Team JEGS Prerace: NHRA Nationals
Team JEGS
Prerace: NHRA Nationals
(Norwalk, Ohio)
June 22-25
The JEGS Mail Order team will be very visible at this week’s NHRA event in Norwalk, Ohio, with five team cars in action.
Six-time world champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. will lead the effort behind the wheel of the JEGS.com Elite Motorsports Camaro in Pro Stock and his JEGS.com Corvette roadster in Super Gas. Third-generation racer Troy Coughlin Jr. will be driving the SealMaster Top Fuel dragster fielded by Kalitta Motorsports and his father, Troy Coughlin, will compete in the J&A Service NHRA Pro Mod Series with his twin-turbo JEGS.com Chevrolet Corvette C7. Mike Coughlin also will be racing his JEGS.com dragster in the Top Dragster class presented by Racing RVs.
Jeg Coughlin Jr.
Jeg Jr. will continue his pursuit of a sixth NHRA Mello Yello Pro Stock title (and seventh overall) at this weekend’s event. Jeg Jr. will be driving a Rick Jones Race Cars-built Chevy Camaro as a member of the Elite Motorsports team.
Following a quarterfinal finish at the most recent event in Bristol, Tenn., Jeg. Jr. enters this week’s race as the fourth-ranked driver in the Pro Stock class. So far this year, Jeg Jr. has earned runner-up finishes in Houston and Topeka to go with four semifinal results.
Last year, Jeg Jr. raced his first full season for the Elite team and recorded the 16th top-10 finish of his career.
Jeg Jr. is teammates with two-time world champ Erica Enders, Vincent Nobile and Alex Laughlin. Veteran crew chiefs Rick Jones, Mark Ingersoll and Brian “Lump” Self are the tuners of the Elite Pro Stock cars and regularly share data.
This season, Jeg Jr. has been Pro Stock’s No. 1 qualifier in Houston, Charlotte and Bristol. He has been low qualifier 23 times in his career.
Jeg Jr. has won at least one NHRA national event at 24 different facilities but has yet to win an event in Norwalk. The only other stop on the on the NHRA Mello Yello tour where he has not is New England Dragway in Epping, N.H.
Jeg Jr.’s best elapsed time in a Pro Stock car is 6.484 seconds and his best speed is 214.62 mph, both recorded in Gainesville in 2014. Earlier this season in Houston, he ran a best of 6.499 seconds, his best run in the fuel injection era.
Earlier this season, Jeg Jr. became just the 10th NHRA racer to win 600 elimination rounds when reached the semifinals in Topeka. He currently has 603 round wins. The other nine drivers with 600 wins are: John Force (1,275), Warren Johnson (874), Tony Schumacher (795), Greg Anderson (736), Kenny Bernstein (682), Larry Dixon (678), Ron Capps (656), Antron Brown (648) and Doug
Kalitta (603).
In eight career appearances in Norwalk, Jeg Jr. has a round win record of 8-8 in Pro
Stock competition.
At the 2012 Norwalk event, Jeg Jr. qualified No. 1 in the Pro Stock field with a 6.592-second
elapsed time.
Jeg Jr. is a five-time NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Pro Stock champion. He earned season titles in 2000, 2002, 2007-2008 and 2013. As a Sportsman driver, Jeg Jr. claimed the NHRA Super Gas championship in 1992.
Jeg Jr. is the only driver to win national event titles in seven different categories. He has won in Pro Stock, Comp, Super Stock, Stock, Super Comp, Super Gas and Top Dragster.
Jeg Jr. is the only professional racer in history to win a national event title from all 16 starting spots. During his Indy win in 2000, Jeg Jr. qualified No. 16.
With 58 Pro Stock wins in his career, Jeg Jr. ranks fourth all-time in the class. Only Warren Johnson (97), Greg Anderson (88), and Bob Glidden (85) have more titles.
In 392 career Pro Stock races, Jeg Jr. has reached the final round 102 times, recording 58 wins. Including his 18 sportsman victories, Jeg Jr. has won a total of 76 times, good for ninth place on NHRA’s all-time list. During his career, Jeg Jr. has appeared in 126 final rounds, 102 as a professional and 24 as a sportsman racer.
During his Pro Stock career, Jeg Jr. has competed in 392 events and has a round-win record of 603-318. He has red-lighted just 22 times and failed to qualify just 16 times.
Troy Coughlin Jr.
In 2017, Troy Coughlin Jr. carried on a longstanding family tradition when he joined his grandfather, Hall of Famer Jeg Coughlin Sr., in the Top Fuel class. Jeg Sr. raced Top Fuel from 1977-79. He finished No. 7 in the 1978 standings and recorded career bests of 5.97 seconds and 249.30 mph during
his career.
Troy Jr. is driving the SealMaster Top Fuel dragster, which is owned by drag racing and aviation legend Connie Kalitta. The car is tuned by veteran crew chief Jim Oberhofer. Troy Jr. is racing as a teammate to 42-time national event winner Doug Kalitta and 2013 Top Fuel champion Shawn Langdon. Troy Jr.’s teammates also include Funny Car drivers J.R. Todd and Alexis DeJoria.
