Team JEGS Prerace Notes
Auto Club NHRA Finals
Team JEGS Prerace Notes
Auto Club NHRA Finals
Pomona, Calif.
Nov. 9-12
The JEGS Mail Order team will be represented at this week’s season-ending Auto Club NHRA Finals by six-time world champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. behind the wheel of the JEGS.com Elite Motorsports Pro Stock Camaro.
Jeg Jr. will be driving a Rick Jones Race Cars-built Chevy Camaro as a member of the Elite Motorsports team.
Jeg Jr. enters the Pomona event ranked No. 8 in the NHRA Mello Yello Pro Stock standings. This is the final event in the Countdown to the Championship, NHRA’s six-race playoff.
So far this year, Jeg Jr. has earned runner-up finishes in Houston and Topeka to go with four semifinal results.
Jeg Jr. is teammates with two-time world champ Erica Enders, Brian “Lump” Self and Alex Laughlin. Veteran crew chiefs Rick Jones, Mark Ingersoll and 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 the low qualifier 23 times in his career.
Jeg Jr. has six wins and seven runner-up finishes in Pro Stock competition at Pomona Raceway. He won the season-opening Winternationals in 1999 and 2000 and the season-ending Auto Club Finals in 1995, 2005 and 2007. He also won the special 50th anniversary event held in Pomona during the summer of 2001 as part of NHRA’s golden anniversary celebration.
In 1998, Jeg Jr. made his first Pro Stock start at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona at the Winternationals and reached the final round. A year later, Jeg Jr. defeated his older brother Troy in the final to win his first Winternationals Pro Stock title. The Coughlin brothers also raced in the final of the 1999 Denver event, where Jeg Jr. also claimed victory.
In addition to his Pro Stock wins, Jeg Jr. was also a runner-up in the Super Stock class in Pomona during the 1995 Winternationals.
In 36 career appearances at Auto Club Pomona Raceway, Jeg Jr. has a round win record of 60-29 in Pro Stock competition.
Jeg Jr. has won at least one NHRA national event at 24 different facilities including Auto Club Pomona Raceway. The only stops on the on the current NHRA Mello Yello tour where he has not won are Norwalk, Ohio, and 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 607 round wins. The other nine drivers with 600 wins are: John Force (1,285), Warren Johnson (874), Tony Schumacher (806), Greg Anderson (764), Kenny Bernstein (682), Larry Dixon (678), Ron Capps (678), Antron Brown (674), and Doug
Kalitta (621).
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 (90), and Bob Glidden (85) and have more titles.
In 404 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 404 events and has a round-win record of 607-330. He has red-lighted just 22 times and failed to qualify just 16 times.
The Coughlin family, including John, Troy, Mike, Jeg Jr. and Troy Jr., has combined for 116 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.
TEAM JEGS – By the Numbers (NHRA Pomona Edition)
7: Different classes where Jeg Coughlin Jr. has won at least one NHRA national event title (the only driver in history to do so)
8: Pomona wins for the Coughlin family (six by Jeg Jr, one by Mike and one by John)
10: Number of classes in which a member of the Coughlin family has earned an NHRA national event victory
13: Final rounds in Pro Stock in Pomona for Jeg Coughlin Jr.
16: Top-10 finishes for Jeg Coughlin Jr. in the Pro Stock class since 1998
116: Combined NHRA national event victories for the Coughlin family
607: Professional round wins for Jeg Coughlin Jr., one of just 10 NHRA pros to reach that milestone