NHRA Drag Racing - TEAM JEGS Pre-race Notes Four-Wide Nationals

Delaware, Apr. 9, 2012: In 2012, Jeg Coughlin Jr. is making his return to the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series after a one-year hiatus. Jeg Jr is driving the all-new JEGS Mopar Dodge Avenger in the Pro Stock class. In his first outing since his return, he drove to a runner-up finish at the O’Reilly Auto Parts Winternationals.

After the first four rounds in Pomona, Phoenix, Gainesville, and Las Vegas, Jeg Coughlin Jr. is ranked 12th in the NHRA Full Throttle points standings.

Jeg Coughlin Jr. 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 Jr also claimed the NHRA Super Gas championship in 1992.

During his hiatus from Pro Stock racing in 2011, Jeg Jr returned to his roots and spent much of the year racing in various sportsman classes. He enjoyed tremendous success, winning the Super Comp title at the JEGS NHRA Pacific SPORTSnationals in Fontana, Calif., and numerous major E.T. bracket racing titles.

At the most recent NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event in Las Vegas, Jeg Jr lost in the opening round of Pro Stock eliminations but later scored his 68th career national event title when he drove his JEGS.com dragster to the Super Comp title.

In 287 career Pro Stock races, Jeg Jr has reached the final round 85 times, recording 52 wins. Including his 16 sportsman victories, Jeg Jr has won a total of 68 times, good for tenth place on NHRA’s all-time wins list. During his career, Jeg Jr has appeared in 106 final rounds, 85 as a professional and 21 as a sportsman racer.

In 2010, his most recent season in Pro Stock competition, Jeg Coughlin Jr won four Pro Stock races in seven final round appearances. He also claimed a win in the Top Dragster class at the St. Louis event.

Jeg Jr’s best elapsed time in a Pro Stock car is 6.520-seconds and his best speed is 212.29-mph both recorded at the inaugural Four-Wide Nationals in Concord, N.C. in 2010.

With 52-career Pro Stock wins, Jeg Jr ranks fourth all-time among Pro Stock drivers. Only Warren Johnson (96), Bob Glidden (85) and Greg Anderson (71) have more titles.

Coughlin’s JEGS Mopar Dodge Avenger is powered by Mopar Hemi engines supplied by JNR Racing, the JEGS in-house engine program founded by JEGS, Nick Ferri, and Roy Simmons. Former FIA European Drag Racing champion Tomi Laine is Jeg’s crew chief in 2012.

zMax Dragway is one of just two facilities where Jeg Jr has not won a national event title (the other is Norwalk, Ohio). Jeg Jr has won national events at 22 different NHRA facilities.

Jeg Jr 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.

At the inaugural Four-Wide Nationals in 2010, Jeg Jr qualified No. 1 in the Pro Stock class. 2010 was the last year Jeg Jr raced in the event. During his career, Jeg Jr has qualified No. 1 a total of 17 times.

Jeg Jr is the only driver in the 61-year history of NHRA to win national event titles in six different categories. He has won in Pro Stock, Comp, Super Stock, Super Comp, Super Gas, and Top Dragster.

Jeg Jr will once again be pulling double-duty at the Concord event as he will also be behind the wheel of his JEGS.com Drag Pak Challenger in Stock Eliminator. Earlier this season, longtime family friend Jeff Taylor drove the same car to a win at the Gainesville Raceway Lucas Oil Series event.

Troy Coughlin will also be in action in Charlotte as the NHRA Pro Mod series presented by Pro Care Rx makes its second stop of the 2012 season. At the season-opening Tire Kingdom Gatornationals in Gainesville, Troy qualified his JEGS.com Camaro in the No. 6 spot and lost in round one. He is currently ranked ninth in the Pro Mod standings.

Troy’s JEGS.com Camaro is tuned by noted turbocharger expert Steve Petty. Last month in Gainesville, Troy Sr. posted the top speed of the event with a career-best 256.26 mph speed. He is officially the fastest member of the Coughlin family, eclipsing the performance of his father, Jeg Sr., who raced in the Top Fuel class in the early 1980s.

Troy Coughlin has won NHRA national event titles in three classes; Pro Stock, Pro Mod, and Super Gas. His last Pro Mod title came at the Englishtown, N.J. event in 2005.

Troy also posted a runner-up finish in Pro Stock at the 2000 NHRA Gatornationals, falling to Warren Johnson in the final.

The JEGS Mail Order team will also be represented in Gainesville by Jeg Coughlin’s wife, Samantha, who will be driving her JEGS.com dragster in the Super Comp class.

Samantha is a former national event winner, having won the Super Comp title at the 2009 Norwalk event.

Samantha’s father, Alan, and brother, Jason, are also entered in the Four-Wide Nationals racing two cars each in the Super Comp and Super Gas categories.