BRISTOL, Tenn. (June 15) – Fans attending the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals this weekend at Bristol Dragway may notice a special hashtag on the Magneti Marelli offered by Mopar/JEGS.com Dodge Dart driven by five-time Pro Stock champion Jeg Coughlin Jr.
On this Father's Day weekend, Coughlin's yellow-and-red Dodge will carry the hashtag #AllAboutDad on the nose. That's in honor of Father's Day and a special campaign between JEGS High Performance and Dockers.
Coughlin Jr. was joined in a video with his dad, Jeg Coughlin Sr., and his son Jeg Coughlin III, talking about the special relationship between father and son.
"My dad and my son Jeggie – we three Jegs – were included in a national campaign that the Dockers brand put out for Father's Day," Coughlin Jr. said. "The plan was to try and capture us in an element and doing what we love to do, and that's hang out and socialize. We had a lot of fun doing it together, and the footage turned out really cool."
Dockers teamed up with the legendary racing family and one of the largest automobile parts retailers in the country, JEGS Performance, to help spread the message #AllAboutDad. The Dockers brand also features a variety of current employees and friends of the brand to hear what makes fathers so special. From memories and mannerisms to his best advice, these heroes make us the people that we are today and the best way to honor him on June 19th is by spending time together. The Coughlin/Dockers video can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfC703iDCJY.
In addition to founding mail-order giant JEGS High Performance, Coughlin Sr. was a terrific drag racer, traits he passed along to his four sons. Jeg Jr. is the youngest, and his relationship with his dad remains special.
"He's been amazing to our family and to myself," Coughlin Jr. said. "His guidance has always been extremely warm and open-ended. He's always given me an opportunity to talk about anything, to debate anything. We learned at a young age we were fortunate to have a leader in the family who was always on our side. He's meant a lot to me, on and off the race track.
"On the race track, he served as my crew chief for probably over a decade, and we won several world championships together. Hearing his voice on the radio always gave me that extra bit of confidence. Knowing he was behind me, I knew I had 110 percent of the best."
Coughlin Jr. and his three brothers, John, Troy and Mike have all learned the business world from their dad.
"In the business world, my brothers and I kid each other to this day that at 78 years old, he still has that crystal ball somewhere – that we've never found," Coughlin said. "He's just got a mind for business, a mind for marketing. He's still instrumental in working with us on different projects that we've got going on."
Among the many lessons his dad taught Coughlin Jr. was to listen, and to be prepared.
"You can learn a lot by listening, and you can sure do as well at whatever you're getting ready to do if you're prepared properly," Coughlin said. "Those are two key things that have stuck in my mind for years."