Championship Drag Racing

Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals
Reading, Pa.
(Oct. 8-10)

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Jeg Coughlin Jeg's Mail Order Chevrolet

Reports: Sunday Saturday Friday Pre-race 2 Pre-race

Reading, Sunday: For the first time since the St. Louis race in 2003, a span of 33 national events, three-time NHRA champion Jeg Coughlin squandered a quicker elapsed time and lost a race due to a holeshot, deleting his chances of winning a second title at historic Maple Grove Raceway in Reading Pa.

The usually lethal Coughlin, who is widely regarded as one of the best drivers in the class, posted a 6.709-second pass at 204.63 mph in Sunday's opening-round race against Allen Johnson, who ran a slower 6.731 at 204.32 mph. But due to Johnson's better .026 to .057-second reaction time edge, he took the win by .009 seconds.

"I'm not sure what happened up there but the end result is obvious, we lost the race," Coughlin said. "It's disappointing but this is a part of drag racing. I've been fortunate that this hasn't happened much to me in my career but it still doesn't feel that great. It just wasn't our day today so we'll have to regroup and try harder in Las Vegas."

Coughlin's first-round elapsed time was his best of the weekend by one hundredth of a second. His Jeg's Mail Order Chevrolet Cavalier went straight down the quarter-mile.

"The car was fine," Coughlin said. "The entire Jeg's Mail Order team would be commended. They worked hard and made the necessary changes to make sure we had a hot rod capable of winning the round and the race. We had the car today, unfortunately the driver didn't hold up his end of the bargain."

Coughlin will now head to The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where he shares the lead in his class for all-time wins with three, the same total as fellow two-time Pro Stock world champion Greg Anderson. His familiarity and previous success rate at the track has him excited about his chances to rack up another win in the desert.

"Despite today's outcome we still feel great about our Chevy and fully expect good things to happen in Las Vegas and Pomona for that matter," Coughlin said. "We continue to leave our marks across the top of the performance sheets and that is very encouraging. Maybe these two weeks off coming up will be just what we need to recharge and finish strong."

Reading, Saturday: Jeg Coughlin took advantage of Saturday morning's cooler temperatures and overcast skies at Maple Grove Raceway to move into a comfortable mid-pack position in the elimination field of the 20th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals. The three-time NHRA champion's 6.719-second quarter-mile romp at 204.82 mph placed him ninth on the ladder, just .026 seconds off the pace of the No. 1 car.

"We started the day 16th so any upward movement is a good thing," said Coughlin, a winner here in 1999. "We ended up ninth, so we'll race the No. 8 car first and we'll probably be the first pair out there so we're in for a treat. That's the extra work you get for not being at the top of the sheet.

"The track usually doesn't come around until there have been four or five pairs of cars down the groove. We won't have that luxury so we'll have to be perfect if we hope to win. The good news is our opponent has the same hurdles to clear."

Veteran racer Allen Johnson will be the first obstacle in Coughlin's quest for his 34th career Pro Stock victory. Johnson's best pass of 6.717 seconds at 204.08 mph will earn him lane choice over Coughlin by two-thousandths of a second.

"We like our chances because in the final qualifying session the car planted itself so well at the hit (of the throttle) and it got up on the tires and appeared to be off on a great run until a rocker arm broke and I had to shut it off," Coughlin said. "Even on seven cylinders, it put up a 1.01-second 60-foot time, which is pretty darn good.

"Because we were 16th overnight, we knew we had to be a little careful in applying the fire in today's first round. We erred to the side of getting 99 percent out of this Jeg's Mail Order Chevrolet Cavalier instead of being greedy and finding ourselves at 101 percent and overpowering the track. We just couldn't waste the run. We had her figured out for this last round but the rocker arm broke and there was nothing I could do but push in the clutch. We'll fix it and we should be fine by tomorrow."

The action starts promptly at 11 a.m. with Top Fuel and Funny Car leading the way. Pro Stock should begin around noon.

Reading, Friday: A promising day for former Reading champion Jeg Coughlin ended in frustration as the three-time world champion reached the halfway point of qualifying on the "bump" spot of the Pro Stock field. Coughlin remains optimistic, however, as local forecasters point to optimal racing conditions for Saturday's final two rounds of time trails at the 20th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals.

Friday started with Coughlin posting a 6.774-second elapsed time at 205.32 mph, the second fastest run of the session. But when Coughlin attempted to improve on that mark in the afternoon, he found himself fighting just to keep his Jeg's Mail Order Chevrolet Cavalier on the proper side of the racetrack.

"I had my hands full that time," said Coughlin, who won this race in 1999. "I was struggling with the car all the way down the racetrack.

