Mac Tools U.S. Nationals
Indianapolis, Ind.
(Sept. 1-6)
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Jeg Coughlin Jeg's Mail Order Chevrolet |
Reports: Monday Sunday Saturday Friday Pre-race |
Indianapolis, Monday: Jeg Coughlin exited the 50th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in the semifinal round after coming up on the wrong end of the closest professional-level drag race of the event. Coughlin was edged by eventual winner Greg Anderson by six-thousandths of a second, or about 24 inches, with Anderson posting a 6.838-second quarter-mile pass to Coughlin's 6.866-second attempt.
Coughlin made it close by bolting from the starting line with a quick .032-second reaction time against Anderson's .054-second start, but Anderson's hot rod was quick enough on this day to track down Coughlin and his Jeg's Mail Order Chevrolet Cavalier and pass for the win, his 13th of the season.
The day started well as Coughlin, a two-time Indy champion, schooled young gun Dave Connolly by a 6.823-second to 6.881-second margin. In the quarterfinals, Coughlin lined-up against old foe Warren Johnson, a six-time series champion with 92 national event wins. This one belonged to Coughlin, as he cruised to a 6.852 at 201.70 mph to knock-out Johnson's 6.886 at 200.68 mph.
This historic weekend was an unqualified success for Coughlin. Aside from his second consecutive final four finish in Pro Stock, he managed to win the Mopar Performance Parts Super Stock Hemi Challenge by taking out class veteran Rick Houser in the finals by just one hundredth of a second. Coughlin was racing in Super Stock, a class where he's scored seven of his 45 national event wins in the past, in Michael Ogburn and Harry Holton's world-record-holding West Coast Hemis 1968 Plymouth Barracuda.
The POWERade Drag Racing Series takes a weekend off before heading to Reading, Pa., for the 20th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway. Coughlin has won there before, scoring a victory during the 1999 running of the event.
Indianapolis, Sunday: Pro Stock champion Jeg Coughlin will begin his march towards a third Mac Tools U.S. Nationals victory Monday with the fastest car on the elimination ladder. Coughlin, who won drag racing's biggest and most prestigious event in his championship years of 2000 and 2002, ended time trails fourth overall with a best pass of 6.805 seconds at 202.39 mph. But it was Coughlin's top-speed clocking of 202.76 mph from another session that made him the fastest driver at the world's biggest drag race, the first time this year he's earned top speed of the meet honors.
"We like where we're at," Coughlin said. "We didn't improve our standing today but we were in the top grouping of cars in both rounds so we feel like we know what we need to do tomorrow. Winning this race would be very special for the entire Jeg's organization.
"They shuffled the schedule around a little on us today but I was glad because we ended up running right after the fuel cars, which is exactly the way we do it on race day so I feel like we collected some really good data. We'll be ready for the fight."
Coughlin's already had a great weekend, winning Friday's Mopar Performance Parts Super Stock Hemi Challenge in Michael Ogburn and Harry Holton's West Coast Hemis 1968 Plymouth Barracuda. But now the Jeg's Mail Order pro shifts his attention to drag racing's ultimate single race prize -- the U.S. Nationals Wally trophy.
Winning Indy will be hard-earned as Coughlin starts with a tough draw against red-hot racer Dave Connolly, who qualified 13th with a 6.832 at 201.16 mph. Fortunately for the yellow and black camp, Coughlin holds the advantage of picking his lane in the race.
"Everyone in the field is tough," Coughlin said. "It's Indy and everyone goes for broke here. That's what makes winning this race all the more special. The two Pro Stock wins we earned here are at the top of my list of racing accomplishments. I'd love to add another one tomorrow."
Indianapolis, Saturday: Still reveling in his dominating wire-to-wire victory in Friday's Mopar Performance Parts Super Stock Hemi Challenge, three-time NHRA champion Jeg Coughlin rode his momentum to a lofty fourth-place perch on the Pro Stock qualifying ladder of the 50th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals.
Coughlin made one of the most impressive runs of the weekend when he overcame the midday heat and posted a 6.811 at 202.76 mph in Saturday's first session, which temporarily lifted him to second place. The run not only elevated his position on the qualifying ladder it, perhaps more importantly, showed the rest of the class the Jeg's Mail Order Chevrolet Cavalier team will be ready for what's expected to be identical conditions on race day.
Then, as the sun slipped over the horizon, Coughlin managed to get even quicker, running a 6.805 at 202.39 mph. Of note, Coughlin's second pass was the fastest of the weekend in the entire class, which features a whopping 38 cars for this event.
"Things went pretty well today," Coughlin said. "We made a nice move in Q2 [the second qualifying session] and managed to get up to the No. 2 spot from eighth place. Then we slipped back just a little bit in relation to a couple of the frontrunners in the evening and ended up fourth.
"We just had the car set up a little soft for the right-hand lane and it wanted to wag it's tail a little bit down low. But it cleaned itself up and carried me down through there pretty well. We can't be too upset with where we are at this point."
The U.S. Nationals is the only race on the circuit that features five qualifying sessions so Coughlin and the rest of the Pro Stock class still have two more chances to improve their standing on the elimination grid. Sunday's final two rounds are scheduled for 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Monday's eliminations begin at 11 a.m.
"We've had a good Indy thus far but we want to pick up the pace just a little bit and get right back to the top and challenge from there," Coughlin said.
