NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

When the 2027 Pro Stock rule changes were announced in April this year, Elite Motorsports owner Richard Freeman had begun taking the necessary steps to prepare his super team for the switch.

They began dynoing engines and put a similar setup on his brother Royce Freeman's Comp Eliminator B/Altered Automatic car to start research and development.

Now, this weekend, Elite Motorsports will debut the new hood scoop and two top-mounted 4-barrel-style throttle bodies, with Comp Eliminator veteran Mike DePalma behind the wheel for an exhibition pass.

“Today, we all know that the factories [Chevrolet, Dodge and Ford] are not here. The factories are gone, and from the very get-go that was something that was not well received by the racer,” Freeman said. “I think that’s why NHRA chose to do this, and race cars are supposed to have hood scoops. It’s exciting, it’s something else to talk about, it's different, right? Because the class has kind of stalemated.”

Freeman shared that, of course, how the car is worked on and what happens in the crew chief lounge will change.

“Instead of working on the manifold, now you're working on the manifold, then the manifold top, then the manifold snout, and then where the air goes, and if the front of the car is different, then it takes everything else differently,” he explained.

Another thing he pointed out is that the carburetor setup will be much simpler and different to tune.

Why? “Because the air is coming in and down, not in and up and over and down and across and all that stuff.”

Freeman also believes performance will increase. He admitted they’ve already seen it in his brother’s Comp car, even though this weekend will be the first time they'll use the setup with a stick.

As far as resetting records in the Pro Stock class, he believes that it could come with time, and exactly how much time, “Oh, half a year. It won't take long. Once you get the manifold and all that stuff seated in, figure out what it needs. The motor's more evenly tuned, but we have to take a lot of fuel out of certain cylinders because the fuel's just going everywhere because of the way the air is coming in. You've got to remember it's coming in and going across all of the cylinders, and so we don't know what it's doing in there, but we do know it's not a direct shot.”

When asked about whether any of the data and parts pre-Electronic Fuel Injection (EFI) would pertain to these changes, Freeman explained that it’s all different because the power curve has changed. Other things have changed too, like the clutch, tires, and more.

As far as what’s going to remain consistent, it’s what they’re taking from 2026.

“You’re still going to have the same engine. Everything else is the same except you're going to be putting the air in it differently,” Freeman said. “All we've done is take the air from the front and put it on the top. That's all we've done. Nothing else has changed.

“So horsepower will go up. We’ve seen five to ten, which in our world is a lot, but I think more than that you're going to see it accelerate differently than it does.”

After the exhibition passes this weekend in the new Elite car setup, Freeman plans to test more on Monday. He can only predict so much, but he’ll ultimately have to see how the car performs on the track and gather data to fill in the pieces of the puzzle he’s missing.

“It will save us money in the long run, no doubt,” Freeman stated. “Again, race cars are supposed to have hood scoops.”