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NHRA Drag Racing - JEGS Racing Indy Preview


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Indianapolis, Aug. 27, 2012: The 2012 Mac Tools U.S. Nationals will mark the 300th career Pro Stock race for Jeg Coughlin Jr.

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.

Following the most recent event in Brainerd, Jeg Jr. is in a heated battle to make the upcoming Countdown to the Championship playoffs. With one race remaining, Coughlin is ranked 11th, but is just two points out of the top ten.

Jeg Jr. has won the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, NHRA’s oldest and most prestigious national event four times in his career. He won the Pro Stock title in 2000, 2002 and 2009. Jeg Jr. also won the Super Gas title at Indianapolis in 1992.

In 12 career appearances at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis, Jeg Jr. has a career round win record of 21-8 in Pro Stock competition.

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.

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.

Including Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis, Jeg Coughlin Jr. has won at least one NHRA national event at 22 different facilities. The only current venues on the NHRA Full Throttle tour where he has not won are the track in Norwalk and Charlotte.

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.

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. The car is tuned by crew chief Eddie Guarnaccia.

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 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event last April in Las Vegas, Jeg Jr. scored his 68th career national event title when he drove his JEGS.com dragster to the Super Comp title.

In 299 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 107 final rounds, 85 as a professional and 22 as a sportsman racer.

Jeg Jr. is one of only two drivers, along with Peter Biondo, 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.

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 (74) have more titles

During his Pro Stock career, Jeg Jr. has recorded 481 round wins while incurring just 231 losses. He has failed to advance past the opening round just 75 times.

Jeg Jr. will once again be pulling double duty in Indianapolis as he continues to the wheel his Dodge Challenger Drag Pak entry in Stock Eliminator. Earlier this year, family friend

Jeff Taylor drove the car to a Lucas Oil Series victory in Gainesville, Fla.

As a sportsman racer, Jeg Jr. has also had considerable success at O’Reilly Raceway Park. In addition to his U.S. Nationals victory in the Super Gas class in 1992, he also won the track’s Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event in 1992 (Super Gas), and 1997 (Comp Eliminator). Jeg Jr. also won the $10,000 top prize in the 2004 Mopar Hemi Challenge at Indy after driving Michael Ogburn’s ’68 Barracuda factory race car to a victory.

The NHRA Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis will also mark the sixth race in the ten-event 2012 NHRA Pro Mod Series presented by ProCare Rx. Troy Coughlin will be behind the wheel of turbocharged JEGS.com Chevy Camaro

Troy enters the event as the fifth-ranked Pro Mod driver in the series. He is currently just 63-points out of first place following his runner-up finish at the most recent event in Norwalk, Ohio.

Troy’s JEGS.com Camaro is tuned by noted turbocharger expert Steve Petty. At the season-opening event in Gainesville, Troy 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’s first Pro Mod victory came at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in New Jersey in 2005 when as he drove his supercharged Mustang to as win over Zack Barkledge in the final round.

Troy is one of the few Pro Mod competitors who have raced all three current engine combinations; turbocharged, supercharged, and nitrous oxide assisted.

Before moving to the Pro Mod class, Troy enjoyed success in the NHRA Pro Stock class, recording two wins in 12 final round appearances. He also won the $50,000 top prize at the 2000 Winston No Bull Showdown at Bristol Dragway, a special non-points event for Pro Stock competitors.

Troy is a former National Muscle Car Association (NMCA) Pro Street champion. While racing his Pro Street car, he also won the $50,000 Big Dog event at Piedmont Dragway in Greensboro, N.C.

At the most recent NHRA Pro Mod event Norwalk, Ohio, Troy qualified No. 1 in the field with 5.990. He went on defeat Mike Knowles, Donald Martin, and Roger Burgess before losing to Don Walsh Jr. in the final.

The Coughlin family, including John, Troy, Mike, Jeg Jr. and Troy Jr. has combined for 91 NHRA national event victories since 1990. The Coughlin’s have won in 9 different eliminators including Pro Stock, Pro Stock Truck, Pro Mod, Comp, Super Stock, Super Comp, Super Gas, Top Sportsman, and Top Dragster.

The JEGS Mail Order team will also be represented in Brainerd by third-generation racer Troy Coughlin Jr., who will be racing in Super Gas with the team’s Corvette and in Super Comp with his JEGS.com dragster

Troy Jr. is a two-time national event champion in the Super Comp class with wins at the 2009 Las Vegas event 2010 U.S. Nationals at Indy. Troy Jr. is also an accomplished E.T. bracket racer with several major event victories to his credit.

Collectively, the Coughlin family has won the U.S. Nationals eight times. Jeg Coughlin Jr. has four wins (three in Pro Stock and one in Super Gas). Troy, won the Super Gas title in 1991. Mike collected two wins in the Pro Stock Truck class in 1999 and 2001 and third generation racer Troy Coughlin Jr. won the Super Comp title in 2010. In addition, John Coughlin won the U.S. Nationals as a car owner in 2005 when Brad Plourd drove his JEGS Mail Order dragster to the Super Comp title.

JEGS family patriarch Jeg Coughlin Sr. drove to two U.S. Nationals finals during his career. He was runner-up in Little Eliminator in 1959 and runner-up in Pro Comp in 1975.