JEGS Open Bracket Series - Big Bucks Available At US Open Bracket Championship

BOWLING GREEN, June 2, 2011: The seventh annual JEGS U.S. Open Bracket Championship takes center stage in the world of Sportsman drag racing this Thursday through Sunday at historic Beech Bend Raceway Park.

With big dollars on the line for four straight days, including first-prize paychecks of $10,000 on Thursday and Sunday and $20,000 on Friday and Saturday, the "Big Go of Bracket Racing" is sure to attract the largest stars in the sport.

"This is one of the biggest drag races of the year, no matter what you race," said Troy Coughlin Jr., one of three JEGS-sponsored drivers competing at the event. "It would be a dream come true for me just to win one day of this thing because you would know you beat the best of the best. Heck, they can keep the check; I just want to win."

Coughlin will be joined in the Team JEGS pit by his uncle Jeg Coughlin Jr., a five-time world champion, and Samantha Kenny, who is engaged to Jeg Jr. All three racers will pilot JEGS.com-themed dragsters at the event, with Jeg Jr. also running his distinctive JEGS Chevy II wagon.

"We're going to have some fun this weekend," said Jeg Jr. who recently became the only drag racer in NHRA's 60-year history to win national events in six different categories. "Of course, having our company name on the race makes it special, but really what has us all so pumped up is the fact we're going to see all our friends and we're going to be racing some of the best gunslingers out there."

The event opens Thursday with the $10,000-to-win "Warm-Up," which also awards the winner a brand-new American Race Cars chassis. Friday and Saturday's races jack-up the stakes with $20,000 going to the winner of each night's contest. The weekend wraps up with another big race paying $10,000 to the victor.

Adding to the prestige of the JEGS U.S. Open Bracket Championship are the specially designed winner's trophies crafted by world renowned sculpture/fabricator Dan Driesbach, who makes the JEGS Crown trophies for the JEGS SPORTSnationals events.

Gates open at 8 a.m. each day.