Lucas Oil Raceway, Indianapolis, Ind. (August 28 – Sept. 2)
Jeg Coughlin Jr. enters this weekend’s NHRA Chevrolet Performance Nationals in Indianapolis as the third-ranked driver in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Pro Stock standings. Jeg Jr. has appeared in six final rounds in the first 17 events of the season and has claimed two victories in Topeka and Joliet.
Jeg Jr. has officially clinched his spot in the Countdown to the Championship, the six race playoff that will determine the 2013 NHRA Mello Yello champions. Jeg Jr. will be seeded no lower than third in the Countdown no matter what happens at this weekend’s event.
Jeg Jr. has won the U.S. Nationals, NHRA’s oldest and most prestigious national event four times in his career. He won the Pro Stock title in 2000, 2002 and 2009. Jeg Jr. also won the Super Gas title at Indianapolis in 1992. In 1992, 2000, and 2002, he was also crowned a world champion.
In 13 career appearances at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis, Jeg Jr. has a career round win record of 21-9 in Pro Stock competition.
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.
With 54-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 517-career round wins, 88 have come via a starting line holeshot, which is the most of any past or current Pro Stock driver.
In 17 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 32-15.
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.
Including Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis, Jeg Jr. has won at least one NHRA national event at 23 different facilities. The only current venues on the NHRA Full Throttle tour where he has not won are the track in Norwalk, Charlotte, and Epping.
In 323 career Pro Stock races, Jeg Jr. has reached the final round 91 times, recording 54 wins. Including his 16 sportsman victories, Jeg Jr. has won a total of 70 times, good for tenth place on NHRA’s all-time wins list. During his career, Jeg Jr. has appeared in 113 final rounds, 91 as a professional and 22 as a sportsman racer
As a sportsman racer, Jeg Jr. as also had considerable success at Lucas Oil Raceway. In addition to his U.S. Nationals victory in the Super Gas class in 1992, he also won the track’s Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event in 1992 (Super Gas), and 1997 (Comp Eliminator). Jeg Jr. also won the $10,000 top prize in the 2004 Mopar Hemi Challenge at Indy after driving Michael Ogburn’s ’68 Barracuda factory race car to a victory.
The NHRA Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis will also mark the seventh race in the ten-event 2013 NHRA Pro Mod Series. Reigning series champion Troy Coughlin will be behind the wheel of turbocharged JEGS.com Chevy Corvette
Troy enters the event as the second-ranked Pro Mod driver in the series. He is currently just 72-points out of first place.
Troy’s first Pro Mod victory came at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in New Jersey in 2005 when as he drove his supercharged Mustang to as win over Zack Barkledge in the final round.
Troy is one of the few Pro Mod competitors who have raced all three current engine combinations; turbocharged, supercharged, and nitrous oxide assisted
Before moving to the Pro Mod class, Troy enjoyed success in the NHRA Pro Stock class, recording two wins in 12 final round appearances. He also won the $50,000 top prize at the 2000 Winston No Bull Showdown at Bristol Dragway, a special non-points event for Pro Stock competitors.
Troy is a former National Muscle Car Association (NMCA) Pro Street champion. While racing his Pro Street car, he also won the $50,000 Big Dog event at Piedmont Dragway in Greensboro, N.C.
Earlier this year, Troy won the NHRA Four Wide Nationals in Charlotte, and drove to runner-up finishes at the events in Englishtown, N.J. and Bristol, Tenn.
Troy’s JEGS.com Corvette is tuned by noted turbocharger expert Steve Petty. With a top speed in excess of 257-mph, Troy is officially the fastest member of the Coughlin family, eclipsing the performance of his father, Jeg Sr., who raced in the Top Fuel class in the early 1980s.
The JEGS Mail Order team will also be represented in Indianapolis by third-generation racer Troy Coughlin Jr., who will be racing in Super Gas with the team’s Corvette and in Super Comp with his JEGS.com dragster
Troy Coughlin Jr. is a three-time NHRA national event winner and the first third-generation Coughlin to win a major event. Troy Jr. is currently leading in the Lucas Oil Series Super Gas standings after posting a national event win and two divisional event wins this season.
Last weekend, Troy Jr. won the Super Gas title at the Division 3 Lucas Oil Series event in Bowling Green, Ky. His father, Troy, accomplished a similar feat in 1991 and then went on to win the U.S. Nationals the following weekend.
Troy Jr. is a two-time national event champion in the Super Comp class with wins at the 2009 Las Vegas event and 2010 U.S. Nationals at Indy. He also claimed the Super Gas crown in Gainesville earlier this year and has several major E.T. Bracket titles to his credit.
Collectively, the Coughlin family has won the U.S. Nationals eight times. Jeg Coughlin Jr. has four wins (three in Pro Stock and one in Super Gas). Troy, won the Super Gas title in 1991. Mike collected two wins in the Pro Stock Truck class in 1999 and 2001 and third generation racer Troy Coughlin Jr. won the Super Comp title in 2010. In addition, John Coughlin won the U.S. Nationals as a car owner in 2005 when Brad Plourd drove his JEGS Mail Order dragster to the Super Comp title.
JEGS family patriarch Jeg Coughlin Sr. drove to two U.S. Nationals finals during his career. He was runner-up in Little Eliminator in 1959 and runner-up in Pro Comp in 1975.
The Coughlin family, including John, Troy, Mike, Jeg Jr., and Troy Jr. has combined for 97 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 (INDY)
4 JEGS Mail Order entries in action at Indy in the following classes; Pro Stock, Pro Mod, Super Comp and Super Gas
8 Wins for the Coughlin family at the U.S. Nationals
9 Number of classes where the Coughlin family has earned an NHRA national event victory
97 NHRA national event victories for the Coughlin family
517 Round wins for Jeg Coughlin Jr. in the Pro Stock class.