Defending series champion Coughlin adds NMCA title defense to his schedule

Defending series champion Coughlin adds NMCA title defense to his  schedule

READING, Pa. (June 3) -- No one in the National Muscle Car  Association was 
happy when last month's race in Bowling Green, Ky., was rained  out. But 
the unfortunate turn of events for the sanctioning body and the various  
racers in attendance was quite fortunate for reigning Pro Street world champion  
Troy Coughlin.

"We committed to running NHRA Pro Mod this year," Coughlin  said. "And the 
way the NMCA schedule set up it looked like we were going to miss  the first 
two races because of conflicting dates, so we decided to just run  NHRA. 
There were only eight races on the original NMCA schedule so to miss two  of 
them would have put us pretty far behind. 

"When we race we go for the  championship. It didn't seem like that was 
going to happen until Bowling Green  rained out. Suddenly, we realized there 
was an opening."

Once the race  was officially cancelled, Coughlin consulted with 
crewmembers Clint Allerton,  Mike Rees, and Bryan Metzenheim to gauge their interest 
in dusting off last  year's championship-winning JEGS.com Pontiac GXP and 
defending their  title.

"They all said they wanted to do it," Coughlin said. "So we've  taken on 
the challenge and we're heading to Maple Grove Raceway for this  weekend's 
race. 

"The car was put away just like we had it at the end of  the year. It's the 
same set-up we used to set the world record twice and win a  couple of 
races down the stretch so there wasn't much we needed to do to get  ready. We 
did go out and make some eighth-mile passes and it responded well so  we'll be 
ready to race."

As the defending series champ, Coughlin knows  he'll have a target on his 
back when he arrives in eastern Pennsylvania for this  weekend's eighth 
annual Kooks Custom Headers NMCA Muscle Car Nationals. He's  also taken notice of 
the fact that numerous racers are now running in the  6.2-second range.

"It's not going to be easy," he said. "We'll have to  dig deep and beat on 
this GXP to have a chance, but we're capable. We did miss  one race already 
and that pretty much eliminated all the room we had to make any  errors. 
We'll have to be pretty close to perfect for the final six races if we  hope to 
be competitive. 

"We're all pretty excited. I'm glad it worked  out for us. Now we need to 
go race."

--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)