Cody Freeman and FKR Motorsports made the trip to Gulf Coast Speedway this Memorial Day weekend for what turned out to be a very good weekend with a horrible ending. The weekend started on the 25th with us finally running the feature race from the Leroy Strother Memorial which was rained out on 4-27-13. Truth be told after the track being way over watered we probably would have had a drier track had we just ran the race the night it was raining. However as we started our second event of the weekend on Saturday night the conditions steadily improved.
In the second even the cars were broken up in 2 heats of 4 cars. Cody started outside row 2 for his first heat and finished in the fourth position where he started. However it was a close race and the crew knew only minor changes were needed. In Heat number 2 Cody started on the pole and picked up his first Heat race win of 2013 along with his first in a Micro Sprint. This resulted in Cody starting in the fourth position for the feature race. At the end of the race Cody would find himself in the 5th position.
Finally on night 2 of the 2 day event the team showed up with confidence that we had found something the day prior. It showed as Cody started heat 1 in the 3rd position and stayed patient before finding his self in the lead on the 3rd lap. Then to much of a lot of people’s surprise he started stretching it out and picked up his second Heat race win of this year and on the weekend. The feeling was amazing and his confidence was extremely high going into Heat 2. He started in the 6th position and drove his way into 4th where he would finish. He came back with some complaints about the car as track conditions had changed. The crew made a small adjustment and Cody lined up 3rd for the Feature Race. Cody again quickly found his self in the second position and was running better than he had all season. Cody and Hunter Gengo battled extremely hard putting on slide jobs and flip flopped the high side for the low side several times putting on one heck of a show. Eventually another car made contact with Hunter and he had to pull his car to the infield. Then with 3 laps to go the same car that made contact with Hunter had reached Cody in the middle of 1 and 2. Using a move that I strongly disliked he decided he would try to drive through Cody’s Left Rear tire and bumper; instead of trying to race him for the position cleanly. Unfortunately for Cody the track officials of Gulf Coast Speedway were watching the moths gather around the lights or something and put Cody in the rear of the field for the restart stating he was spinning out when the incident happened. However every fan at the track, every driver, and every father that saw it knew otherwise. I even have the in car from the car in 4th that shows the whole incident and even it disagrees. I have never seen so many pissed off people at the same time but they all saw it the same way we did. After it was all said and done it was a 6th place finish for Cody on the night.
Just to be clear though I am not upset with the young man that made contact with Cody in the feature. I am however upset with the fact that several people have sense contacted me and informed me that his father was punching his fist into his hand giving him the sign to take Cody out. I as a father strongly disagree with this mentality and refuse to teach my son to race that away. I have enough faith in my abilities as a crew chief and enough respect for the sport not to act this away. I believe that Cody’s talent and hard work will pay off in the end both on and off the track and as he grows into a man. For a father to have his son intintially take another driver out is an example of when someone’s budget exceeds their talent. I am also upset only with the track officials of Gulf Coast Speedway not of the officials with the EMSA Series. It is hard to have confidence in a track when you see the officials with their back to the track multiple times throughout the event under green flag conditions and then they make such a horrible call.
As always though thank you so much to C&J Energy Services, Casedhole Solutions, Frank Henry Equipment, MPM, Driver Websites, and Team 91 Motorsports for your support this year. It is still fun as all ways and without you all we wouldn’t be in the position we are today! Thank you to the fans, family, and friends that are at the track and at home supporting us throughout this journey. We are continuing to improve and Cody will continue to give it 110% every lap of every race. A special thank you goes out to the Horner family for all of your support and encouragement this weekend. What a talented group of drivers and a model organization we have this year to race with and we refuse to allow one bad apple to ruin it for all of us.
-Nick Freeman
Proud Father of 02 Cody Freeman/ Owner FKR Motorsports