Coughlins open strong in steamy Chicago

NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
NHRA Carquest Nationals
Route 66 Raceway
Chicago, IL
June 10th

Jeg Coughlin Jr. – Pro Stock
Troy Coughlin – ProMod
Friday Qualifying Summary

Jeg Coughlin has the quickest Mopar at Route 66 Raceway as the eighth annual
CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals finally completed a long first day of
professional qualifying that was interrupted several times by brief sun showers.
Coughlin leads a six-car contingent of Dodge Stratus R/Ts in attendance with a
steady 6.799 at 201.82 mph, the seventh best overall.

Jeg’s brother Troy lost a qualifying round to rain in his Pro Mod Mustang but
still holds down the No. 9 position in the field. Both men will get a chance to
improve Saturday morning when time trails resume.

Jeg managed to improve in the day’s second round despite the increased humidity
at the track, a result of sunshine steaming up the asphalt after an afternoon
rain shower. After opening the day with a 6.818-second run at 202.21 mph,
Coughlin and crew chief Bob Glidden were able to knock two-hundredths of a
second off their elapsed time.

It was a good time for Jeg to come to life in his Jeg’s Mail Order Dodge Stratus
R/T as he’ll continue qualifying while simultaneously racing in the 21st annual
King Demon Crown Saturday. Jeg’s first-round foe in the King Demon Crown is
Larry Morgan, who struggled somewhat Friday and qualified 16th with a
6.821-second pass at 201.10 mph.

“We were able to improve and that’s always encouraging,” Coughlin said. “I still
believe there’s a lot left in old yeller. We’ll probably need it because we
already have to switch to race mode and get after that big bag of money in the
King Demon Crown race.

“Larry might have slipped a bit today but he’s qualified higher than us for the
King Demon Crown and that’s a credit to the work he’s done over the last year.
He’ll be ready to race; you can count on that. I’m excited and ready to get
after it. We’ve won that deal twice before and it would be great to do it
again.”

Troy is safely in the Pro Mod field in ninth place after making just one run
Friday due to numerous rain delays. He’ll get one more qualifying run Saturday
morning before eliminations begin Saturday afternoon.

Although Troy lost a round to rain, he wasn’t too concerned as he already had
posted a 6.419 at 220.14 mph to put his Jeg’s Mail Order Ford Mustang
comfortably in the middle of the Pro Mod pack in ninth place.

Losing a qualifying round is never a good thing for tuners as they have one less
chance to work on a race day set-up. In Pro Mod, that thought is amplified as
the class only has three time trails on the schedule rather than the standard
four the regular Pro categories get. Now Troy and crew will have to prepare for
battle with just two runs worth of data.

“The guys had a new super charger on there and we didn’t get a chance to test it
so they wanted to play it safe the first time out,” Troy said. “Of course, we
thought tonight’s session would be the one to go for a big number but we lost it
so all we’ve got so far is a 6.41 that was nice and safe.

“I’m confident we’ll be much quicker the next time out so we’ll just get after
it in the morning and try our best to move up the ladder and start eliminations
with any sort of advantage we can gain. It was exciting for me just to get
behind the wheel because the last Pro Mod race was five week ago. I was anxious
to run my hot rod down the track.”

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