zMax Dragway (Concord, N.C.) April 11-13
Reigning NHRA Mello Yello Pro Stock champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. will continue his title defense at this weekend’s event at zMax Dragway. Coughlin will be racing the new Dodge Dart that was debuted at the NHRA event in Gainesville, Fla.
Overall, Jeg Jr. has 14 top ten finishes in the NHRA Pro Stock class since his debut in 1997.
Jeg Coughlin Jr. will continue to race as a teammate to former NHRA Pro Stock champion Allen Johnson. Coughlin’s Dodge Dart is once again powered by Hemi engines from Johnson’s J&J Racing team and will be tuned by co-crew chiefs Mark Ingersoll and Adam Hornberger.
Jeg Coughlin 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.
The NHRA Four-Wide Nationals features a unique format where four racers compete at once. The top two finishers advance to the next round.
Jeg Jr. won the most recent NHRA national event held at zMax Dragway last September. Jeg Jr defeated Jason Line in the final round claiming a win that helped him clinch the 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Pro Stock championship.
Jeg Coughlin Jr. enters this weekend’s NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event as the eighth-ranked driver in Pro Stock after the first four events in Pomona, Phoenix, Gainesville, and Las Vegas.
Jeg Jr. and then-teammate David Connolly helped christen zMax Dragway and were the first professional drivers to make a run on the drag strip when it opened in 2008.
At the inaugural Four-Wide Nationals in 2010, Jeg Jr. qualified No. 1 in the Pro Stock class. During his career, Jeg Jr. has qualified No. 1 20 times.
Including zMax Dragway, Jeg Coughlin 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, both recorded earlier this year in Gainesville behind the wheel of his new JEGS.com / Mopar Dodge Dart. He is one of just six Pro Stock drivers to run over 214-mph.
Of Jeg Jr’s 536-career round wins in Pro Stock, 91 have come via a starting line holeshot, which is the most of any past or current NHRA Pro driver.
During his 2013 victory 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, Ron Capps, and Tony Pedregon in that exclusive club.
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.
Jeg Jr. is the only professional racer in the history of NHRA to win a national event title from all 16 starting spots.
Jeg Coughlin 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.
During his Pro Stock career, Jeg Jr. has competed in 334 events and recorded 536 round wins while incurring just 262 losses. He has failed to qualify just 16 times.
Jeg Jr.’s most recent NHRA Pro Stock victory came at last October in Reading, Pa. He defeated teammate Allen Johnson to help secure the top spot in the points standings.
In 334 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.
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
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.
By the Numbers, NHRA Four-Wide Nationals edition
8 – Jeg Coughlin Jr’s current rank in the NHRA Pro Stock class
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 during his Pro Stock career.
100 – Combined NHRA national event victories for the Coughlin family
798 – Pro Stock elimination rounds for Jeg Jr. with 536 wins, 262 losses (.672-percent)