Maple Grove Raceway (Reading, PA) Oct. 2-25
Reigning NHRA Mello Yello Pro Stock champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. will continue his title defense at this weekend’s NHRA Nationals in Reading, Pa. Coughlin Jr. will be racing the Dodge Dart he debuted last March in Gainesville, Fla.
At the most recent NHRA event in St. Louis, Jeg Coughlin Jr. raced to the semifinals, driving his HEMI-powered Dodge Dart to race-day wins over fellow Mopar drivers Deric Kramer and teammate Allen Johnson.
This is the fourth event in the Countdown to the Championship, NHRA’s six-race playoff to determine the season champions. Jeg Jr. will enter the Reading race as the No. 7 driver in Pro Stock. Jeg is 133 points behind leader Jason Line.
During the 18-race regular season, Jeg Jr. appeared in five final rounds and claimed victories in Atlanta and Englishtown.
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 15th top-10 finish.
Jeg Jr. is the defending event champion in Reading. Last year, he scored a crucial win in his championship run when he defeated teammate Allen Johnson in the final round. The victory gave Coughlin a points lead that he would never relinquish.
Jeg Jr. has won three other Pro Stock titles in Reading. In 1999, he defeated Mark Pawuk in the final round and he also won back to back titles in 2008 and 2009, defeating Dave Connolly and Johnny Gray, respectively.
As a sportsman racer, Jeg Jr. won the Super Gas title at the 1996 Reading event. Overall, he is 5-0 in final rounds at Maple Grove Raceway.
In 14 appearances at Maple Grove Raceway, Jeg Jr. has a round win record of 24-10 in Pro Stock competition.
In his 14 starts in Reading, Jeg Jr. has qualified in the top half of the Pro Stock field 11 times including a best of No. 2 in 2001. His average starting position at this track is No. 6.
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 three drivers, along with Peter Biondo and Scotty Richardson, 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 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.
Including Maple Grove Raceway, Jeg Jr. has won at least one NHRA national event at 24 different facilities making him the all-time leader in that category. The only current venues on the NHRA Mello Yello tour where he has not won are the tracks in Norwalk and Epping.
In 21 races this season, Jeg Jr. has two wins, three runner-up finishes and four semifinals to his credit. His overall record for the year is 33-19.
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 351 career Pro Stock races, Jeg Jr. has reached the final round 98 times, recording 58 wins. Including his 16 sportsman victories, Jeg Jr. has won a total of 74 times, tying him with Greg Anderson for tenth place on NHRA’s all-time wins list. During his career, Jeg Jr. has appeared in 120 final rounds, 98 as a professional and 22 as a sportsman racer.
Of Jeg Jr.’s 566-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 351 events and recorded 566 round wins while incurring just 277 losses. He has failed to qualify just 16 times.
The JEGS Mail Order team will also feature third-generation race Troy Coughlin Jr., who plans to pull double-duty in Super Comp and Super Gas.
Troy Jr. is one currently of the hottest drivers in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, He recently appeared in four-straight final rounds in the Super Gas class and claimed back-to-back national event wins at the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals and the JEGS Northern SPORTSnationals in Columbus.
Troy Jr. is currently ranked third in the NHRA Super Gas national standings and is on pace for his second-straight top five finish. He was also the No. 3 driver in the 2013 Super Gas standings.
Troy Jr. is a five-time NHRA national event champion including two victories at the U.S. Nationals, NHRA’s oldest and most prestigious event. He also has wins in Las Vegas, Gainesville and Columbus.
In his last visit to Maple Grove Raceway, Troy Jr. drove to a runner-up finish in the Super Gas class at the track’s Division 1 Lucas Oil Series event.
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.
In what has become an annual tradition, the entire JEGS Mail Order team will go pink during the month of October in recognition of cancer awareness month. All of the Team JEGS entries, including Jeg Jr’s Pro Stock car and the Super Comp and Super Gas cars of Troy Jr. will feature pink JEGS logos during all events in the month of October.
Team JEGS – By the Numbers (NHRA Reading Nationals Edition)
5 – Wins for Jeg Coughlin Jr. at Maple Grove Raceway (four in Pro Stock and one in Super Gas)
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
843 – Pro Stock elimination rounds for Jeg Jr. with 566 wins, 277 losses (.671-percent)