"We had the second best speed of the early session so we thought if we could just clean it up a little and get it to accelerate better down low that we'd be able to put a low 6.70 or even a high 6.60 on the scoreboards. But when I launched the car picked the front end up very high and it ended up going towards the centerline. From the 60-foot marker to the parachute pits, I was fighting like crazy just to keep it straight."

Out of the groove for most of the run, Coughlin ended with a 6.782-second pass at 203.46 mph, which allowed several people to jump over him on the qualifying ladder.

"I think we'll be okay," Coughlin said. "If the weather comes through like they say it's going to then we'll have 6.6-second conditions all day. We'll need to be on our best behavior and eliminate our mistakes, but I'm predicting a great day of racing."

Saturday's qualifying sessions are scheduled for 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Reading, pre-race 2: At 34 years old, Jeg Coughlin's list of drag racing accomplishments already dwarfs most drivers on the POWERade Drag Racing Series. He has amassed three world championships and an amazing 45 national event wins in his short time behind the wheel of his stable of Jeg's Mail Order-branded hot rods.

The fact he's found so much success this early in his career speaks volumes about the man. Certainly, Coughlin has the stuff that champions are made of. At times, that includes finding ways to motivate himself, although Coughlin is the first to admit he'd drag race every weekend if he could.

As the 2004 schedule brings the NHRA back to Reading, Pa., for the rescheduled 20th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals, Coughlin draws on a primal desire to better himself and prepare his team for a strong charge at next year's title. But before he worries about 2005 and the promise a new season holds, there is some business he needs to finish.

"Ever since I turned professional in 1997, we've been fortunate enough to win a national event each year," Coughlin said. "We haven't won yet this year and we're down to three races so certainly it's something that's on our minds."

Coughlin has won this year. He claimed the trophy at the Mopar Super Stock Hemi Challenge at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, thereby prolonging a streak that dates back to 1990 of winning at least one drag race per season. But as prestigious as that title is and as encouraging as it is to maintain his impressive run of wins, he still wants to close out his '04 campaign with a national event win in Pro Stock.

"You find different goals to shoot for," Coughlin said. "Obviously, you want to win every race you enter. That's always the goal. But these other things come along and get you up for the game. This is the next hurdle we'd like to clear and its right in front of us."

There seems to be little doubt that Coughlin's Jeg's Mail Order Chevrolet Cavalier is capable of carrying the 2000 and 2002 Pro Stock champion to the winner's circle. Coughlin already has raced to one final-round showing in Gainesville, Fla., and more recently, had the top qualifying car two week's ago in Dallas. He's also logged top speed of the meet at the last two races.

"The car's been strong enough to go rounds," Coughlin said. "We feel like we're fully capable of winning any of these last three events. We will give it everything we have."

Reading, pre-race: To most Pennsylvanians Happy Valley is the home of Penn State University. To the decorated Coughlin family drag racing clan, a truly "Happy Valley" is on the other side of the state in the form of historic Maple Grove Raceway, which lies nestled in the rolling hills of Amish Country just outside Reading.

Over the years, the Coughlins have made Maple Grove as comfortable a place to ply their trade as the Nittany Lions have made State College, with team leader Jeg Coughlin racking up two national event victories at the track to go with a stunning national elapsed time record, and brother Troy collecting his memorable first NHRA win.

"Reading has always been an extremely exciting place for us to race," Jeg said. "It's one of those tracks that's usually in very good shape and the maintenance and preparation make it a place that you can really attack, especially down low, which is so important for these high-horsepower Pro Stock cars. Over the years, that's served us very well."

Without question, the Ohio-based team's 2001 visit to Western Pennsylvania was the best, with reigning series champion Jeg producing a 6.750-second, quarter-mile run that reset the NHRA's record book for the Pro Stock class. Later in the day, after dismissing Jeg in the semifinals, Troy powered through for his first NHRA victory with a big win over New Jersey's Tom Martino.

"There's no reason to think we can't have more success like that this time through," said Jeg, who enters this year's 20th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals as the sole representative of the Jeg's Mail Order camp. "There always seems to be good cloud cover and if Mother Nature surprises us and we get temperatures down in the mid-50s, which could be possible under the right conditions, we can try for another record.

"The more pressing goal for this Jeg's Mail Order team is to get the victory. We've been fortunate enough to win two times in Reading, once in 1996 in my Super Gas car, and again in 1999 in my Pro Stock car, so we know how to get the job done at that track. We'd definitely like to add another one to the books before the year is over and it would be awesome to do it in Reading.

"I've always enjoyed racing in the Northeast. The fans love Pro Stock and appreciate the effort it takes to make these carbureted cars run the sort of numbers we run these days. We're feeling good about our program at the moment and I like our chances."

Jeg has raced to consecutive final four finishes at the last two NHRA national events after qualifying in second and fourth place, respectively. He also had the quickest car two weekends ago at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. Of note, Jeg has never started a Reading race day lower than seventh on the elimination grid.