Team JEGS / Pre-race Notes - NHRA Four Wide Nationals (NHRA/JEGS)
Team JEGS / Pre-race Notes NHRA Four Wide Nationals zMax Dragway Concord, N.C. (March 25-28) Jeg Coughlin enters this week’s NHRA Four Wide Nationals as the tenth-ranked driver in the NHRA Full Throttle Pro Stock standings. At the most recent event in Gainesville, Fla., Jeg qualified his JEGS.com Cobalt in the No. 3 spot with a 6.551-second elapsed time and defeated Bob Yonke in round one with a 6.559. Jeg also recorded the best speed of his career in Gainesville with a 211.73 mph run. zMax Dragway in Concord is one of just two venues on the NHRA tour, along with Norwalk, Ohio, where Jeg has not won a national event title. In two appearances at zMax Dragway, his best finish is a semifinal at the inaugural event in 2008. This week’s event in Concord will be unique in that all four lanes will be used simultaneously for professional competitors. The first and second place drivers from each heat will advance. This will mark the first time that NHRA Pro Stock cars have had the opportunity to race four at a time as they were not part of the four lane exhibition held last September. Jeg Coughlin is a four-time NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Pro Stock champion. He earned season titles in 2000, 2002, 2007 and 2008. As a sportsman driver, Jeg also claimed the NHRA Super Gas championship in 1992. In 2009, Jeg enjoyed one of his best years as a professional racer winning seven of 23 events and reaching the final round in two others. He compiled a round-win record of 50-17, the second best record in the class. With 48 career Pro Stock wins, Jeg ranks fourth all-time among Pro Stock drivers. Only Warren Johnson (96), Bob Glidden (85) and Greg Anderson (60) have more titles. In 263 career Pro Stock races, Jeg has reached the final round 77 times, recording 48 wins. Including his 14 sportsman victories, Jeg has won a total of 62 times, good for ninth place on NHRA’s all time wins list. During his career, Jeg has appeared in 95 final rounds, 77 as a professional and 18 as a sportsman racer. Jeg and then-teammate David Connolly helped christen zMax Dragway and were the first professional drivers to make a run on the drag strip when it opened in 2008. Jeg is currently qualified sixth for the K&N Horsepower Challenge, a special eight-car invitational event which is held each June in Norwalk, Ohio at pays $50,000 to the champion. Jeg won the event last year. In Concord, the JEGS team will continue to promote the JEGS “Win this Car�?? contest, a special promotion to celebrate the 50th anniversary of JEGS Mail Order. As part of the promotion, one lucky JEGS fans will win a yellow and black 2010 Chevy Camaro. Mike Coughlin is a two-time NHRA North Central Division Top Sportsman champion, winning titles in 2007 and 2009. He is also a 12-time NHRA national event winner in Top Sportsman, Super Comp, and Pro Stock Truck. Troy Coughlin Jr. (T.J.) is in his third season in the Super Comp class following a successful career in the NHRA Jr. Drag Racing League. He won his first NHRA national event title last November in Las Vegas. Samantha Kenny earned her first NHRA national event title last year when she drove the JEGS.com dragster to the Super Comp victory in Norwalk, Ohio. Samantha’s father, Alan, and brother, Jason, are also former NHRA national event champions. Jeg recently returned from the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver where he cheered the United States team to a Gold Medal in the four-man bobsled event and a Bronze Medal in the women's two-man. In January, Jeg took part in the annual Lucas Oil Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge in Lake Placid, N.Y., winning the silver medal. JEGS Mail Order is a longtime supporter of the Bo-Dyne Bobsled project, which uses racing technology to help outfit the American team with competitive equipment. In Concord, the U.S. four man bobsled team will be on hand as the honorary grand marshals of the Four Wide Nationals. Team JEGS by the numbers, NHRA Four Wide Nationals edition 4 - Number of JEGS entries that will be in competition in Concord 4 - Jeg Coughlin’s average qualifying position through the first thee Pro Stock events of 2010 11 - Career top ten points finishes for Jeg Coughlin in NHRA Pro Stock competition 22 - NHRA facilities where Jeg Coughlin has scored at least one national event victory 439 - Professional round wins for Jeg Coughlin versus just 202 losses --30-- Information regarding JEGS Mail Order can be found at _www.jegs.com_ (http://www.jegs.com/) and for media/fan resources checkout _www.teamjegs.com_ (http://www.teamjegs.com/) . Media Contact: Scott "Woody" Woodruff JEGS, Director of Media & Motorsports Office: 800.345.4545 (#3, ext 412) Mobile: 614.595.1820 Fax: 740.362.5507 Email: _jegspr@aol.com_ (mailto:jegspr@aol.com) -or- _scott.woodruff@jegs.com_ (mailto:scott.woodruff@jegs.com)