NHRA: Coughlin brothers ready to race in rain delayed Matco Tools Super Nationals
9 September 2000
Posted By Terry
Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
The NHRA professional teams were given two test and tune sessions today to
prepare for raceday. The sessions were at 3:00 PM and 7:00 PM. Teams
were
not required to run either session because the pairing were previously set
for Saturday earlier this year before the event was rescheduled due to
rain.
All 16 Pro Stock cars returned for the rain delayed event. Jeg Coughlin, Jr. will square off against Kurt Johnson in the opening round tomorrow. Jeg qualified in the No. 1 spot with a blazing 6.822, which tied the NHRA Pro Stock ET record. Troy landed in the No. 4 spot with a career best 6.846 run. Troy will have lane choice when he faces Darrell Alderman in round one.
In the first session both of the Jeg's Mail Order machines were in the right lane. Troy ran into traction problems 850-feet out from the starting line. The car moved around and he shut off. He ran a 8.169 at 122.39 mph. Jeg was the second quickest car in the right lane and the third quickest of the session. He ran a 6.947 at 198.09 mph.
Jeg was in the first pair of cars to pull on to the track under the lights. He ran a 6.917 at 198.41 mph. The car made a move to the right when he launched from the starting line. He quickly recovered and brought the car back to the groove.
"We have some room for improvement," said Jeg. "We gained a lot of valuable data from the left lane between our two cars. That should really go a long way tomorrow when eliminations begin."
Troy made an awesome run. He ran a 6.879 at 199.47 mph, which was the only run that was good enough to break the qualified No. 16 spot of 6.88. The car rocketed out of the beams and hooked up all the way down the groove to the big end.
"We made the right calls and the car did what it was supposed to do," commented Troy. "We are ready for raceday."
Text provided by Scott Woodruff
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