Indianapolis, Friday: Jeg Coughlin's quest to collect three trophies at the 50th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals is off to a great start after his big victory in the prestigious Mopar Performance Parts Super Stock Hemi Challenge. Coughlin took care of class veteran Rick Houser in the finals by just one hundredth of a second.
Piloting Michael Ogburn and Harry Holton's record-setting West Coast Hemis 1968 Plymouth Barracuda, Coughlin posted the quickest pass of all five elimination rounds en route to his win. In the final round, Coughlin caught and passed Houser, taking the stripe in 8.790 seconds at 149.80 mph to Houser's 8.807 at 149.51 mph.
"The final was close," said Coughlin, who has seven national event wins in Super Stock. "He was ahead at the start the first time I peeked over and he was still ahead the next time I looked at about 330 foot. But once Harry's horsepower started kicking in I could just feel the car creep up on him. Then we passed him and got to that stripe first.
"It was extremely exciting to roll around the corner at the top end and see all of those lights and cameras pointing at me. I really liked seeing that big check also. It's a really cool deal to win the first trophy handed out this weekend. This is the biggest race of the year and the fact it's the 500th anniversary of the U.S. Nationals makes it even more special. I'm very, very proud of this win.
"I feel like my driving was all over the place today. Having the quickest and fastest car in the country puts a lot of pressure on the driver. Fortunately, the car was fast enough to keep me out of trouble."
Friday also featured the first of five rounds of professional qualifying and Coughlin managed to place his usual ride, the Jeg's Mail Order Chevrolet Cavalier, comfortably in the field in the No. 8 position. He'll have four more chances to improve on his mid-pack numbers of 6.837 at 201.43 mph, with two sessions scheduled for Saturday and two more Sunday. Professional eliminations at this race take place on Monday.
Indianapolis, pre-race: Three-time world champion Jeg Coughlin will be going for a rare drag racing trifecta at this year's 50th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals. The 45-time national event winner will try to win the U.S. Nationals in his Jeg's Mail Order Pro Stock car and the Super Stock Hemi Challenge and Super Stock class championship in Michael Ogburn's West Coast Hemi Barracuda. It will be an exhausting, but exciting weekend of racing.
"Seven straight days of drag racing," Coughlin said. "It doesn't get any better then that."
The Super Stock Hemi Challenge is a special race within a race that will be contested Friday between regular rounds of professional time trails. Although it's a sportsman-level race, Coughlin says a win in this competitive class would mean a lot to him, as would the regular Super Stock class championship.
"The Hemi Challenge is huge," the 34-year-old Coughlin said. "When you combine the big corporate backing with the culture of racers from across the country that will be competing in this race, it makes it every bit as prominent as a professional title.
"I'd say the same for the class championship. When you're a sportsman racer, and sportsman racing runs deep in this family, you know winning class at Indy is about as big as it gets. Just like in the Pros, when you win class at Indy it's an honor that can never be taken away from you. It's Indy, so it's special no matter how you slice it."
Coughlin has seven national event wins in Super Stock. He was a Super Stock All-Star in 1997 and won the Div. 3 Super Stock title in 1994 and 1997. Additionally, he knows how to get the job done on drag racing's biggest stage, having already won the prestigious Mac Tools U.S. Nationals on three occasions, including a sportsman-level victory in 1992 in the Super Gas class, which propelled him to the world title that same season. He also won Indy's Pro Stock title in 2000 and 2002, the same years he won the POWERade Pro Stock Championship.
"There are plenty of expectations on me," Coughlin said. "It's a huge challenge ahead of me but the goals I have set out are all attainable. I'm really pumped up to race."
The Coughlin family has a long and impressive U.S. Nationals resume. Beginning with family patriarch Jeg Coughlin Sr.'s Pro Comp runner-up finish in 1975, the Coughlin clan can boast of six victories in eight final rounds among the five racing Coughlin men. A Coughlin family member has won at the U.S. Nationals in four of the last five years.
"That fires me up," Jeg said. "National Trail in Ohio is our home track but Indianapolis Raceway Park is a close second. We've been racing there for a long time, at the U.S. Nationals and in Divisional events, and that familiarity with the racetrack can only help."
Jeg isn't the only Coughlin trying for multiple Wally trophies this year. Brother Mike will be racing in both Super Comp and Super Gas. Mike has two Indy wins, having claimed the Pro Stock Truck title at Indianapolis Raceway Park in 1999 and 2001.
With 33 Pro Stock victories in 50 final-round appearances in his career, Jeg knows the importance of scoring a win in his primary ride, the Jeg's Mail Order Chevrolet Cavalier. Coming off a final four showing in Memphis, Tenn., where he had the second quickest racecar, Jeg is anxious to hit the racetrack once again in Indy.
"We've placed a lot of emphasis on this event," Jeg said. "We have two new motors coming out of our engine shop. The first one was ready for Memphis and it obviously was a step up from what we had before. The second one will be done well before Indy and it looks even more promising so we're excited. Our performance picked up considerably in Memphis and we hope to continue down that path.
"We'll even have some good luck charms with us. Dad's Austin he raced there in the mid-'70s will be a part of the 50 Years of the U.S. Nationals parade and we're going to have the 1927 T-Roadster I won the 1992 championship with on display in our pit. If all goes according to plans, we'll leave town with some more positive memories."
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