Troy Coughlin Sr. surges to top of
Pro Mod on Day 1 of U.S. Nationals
INDIANAPOLIS (Aug. 2) — NHRA Pro Mod driver Troy Coughlin Sr. led a quartet of JEGS.com drivers on the first day of the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals by speeding to the provisional No. 1 spot for the J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series race presented by JEGS.com.
Troy Sr. made a pass of 5.773 seconds at 254.76 mph in the lone qualifying session on Friday to take the No. 1 spot over 32 Pro Mod racers entered at Indy.
The run came after Troy Sr. and his JEGS.com team spent the nine weeks since the last Pro Mod race, in Norwalk, Ohio, working on finding more horsepower after an NHRA rule change.
“It’s not too bad,” Troy Sr. said. It’s a lot of hard work that (crew chief) Steve (Petty) , Mike (Rees), Kyle (Pettis) and myself have done over the summertime break, trying to build new parts, new pieces, new tuneups, new everything from after the Norwalk race and the beginning of the summer break where we lost maybe 200, 300 horsepower in boost from NHRA backing us down.
“We had to go work, we had to make it back up. That’s the name of the game. That’s what they do in Pro Stock, that’s what they do in Funny Car, that’s what they do in Top Fuel, Comp Eliminator. I’m just excited to see a lot of this stuff pay off.”
The Pro Mod class has two more qualifying sessions on Saturday and one more Sunday before eliminations begin.
Troy Sr.’s younger brother, Jeg Coughlin Jr., sits in the No. 10 spot after one round of Pro Stock qualifying. Jeg Jr., who has five U.S. Nationals victories in Pro Stock, made a run of 6.666 seconds at 206.76 mph in his Magneti Marelli offered by Mopar/JEGS.com Dodge Dart.
Jeg’s wife Samantha raced to the second round of Super Comp, beating her dad, Al Kenny, with her JEGS.com dragster.
Two-time U.S. Nationals winner Troy Coughlin Jr. advanced to the second round of Super Gas with his own JEGS.com roadster, but he couldn’t follow Aunt Samantha into Round 3 of Super Comp as he lost in the second round of that category.