Auto Club Pomona Raceway (Pomona, Calif.) Nov. 13-16
Reigning NHRA Mello Yello Pro Stock champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. will conclude the 2014 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing season at this weekend’s Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals in Pomona. Coughlin Jr. will be racing the Dodge Dart he debuted last March in Gainesville, Fla.
This is the sixth event in the Countdown to the Championship, NHRA’s six-race playoff to determine the season champions. Jeg Jr. will enter the final race of the Countdown tied as the No. 5 seed in Pro Stock. Jeg Jr. begins the event 144 points out of first place.
During the 18-race regular season, Jeg Jr. appeared in five final rounds and claimed victories in Atlanta and Englishtown.
At the most recent NHRA event in Las Vegas, Jeg Coughlin Jr. drove to his sixth final round of the season. He finished as a runner-up to Erica Enders-Stevens.
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 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 32 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 56-25 in Pro Stock competition.
In addition to his Pro Stock wins, Jeg Jr. was also a runner-up in the Super Stock class in Pomona during the 1995 Winternationals.
Including Auto Club Pomona Raceway, Jeg Jr. has won at least one NHRA national event at 24 different facilities. The only current venues on the NHRA Mello Yello tour where he has not won are the track in Norwalk and Epping.
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 four drivers, along with Peter Biondo, Scotty Richardson, and Justin Lamb, 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 Jr. 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.
In 23 races this season, Jeg Jr. has two wins, four runner-up finishes and four semifinals to his credit. His overall record for the year is 36-21.
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 353 career Pro Stock races, Jeg Jr. has reached the final round 99 times, recording 58 wins. Including his 16 sportsman victories, Jeg Jr. has won a total of 74 times, tying him with Greg Anderson for ninth place on NHRA’s all-time wins list. During his career, Jeg Jr. has appeared in 121 final rounds, 99 as a professional and 22 as a sportsman racer.
Of Jeg Jr.’s 569-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 353 events and recorded 569 round wins while incurring just 279 losses. He has failed to qualify just 16 times.
The Coughlin family, including John, Troy, Mike, Jeg Jr. and Troy Jr. has combined for 107 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.
Team JEGS – By the Numbers
Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals Edition
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
24 – Number of different facilities where Jeg Coughlin Jr. has won at least one NHRA national event title
107 – Combined NHRA national event victories for the Coughlin family
848 – Pro Stock elimination rounds for Jeg Jr. with 569 wins, 279 losses (.671-percent)