Troy Coughlin - Season Preview (JEG'S)

Troy Coughlin - Season Preview
JEG'S Mail Order - Team JEG'S
 
DELAWARE, Ohio – A little more than a year ago, Troy Coughlin made the  
difficult decision to leave the NHRA Pro Stock class where he’d been a fixture  for 
the better part of a decade. Troy left Pro Stock in order to pursue a  
championship in the AMS Staff Leasing/TLR Pro Mod Series. Driving a supercharged  
Ford Mustang that was formerly raced by Pro Mod champ Mike Ashley, Coughlin won  
the Englishtown, N.J. round on Father’s Day, recorded a career best 6.12 
elapsed  time at over 232 mph, and finished a solid sixth in the points standings. 
Now  he’s more convinced than ever that he made the correct choice.
 
“Initially, making the move from Pro Stock to Pro Mod was difficult,�?? said  
Coughlin. “You can’t just rev the engine and dump the clutch in a Pro Mod car 
 because it will smoke the tires immediately. The driving technique is 
totally  different than what I was used to in Pro Stock. After a while, I started to 
get  the hang of it, our team began to jell and we had some success. Racing 
in NHRA  Pro Stock was a great experience and I wouldn’t trade it for anything, 
but I  really had a blast racing Pro Mod last season.�??
 
As if the Pro Mod car wasn’t enough, Coughlin and the Team Jeg’s crew  
assembled a Jerry Haas-built Chevy Cavalier for the popular Pro Street class in  
mid-2005. Using a unique engine combination that features a massive 824-cid  
Chevy engine from Sonny Leonard Racing and a three-speed automatic transmission,  
Coughlin instantly became a contender in the heavily populated class. Shortly 
 after debuting the car, Coughlin won the annual Big Dog Shootout event at  
Piedmont Dragway near Greensboro, N.C. After wining the race, Coughlin was  
presented with the $50,000 top prize.
 
“That win tied the biggest payday of my drag racing career,�?? said Coughlin.  
“I won the Winston Showdown in Pro Stock and that was also worth $50,000. The 
 whole weekend was really pretty thrilling. It was definitely one of the top  
moments of the 2005 season.�??
 
As exciting as 2005 was for Coughlin, the 2006 season arrives with even  more 
anticipation. Coughlin plans to continue racing in Pro Mod and Pro Street,  
but he recently made some changes in an effort to gain a competitive advantage. 
 The most notable change was swapping the supercharged engine in the Team Jeg’
s  Mustang for a Pontiac GTO equipped with twin turbochargers. Turbo charging 
 expert John Meany will join a team that already includes crew chief Bryan  
Metzenheim, Clint Allerton, and Coughlin’s oldest son, Troy Jr., who plans to  
make the move from the Jr. Drag Racing League into Super Gas later this  
season.  Troy also receives plenty of help and or advise from his daughters  
Meghan, Paige and Kelly.
 
“Between racing my two cars and helping Troy Jr. in his first year in Super  
Gas, I plan to stay very busy this season,�?? said Coughlin, who plans to start  
the year by racing the Pro Street Car at the 4th Annual Detroit Locker NMCA  
Nationals in Bradenton, April 7-9th. “I can’t wait to get started.�??