Firebird Raceway
Chandler, Ariz. (Feb. 22-24)
Jeg Coughlin Jr. will once again pursue the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Pro Stock championship in 2013. Jeg Jr is driving the same JEGS Mopar Dodge Avenger that carried him a ninth-place finish last season. It was the 13th time in his career that Jeg Jr has finished in the top ten.
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 will be powered by engines from Johnson’s J&J Racing team and will be tuned by Johnson’s crew chiefs Mark Ingersoll and Jim Yates.
Jeg Coughlin Jr. enters this weekend’s NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event as the second-ranked driver in Pro Stock following his runner-up finish at the season-opening Winternationals in Pomona last week. Jeg Jr reached the final round before red-lighting against Vincent Nobile.
At last weekend’s Pomona event, Jeg Jr recorded the 84th holeshot win of his career against semifinal opponent V. Gaines. He is the all-time leader in holeshot victories in the class.
During his career, Jeg Jr has won the Pro Stock title twice in Phoenix. He claimed his first win in 2000 by beating Mark Pawuk in the final round and stopped Kurt Johnson to win his second title in 2009.
As a sportsman driver, Jeg Jr also won the Super Stock title in Phoenix in 1995. He returned in 1997 to claim the Comp title at the track’s Division 7 Lucas Oil Series event.
In 13 previous appearances at the NHRA Arizona Nationals Jeg Jr has a win-loss record of 18-11 in Pro Stock Competition.
In 307 career Pro Stock races, Jeg Jr has reached the final round 86 times, recording 52 wins. Including his 16 sportsman victories, Jeg Jr has won a total of 68 times, good for tenth place on NHRA’s all-time wins list. During his career, Jeg Jr has appeared in 108 final rounds, 86 as a professional and 22 as a sportsman racer.
During his Pro Stock career, Jeg Jr has competed in 307 events and recorded 488 round wins while incurring just 239 losses. He has failed to qualify just 16 times.
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.
Jeg Jr has qualified in the top half of the field in eight of his 13 appearances at Firebird Raceway including a best of third in 2000 and 2004.
Jeg Jr‘s best elapsed time in a Pro Stock car is 6.520-seconds and his best speed is 212.29-mph both recorded at the inaugural Four-Wide Nationals in Concord, N.C. in 2010. However, he has recently run in the 6.4-second zone during pre-season testing.
Jeg Jr’s most recent NHRA victory came in the Super Comp class at the spring Las Vegas event in April 2012.
With 52-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 will be joined in Phoenix by his nephew, Troy Coughlin Jr., who will be wheeling the team’s ’57 Corvette roadster in Super Gas. Troy Jr. is a former two-time NHRA national event champion in the Super Comp class. He scored wins at the 2009 Las Vegas event and the 2010 U.S. Nationals at Indy.
Troy Jr. is also the first third-generation Coughlin racer to win a major NHRA drag racing title. He is also an accomplished E.T. bracket driver with several big wins on his résumé.
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.
The Coughlin family, including John, Troy, Mike, Jeg Jr, and Troy Jr. has combined for 93 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, NHRA Arizona Nationals edition
2 – Pro Stock victories for Jeg Jr at the NHRA Arizona Nationals (2000, 2009)
4 – Total victories for Jeg Jr at Firebird Raceway (including his two sportsman wins)
18 – Pro rounds won by Jeg Jr at the NHRA Arizona, against just 11 losses
93 – NHRA national event victories for the Coughlin family
52 – Career Pro Stock victories for Jeg Coughlin Jr, fourth most in class’ history
727 – Pro Stock elimination rounds for Jeg Jr with 488 wins, 239 losses (.671-percent)