Runner-up finish lifts Troy Coughlin

COLUMBUS, Ohio (June 5) — Troy Coughlin recorded a runner-up finish Sunday at the Jeg’s NMCA Hot Rod & Muscle Car Nationals at National Trail Raceway. It was the best result of the Denso Spark Plugs Pro Street season for the former NHRA Pro Stock star and will certainly lift him in the NMCA rankings from his prerace perch of sixth place.

“What a great day of racing,” Coughlin said. “I would think we’ll move up one or two spots at a minimum so we pretty much accomplished what we set out to do. I would have loved to have made a run in the final but it wasn’t meant to be this time around. Still, we’re pumped up about this race.”

Coughlin didn’t take his Jeg’s Mail Order Chevrolet Cavalier down NTR’s quarter-mile in the final after experiencing engine trouble during his massive 6.70- to 6.61-second holeshot win over second-ranked racer Randall Hayes. During that run, Coughlin’s powerplant broke the mandrel on the front of the crank, which resulted in a complete loss of oil pressure. The damage incurred was too dramatic to fix in the 45 minute period between the semis and the final.

Final-round opponent Carl Roslin showed great sportsmanship in waiting an additional 15 minutes for Coughlin to make the call, but the Jeg’s team couldn’t risk sending their man down the track with the potential for more catastrophic engine damage to occur.

“We wanted to make the run but we just didn’t feel it was worth risking it,” Coughlin said. “We would have nuked the motor for good if we had tried. We had zero oil pressure. The guys were running crazy trying to fix the problem and the TV cameras were following our every move, but we couldn’t pull it off.

“It was cool to have so many Jeg’s employees out rooting for us. They were all blown away by the elapsed times and speeds we were running. What was neat is they got to see the parts they sell for us every day in use on a real racecar.”

The next event on the NMCA tour is the Motive Gear NMCA/NMRA Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing I presented by Nitto Tires, July 27-30, at Route 66 Raceway in the Chicago suburb of Joliet, Ill.


For more information on the JEG’S Mail Order race team, please visit Jegs.com. For additional information on this event and the entire NMCA Pro Edelbrock series, visit fasteststreetcar.com.

Media Contact:

Scott ‘Woody’ Woodruff
Director of Media & Motorsports
Office: 800.345.4545 (3.412)
Mobile: 614.595.1820
Fax: 740.362.4385
Email: jegspr@aol.com -or- scott.woodruff@jegs.com