Following the Bristol event, Troy Jr. is the No. 8-ranked driver in the Top Fuel class. So far, Troy Jr. has reached the quarterfinals at four events in Pomona, Gainesville, Houston and Epping. His best elapsed time is a 3.696, recorded in Phoenix, and his top speed is 328.86 mph, recorded
in Gainesville.
Troy Jr. is one of the contenders for the Automobile Club of Southern California Road to the Future award that honors NHRA’s top professional rookie. Troy Jr.’s uncle, Jeg Jr., was named NHRA rookie of the year in 1998 after a second-place finish in the Pro Stock class.
Troy Jr. is a five-time NHRA national event winner and the first third-generation Coughlin to win a major race. Troy Jr. won Super Comp titles at the 2009 Las Vegas race and the 2010 U.S. Nationals and the Gainesville event in 2013. He also won a pair of national events in 2014 at the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals and the JEGS Northern SPORTSnationals.
Troy Jr. was the 2013 NHRA North Central Division Super Gas champion.
During his career, Troy Jr. has appeared in nine Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series divisional final rounds and has claimed three victories.
In addition to his success in NHRA events, Troy Jr. also is regarded as one of the sport’s best E.T. bracket racers. He has accumulated several major victories including a $25,000 payday at the Atco Dragway Superbucks event and a $10,000 win the Spring Buck Blast at South Georgia
Motorsports Park.
The Norwalk race will mark the eighth event in the 12-race 2017 J&A Services Pro Mod Series. Two-time series champion Troy Coughlin will continue his quest for a third title behind the wheel of his turbocharged JEGS.com C7 Corvette.
At the most recent event in Bristol, Troy won his 11th career national event title when he stopped Shane Molinari in a final-round battle between two turbocharged entries. A week earlier in Bristol, Troy also reached the final and was runner-up to Rickie Smith.
Troy Coughlin
Troy is currently ranked No. 2 in the championship standings behind leader Mike Castellana. As a result of his recent surge, Troy is just 105-points out of first place with five events remaining.
The JEGS.com Pro Mod Corvette is tuned by noted turbocharger expert Steve Petty. With a top speed in excess of 260 mph, Troy is one of the fastest drivers in the Pro Mod class. He has also recorded a personal best elapsed time of 5.766 seconds.
Last year, Troy battled for the title until the final event of the season before finishing a close second to eventual champ Rickie Smith. He claimed three wins in Englishtown, St. Louis, and the season-ending event in Las Vegas.
Last season, Troy was one of just four Pro Mod racers, along with Michael Biehle, Steven Whiteley, and Rickie Smith, who qualified for all 10 events. In 2015-16, Coughlin was the only driver to qualify for all 20 races.
Troy won his first NHRA national event title at the U.S. Nationals in 1991 when he drove his Pro Stock-style Olds to the win in Super Gas. Troy defeated Mary Ann Jackson in the final. Troy’s first Pro Mod victory came at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in New Jersey in 2005 when as he drove his supercharged Mustang to a win over Zack Barkledge.
Troy is one of the few Pro Mod competitors who have raced all three current engine combinations: turbocharged, supercharged, and nitrous oxide-assisted.
Before moving to the Pro Mod class, Troy enjoyed success in the NHRA Pro Stock class, recording two wins in 12 final round appearances. He also won the $50,000 top prize at the 2000 Winston No Bull Showdown at Bristol Dragway, a special non-points event for Pro Stock competitors.
In 2014, Troy won the Pro Mod title in Norwalk when he defeated Von Smith in the final round. At that event, Troy shared the winner’s circle with his brother Mike, who won in the Top Sportsman class.
All told, Troy has 15 NHRA national event wins in 29 final-round appearances in Pro Mod, Pro Stock and Super Gas competition.
Troy was the 2009 National Muscle Car Association Pro Street champion. While racing his Pro Street car, he also won the $50,000 Big Dog event at Piedmont Dragway in Greensboro, N.C.
Mike Coughlin will be racing the same Top Dragster he drove to a win earlier this season in his 2017 debut at the Circle K Winternationals in Pomona. In that event, Mike ran as quick as 6.05 seconds and defeated Andy Spiegel in the final round.
Mike’s Dan Page-built dragster is equipped with a ProCharger and is capable of running in the five-second zone at more than 230 mph. Mike’s crew consists of Greg Cody and Tony Collier.
Last year, Mike returned to the Top Dragster class after a successful run in Top Sportsman that included a pair of Divisional championships in 2007-2009.
In 2014 Mike won the Top Sportsman title in Norwalk by beating John Hochstedler in the final round.
Earlier this season at the Division 3 Lucas Oil Series event in Norwalk, Mike qualified No. 7 in the Top Dragster class with a 6.177-second elapsed time and posted a quarterfinal finish.
Mike is a 14-time NHRA national event winner. He has won national event titles in Pro Stock Truck, Super Comp, Top Sportsman and Top Dragster.
The Coughlin family, including John, Troy, Mike, Jeg Jr. and Troy Jr. has combined for 114 NHRA national event victories since 1990. The Coughlin’s have won in nine different eliminators including Pro Stock, Pro Stock Truck, Pro Mod, Comp, Super Stock, Stock, Super Comp, Super Gas, Top Sportsman and Top Dragster.