Rare red-light ends Jeg Coughlin’s day

NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
AC Delco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals
The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Las Vegas, NV
Oct. 31

Jeg Coughlin – Pro Stock
JEG’S Mail Order Chevy Cavalier
Race Day Summary

Jeg Coughlin easily had the quickest and fastest car of his quarterfinal showdown with Ken Koretsky. In fact, his special-edition Spy vs. Spy Jeg’s Mail Order Chevrolet Cavalier proved to be the second quickest car in the entire elimination field of the ACDelco Nationals, trailing only No. 1 qualifier Jason Line on the performance charts.

The problem was, Coughlin himself was a little too quick at the Christmas Tree and he squandered all of his advantage with a rare red-light disqualification, which removed him from title consideration.

“This is a major bummer, without question,” Coughlin said. “This is about the way this entire year has gone for us. We keep coming up on the wrong end of these thousandths of a second decisions. It’s frustrating because there’s a lot of hard work that ends up looking somewhat futile on the surface.”

The 33-time Pro Stock winner lined up normally for his match-up with Koretsky and his opening-round win over Ron Krisher, which came courtesy of a 6.820-second, 201.79-mph pass, had been good enough to earn him lane choice over his foe. But when the Tree flashed Coughlin’s lane was bathed in red with the timer showing the three-time Las Vegas champ leaving the line six-thousandths of a second early.

Had Coughlin even posted a mid-range reaction time, he would have easily won the race and advanced to the final four as his 6.816 at 201.94 mph would have been more than adequate against Koretsky’s 6.937 at 200.29 mph. It just wasn’t meant to be.

“I just drilled it,” Coughlin said. “I staged shallow, I felt great, and then I just crushed the Tree. Typically we’re not this close to red-lighting. Even when I murder it we still come up with .010-second start, or something in that neighborhood. I can’t even remember when I did this last.

“It’s a shame on many levels but we really are hurting now because I know I had an exceptional ride today. We ran well in Round 1 and the car was responding to all the adjustments we were making. The odds were starting to stack in our favor.”

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