Auto Club Raceway Pomona (Pomona, CA) Nov 7-10
The Auto Club NHRA Finals is the sixth and final event in the NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoff that will determine the 2013 Full Throttle Champions. Jeg Coughlin Jr. enters the event as the leader in the Pro Stock class. He currently leads second-ranked Jason Line by 71 points.
Jeg Jr. appeared in seven Pro Stock final rounds in the first 23 events of the season and claimed four victories in Topeka, Joliet, Charlotte, and Reading.
The JEGS Mail Order team made a major change to their Pro Stock program this winter when Jeg Jr. joined forces with reigning NHRA Pro Stock champion Allen Johnson. This year, Coughlin’s Dodge is powered by HEMI engines from Johnson’s J&J Racing team and is tuned by Johnson’s crew chiefs Mark Ingersoll and Jim Yates.
Jeg Coughlin Jr. is a four-time NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Pro Stock champion. He earned season titles in 2000, 2002, 2007 and 2008. As a sportsman driver, Jeg Jr. also claimed the NHRA Super Gas championship in 1992.
During his victory earlier this year at Heartland Park Topeka, Jeg Jr. became just the 12th professional racer to win 500 rounds of NHRA competition. He joins fellow pros John Force, Warren Johnson, Kenny Bernstein, Tony Schumacher, Larry Dixon, Bob Glidden, Greg Anderson, Kurt Johnson, Joe Amato, Cory McClenathan, and Tony Pedregon in that exclusive club.
Jeg Jr. is the only professional racer in the history of NHRA to win a national event title from all 16 starting spots.
With 56-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.
Jeg Jr. is one of only two drivers, along with Peter Biondo, 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.
Of Jeg Jr’s 532-career round wins, 91 have come via a starting line holeshot, which is the most of any past or current Pro Stock driver.
The last time Jeg Jr. raced in Pomona at the Winternationals last February, he was a runner-up to Mopar teammate Vincent Nobile.
Jeg Coughlin Jr. has won the season-ending Auto Club Finals event three times. In 1999, he defeated Warren Johnson and in 2005 he drove to a final round win over Tom Martino. In 2007, Jeg defeated Justin Humphreys in the final round. He was also a runner-up at the fall Pomona event in 1998, 2000, and 2010.
Jeg Jr. has also won the season-opening Winternationals in Pomona in 1999 and 2000 and the special 50th anniversary event held in Pomona during the summer of 2001 as part of NHRA’s golden anniversary celebration. All told, Jeg Jr. has six wins and seven runner-up finishes in Pro Stock competition in Pomona.
In 30 career appearances at Auto Club Pomona Raceway, which is also the site of the season-opening Winternationals, Jeg Jr. has a round win record of 54-23 in Pro Stock competition.
In the first 23 races of the 2013 season, Jeg Jr. has four wins, four runner-up finishes and seven semifinals to his credit. His overall record for the year is 47-19. He has won more than 47 rounds just twice in his career (2000, 2009).
Jeg Jr‘s best elapsed time in a Pro Stock car is 6.487-seconds and his best speed is 213.47-mph both recorded during the 2013 season in Gainesville and Charlotte, respectively.
Jeg Jr. has won national events in 24 different NHRA facilities. The only current tracks where he has now won are Norwalk and Epping.
In 328 career Pro Stock races, Jeg Jr. has reached the final round 93 times, recording 56 wins. Including his 16 sportsman victories, Jeg Jr. has won a total of 72 times, good for tenth place on NHRA’s all-time wins list. During his career, Jeg Jr. has appeared in 115 final rounds, 93 as a professional and 22 as a sportsman racer.
The Coughlin family, including John, Troy, Mike, Jeg Jr., and Troy Jr. has combined for 100 NHRA national event victories since 1990. The Coughlin’s have won in 9 different eliminators including Pro Stock, Pro Stock Truck, Pro Mod, Comp, Super Stock, Super Comp, Super Gas, Top Sportsman, and Top Dragster.
Team JEGS – By the Numbers (Auto Club NHRA Finals Edition)
5 World championships for Jeg Coughlin Jr. (four in Pro Stock and one in Super Gas)
9 Number of classes where the Coughlin family has earned an NHRA national event victory
13 Career Pro Stock final rounds for JEG Jr. in Pomona
100 NHRA national event victories for the Coughlin family
532 Round wins for Jeg Coughlin Jr. in the Pro Stock class