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Troy Coughlin Looking Sporty In Pro Mod Action At Indy


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INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 5, 2010: With three qualifying passes down and one to go before eliminations, world champion drag racer Troy Coughlin and his JEGS.com '68 Camaro are looking solid at the 56th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals presented by Lucas Oil.

"It's kind of exciting to be in this position," said Coughlin, who is competing in the Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series. "We've got a really competitive car on our hands and we have our act together at the biggest race in our sport."

With track conditions nearly ideal at O'Reilly Raceway Park, Coughlin had a best pass of 5.926 seconds at 246.89 mph, which was good enough for fourth in the field heading into Sunday's racing, which will feature one more round of qualifying and the first round of eliminations.

"This is how it should be," Coughlin said. "There's so much involved with making this all happen, from the guys at Sonnys (engine shop) to everyone at JEGS, it's an incredible amount of work to get this car down the track. It's very nice to see it all pay off, especially at the U.S. Nationals. Being so close to home, we have a lot of friends and family here so it's important to do well."

With conditions forecast to stay cool and fast, Coughlin remains on pace to keep his status of being the only driver to qualify for every Pro Mod race this season.

"We're really pleased with two of the three runs we've made so far," he said. "They were clean and consistent and we aren't tearing things up. We're even thinking we can pick up a couple hundredths (of a second) if the weather stays like it has been.

"We're having fun. Heck, we've been having fun all year."

Coughlin is currently fifth in the series points, just 13 points behind No. 4 Jay Payne.

Pro Mod's final qualifying session is scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. Sunday at O'Reilly Raceway Park. The first round of eliminations is slated to begin at 5 p.m.