duo since Enders joined the Elite Performance team, as Enders won back-to-back Pro Stock world champi- onships with Freeman in 2014 and 2015. don’t like to kneel down to people, so if you ever see my stuff not red and not Elite Motorsports, it’s a big deal for her, if that makes sense. I’m not going to take my name off and put somebody else’s on for less money than I’m spend- ing. Our program is built a little bit differently in that we have a lot of different people that are involved in our program and we don’t depend on one sponsor. We have a lot of great people and when you start adding all that up, I’d rather have a whole lot of people that I really like and like to be around than one individual that I depend on. That’s just not me. I just look at things differently. I’m not out there looking for someone to give me $2-$3 million. I think that’s a very difficult task and I’m not sure that’s what we want as a group. We like the people that we have and, like I said, there’s just a lot of people, through their help, that allows us to do what we’re doing. There’s nothing on our car that’s false. When you look at the class, if you could have the ultimate Pro Stock car, what would that be for you? Basically, if you could close your eyes and dream of the perfect Pro Stock car, what would it look like? I think we have it. I did wonderful with car- buretors, but this stuff brings a new challenge with EFI. I think it probably should have been done some years ago. You cannot build something looking backwards. I hear a lot of whining and a lot of crying, and a lot of ‘We need to do this, they need to do that,’ and I think we all need to hold our hands up and work together to make it better, whatever that may be. If it’s cutting the DragIllustrated.com | D r a g I l l u s t r a t e d | 79