John Freeman had some high expectations heading to the Toyota All-Star Showdown at Irwindale Speedway. But Irwindale, with its progressive banking, it’s a tough place for rookies. Freeman proved though, that without a little bad luck, he would have been one of the biggest surprises of the weekend.

Despite the bad luck of a plug wire coming off just 30 laps into the event, Freeman was still able to finish 11th, the highest rookie representing the Busch East Series.

“Our weekend was great,” said Freeman. “It was a big learning experience for sure. This is a different track for sure. It’s like a combination of 10 or 15 different tracks all in one. It’s such a racy place. We didn’t get a handle on it in practice or the heat races. In the race though, the guys put the perfect setup on the car and we had a rocketship. We just had a lot of guys to come through. At this track, coming through the field is hard because everyone runs different lines. This car would run whatever line it needed to though.

“On the lap 30 restart, a plug wire came off and we were running on seven cylinders and 1,000 RPMs off. We were still passing cars, but then I hit a wall of cars and it was hard to get by them. I could get the car into the center, but I had no power coming off the corner. I could catch them, but they were so much slower in the middle of the corner that it would slow my momentum and I couldn’t get them off the corner.

“We were a top-seven car with the motor like it is. We were a top-three car for sure I think if we had the motor at full strength. It was a great experience and I had a lot of fun.”

Freeman’s 2007 plans are still in the works. The Busch East Series banquet will be held Friday December 15th, at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT.

For more information on John Freeman please contact Matthew Dillner at (704) 455-2051 and be sure to check out John’s website, www.johnfreemanracing.net