The resurgence of Elite Motorsports in NHRA’s Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Pro Stock category has been slow and determined. It has a lot to do with the difference between one chassis designer and another – and has been in process for more than a year.
Richard Freeman, the owner of most of his team’s Pro Stock race cars – the pair driven by father-son duo Greg and Aaron Stanfield are owned by Joe Janac – announced the team is switching the entries of six-time world champion Erica Enders, five-time Pro Stock titleholder Jeg Coughlin Jr., second-generation standout Aaron Stanfield and third generation racer Troy Coughlin Jr. from Quarter-Max Racing RJ Race Cars to Jerry Haas Race Cars.
“We’ve been poised to make this switch for a while,” Freeman conceded. “We ordered the cars, me and Joe Janac, at the start of 2025 and got the last one delivered a few months ago. I thought we would wait until the hood scoops were back in 2027 to make the full team switch, but we’ve seen the elevated performance.” He referred to the consistent success of Greg Stanfield, who’s been using a Jerry Haas chassis throughout this 2026 campaign and has led the entire Elite Motorsports camp in results.
Racing a Jerry Haas chassis, Greg Stanfield has only a pair of first-round defeats in the 12 races held to date. He’s qualified No. 1 on a single occasion, had six semifinal finishes, a Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge victory and has two consecutive final round appearances that include his victory in the DENSO NHRA Sonoma Nationals. This consistency at the sharp end of the field has Greg Stanfield third in the title hunt with two races – Brainerd and Indianapolis – remaining in NHRA’s “regular” season, before the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoffs ensue.
Freeman fully realizes, “It’s a big, risky move and we aren’t taking it lightly. The proof is on the track,” he stated. “Greg’s success has changed our mindset. Making the switch now means all our cars will have a chance to compete for the championship.” Nothing is more important than winning the 2026 Pro Stock title to Freeman and his team.
Jerry Haas Race Cars, owned and run by Jerry Haas himself, who can be seen at nearly all Pro Stock events, has won an unprecedented 12 Car Craft Magazine All-Star Drag Racing Pro Stock Team chassis Builder Awards. His record spans back to 1986. Haas’ state-of-the-art four-link rear suspensions – and other major elements of his chassis design – have been developed with years of experience, by racing his own cars and learning from his many clients, who are some of the greatest minds in current and past drag racing.
Ahead of the Brainerd NHRA Nationals in a couple of weeks, the Elite Motorsports team will hold a closed test session with its new Elite-prepared Jerry Haas Race Cars equipment at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. “It’s a big step, but the timing couldn’t better,” Freeman acknowledged. “We have the data, we have someplace to start, so we’ll test for a couple of days and, based on what we know, we should see the difference almost immediately. It’s going to be an exciting end to this season.”
Leave a Reply