Atlanta Dragway (Commerce, Ga.) May 16-18
Reigning NHRA Mello Yello Pro Stock champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. will continue his title defense at this weekend’s event at Atlanta Dragway. Coughlin will be racing the new Dodge Dart that was debuted last March 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 in 2014. Coughlin’s Dodge Dart is once again be powered by Hemi engines from Johnson’s J&J Racing team and will be tuned by Johnson’s 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.
Jeg Coughlin Jr. enters this weekend’s NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event as the seventh-ranked driver in Pro Stock
After the first six events in Pomona, Phoenix, Gainesville, Las Vegas, Charlotte and Houston, Jeg Jr. has a 6-6 record in elimination rounds.
Including Atlanta 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/Mopar Dodge Dart. He is one of just six Pro Stock drivers to run over 214-mph.
Jeg Coughlin Jr. is a two-time winner of the Atlanta event. He defeated Bruce Allen to win his first title in 2000 and defeated teammate Allen Johnson in the final of the 2010 event, scoring his landmark 50th Pro Stock title. In addition to his two wins, Jeg Jr. was a runner-up in 2009 to Mike Edwards.
As a sportsman racer, Jeg Jr. also won the Competition Eliminator title in Atlanta in 1997. That season, he made history by winning national event titles in four separate eliminators (Pro Stock, Comp, Super Stock, Super Gas).
In 14 career appearances at Atlanta Dragway, Jeg Coughlin Jr. has a 20-10 record in Pro Stock eliminations.
Prior to the start of the event, Jeg Jr. will attend the annual Partnership Dinner at the Coca-Cola headquarters in Atlanta. The special event recognizes all of the past professional champions in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series since The Coca-Cola Company has been the series sponsor.
Following 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 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 the history of NHRA to win a national event title from all 16 starting spots.
Of Jeg Jr’s 539-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.
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 336 events and recorded 539 round wins while incurring just 264 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 336 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 JEGS Mail Order team will also be represented by Troy Coughlin, who will be racing in the NHRA Pro Mod series with his 257-mph turbocharged Corvette.
So far, just 11 drivers have qualified for each of the first two races in 2014 including Troy Coughlin.
At the season-opening NHRA Pro Mod series even in Houston, Troy qualified in the No. 14 spot and lost to Kevin Fiscus in the opening round. He is currently ranked No. 9 in the series standings after two of ten events.
Troy Coughlin is the 2012 NHRA Pro Mod series champ. He is once again driving the turbocharged Corvette that carried him to the season title. Troy is also a former NMCA Pro Street class champion.
Troy’s Corvette is tuned by noted turbocharger expert Steve Petty. Last year, Coughlin drove to a best elapsed time of 5.82-seconds, and a top speed of 257.97 mph, making him the quickest and fastest member of the Coughlin family.
In 2011, the last time the NHRA Pro Mod series visited Atlanta Dragway, Troy Coughlin qualified No. 7 and reached the semifinal round.
Troy Coughlin has won NHRA national event titles in three classes; Pro Stock, Pro Mod, and Super Gas.
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 Southern Nationals Edition)
3 – National event victories for Jeg Coughlin Jr. at Atlanta Dragway (two in Pro Stock, one in Comp)
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
100 – Combined NHRA national event victories for the Coughlin family
803 – Pro Stock elimination rounds for Jeg Jr. with 539 wins & 264 losses (.671-percent)