Semifinals finish makes Coughlin smile (NHRA/JEG'S)

NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
NHRA O'Reilly Fall  Nationals
Texas Motorplex
Ennis, TX
Oct 9, 2005  
 
 
 

Jeg Coughlin - JEG'S Mail Order / Mopar - Dodge Stratus RT (Pro  Stock)
Race Day  Summary





 
Semifinals finish makes Coughlin  smile

Three-time series champion Jeg Coughlin completed  one of his best races of 
the 2005 season by racing through to the semifinals of  the 20th anniversary 
O'Reilly Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec at the  Texas Motorplex. 
This is just the fourth time in 21 races Coughlin has reached  the final four 
this year. He now has three semifinal finishes to go with one  runner-up result.

Coughlin started the day with a thrilling holeshot win  over his Don 
Schumacher Racing teammate Richie Stevens. Knowing he needed a good  reaction time to 
beat the higher qualified Stevens, Coughlin sprinted out first  with a 
.020-second start. But Stevens was close behind with a .027-second  reaction time. 
The race was on at that point with Coughlin barely managing to  keep the 
hard-charging Stevens from crossing the finish line first, winning with  a 6.710 to 
Stevens' quicker but losing 6.707. The .0043-second margin of victory  made it 
the closest race of the day in any category.

"Richie's always  tough and his car is an identical twin to mine so the 
pressure was on the  drivers," Coughlin said. "I got lucky this time and took the 
win. It certainly  started the day off on a high note."

Next up was longtime friend and  rival Kurt Johnson, who was 2-2 against 
Coughlin coming into this event. After  another steady start, a .033-second 
starting line clocking, Coughlin once again  marched to a victory with a 6.786 at 
205.10 mph. Johnson got out of shape early  in his run and was forced to shut 
off his motor to avoid an  accident.

"Our run wasn't much better," Coughlin said. "For some reason  the 
combination we were running in the Jeg's Mail Order Dodge Stratus R/T just  didn't agree 
with the racetrack. It wasn't the track because other guys were  running 
strong. It was just the way we were running it."

Coughlin was  pressed once again in the semis, taking on championship 
contender Jason Line.  Once again the savvy veteran delivered a great starting line 
advantage, leaving  a full five-hundredths of a second ahead of Line. 
Unfortunately for the  yellow-and-black faithful, Line was able to catch and pass 
Coughlin to win by  nine thousandths of a second.

"It was a good weekend overall," Coughlin  said. "The team has made 
tremendous progress all season considering it didn't  exist until January. Still, we're 
all hungry for wins and championships and when  the end result isn't what you 
want you're never 100 percent happy.

"There  are two races left and we'll do all we can to finish  strong."

Additional information found at: _www.teamjegs.com_ 
(http://www.teamjegs.com/)   

Media Contact:

Scott  'Woody' Woodruff
Director of Media & Motorsports
Office: 800.345.4545  (3.412)
Mobile: 614.595.1820
Fax: 740.362.4385
Email: jegspr@aol.com -or- scott.woodruff@jegs.com