Lucas Oil Raceway, Indianapolis (Indianapolis, Ind.) Aug. 27-Sept. 1
Reigning NHRA Mello Yello Pro Stock champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. will continue his title defense at this weekend’s NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, Ind. Coughlin Jr. will be racing the Dodge Dart he debuted last March in Gainesville, Fla.
At the most recent NHRA event in Brainerd, Jeg Coughlin Jr. drove his HEMI-powered Dodge Dart to the semifinals before the event was postponed by rain. Jeg Jr. defeated Larry Morgan and Deric Kramer and is scheduled to face Vincent Nobile when eliminations resume at Indy.
Jeg Jr. enters this weekend’s NHRA U.S. Nationals as the fourth-ranked driver in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Pro Stock standings. Jeg Jr. has appeared in five final rounds in the first 16 events of the season and has claimed victories in Atlanta and Englishtown.
Jeg Coughlin Jr. continues to race as a teammate to former NHRA Pro Stock champion Allen Johnson in 2014. Jeg Jr.’s Dodge Dart is powered by HEMI engines from Johnson’s J&J Racing team and is tuned by Johnson’s crew chiefs Mark Ingersoll and Adam Hornberger.
During his professional career, which began in 1997, Jeg Jr. has earned 14 top-10 finishes in the NHRA Pro Stock class. He already has clinched a berth in the 2014 Countdown to the Championship, which guarantees a 15th top-10 finish.
Jeg Jr. has three career Pro Stock victories at Lucas Oil Raceway Indianapolis, having won there in 2000, 2002, and 2009. Jeg Jr. defeated Ron Krisher in the 2000 final and stopped Jim Yates in 2002 and Greg Stanfield in 2009.
In 14 career appearances at Lucas Oil Raceway Indianapolis, Jeg Jr. has a round win record of 23-10 in Pro Stock competition, making it one of his most successful tracks.
As a sportsman driver, Jeg Jr. also claimed the Super Gas title in Indy in 1992, beating Sherman Adcock Jr. in the final round. Jeg Jr. also won the prestigious Mopar Hemi Challenge at Indy in 2004, driving Michael Ogburn’s West Coast Hemi’s Barracuda to a final round win over Rick Houser.
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 earlier this year in Gainesville.
Jeg Jr. is one of just 16 professional racers to win 500 elimination rounds in NHRA competition, a feat he accomplished at the 2013 Topeka race. The only other Pro Stock drivers with 500 wins are Warren Johnson, Bob Glidden and Greg Anderson.
Jeg Jr. is one of only three drivers, along with Peter Biondo and Scotty Richardson, to win national event titles in six different categories. He has won in Pro Stock, Comp, Super 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 qualified No. 16.
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. also claimed the NHRA Super Gas championship in 1992.
Jeg Jr. finished the 2013 season with four wins, four runner-up finishes and seven semifinals in 24 events. For the season, he finished with a 48-20 record in eliminations, second only to Top Fuel champion Shawn Langdon, who finished with a 54-17 record.
Including Lucas Oil Raceway Indianapolis, Jeg Jr. has won at least one NHRA national event at 24 different facilities making him the all-time leader in that category. The only current venues on the NHRA Mello Yello tour where he has not won are the tracks in Norwalk and Epping.
In 17 races this season, including the yet-to-be-completed Brainerd race, Jeg Jr. has two wins, three runner-up finishes and four semifinals to his credit. His overall record for the year is 29-14.
With 58 career Pro Stock wins, Jeg Jr. ranks fourth all-time among Pro Stock drivers. Only Warren Johnson (96), Bob Glidden (85) and Greg Anderson (74) have more titles.
In 347 career Pro Stock races, Jeg Jr. has reached the final round 97 times, recording 58 wins. Including his 16 sportsman victories, Jeg Jr. has won a total of 74 times, tying him with Greg Anderson for eighth place on NHRA’s all-time wins list. During his career, Jeg Jr. has appeared in 119 final rounds, 97 as a professional and 22 as a sportsman racer.
Of Jeg Jr.’s 562-career round wins in Pro Stock, 93 have come via a starting line holeshot, the most of any past or current NHRA Pro driver.
During his Pro Stock career, Jeg Jr. has competed in 347 events and recorded 562 round wins while incurring just 272 losses. He has failed to qualify just 16 times.
The Coughlin family, including John, Troy, Mike, Jeg Jr. and Troy Jr. has combined for 104 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, Super Comp, Super Gas, Top Sportsman and Top Dragster.
Collectively, the Coughlin family has won the U.S. Nationals eight times. Jeg Coughlin Jr. has four wins (three in Pro Stock and one in Super Gas). Troy, won the Super Gas title in 1991. Mike collected two wins in the Pro Stock Truck class in 1999 and 2001 and third generation racer Troy Coughlin Jr. won the Super Comp title in 2010. In addition, John Coughlin won the U.S. Nationals as a car owner in 2005 when Brad Plourd drove his JEGS Mail Order dragster to the Super Comp title.
JEGS family patriarch Jeg Coughlin Sr. drove to two U.S. Nationals finals during his career. He was runner-up in Little Eliminator in 1959 and runner-up in Pro Comp in 1975.
Jeg Coughlin Jr. – By the Numbers
NHRA U.S. Nationals Edition
4 – JEGS Mail Order entries in action at Indy in the following classes; Pro Stock, Pro Mod, Super Comp and Super Gas
8 – Wins for the Coughlin family at the U.S. Nationals
9 – Number of classes where the Coughlin family has earned an NHRA national event victory
20 – Number of times Jeg Jr. has qualified No. 1 in a Pro Stock field
104 – Combined NHRA national event victories for the Coughlin family
834 – Pro Stock elimination rounds for Jeg Jr. with 562 wins, 272 losses (.674-percent)