Coughlin primed for race day success

ST. LOUIS (May 2) -- Back-to-back races on the POWERade Drag Racing Series are exhausting for everyone involved. Race haulers must be packed up and driven across the country only to be unloaded once again. There is no time for repairs, testing, or maintenance. And downtime with the family is virtually non-existent.

But considering his stellar performance of late, two-time Pro Stock champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. is extremely happy he doesn't have to wait more than a couple of days to climb back behind the wheel of his Slammers Ultimate Milk Chevrolet Cobalt.

"We're on a roll right now," Coughlin said. "Anytime you have a hot rod that's running as strong as ours, you wish there was a race every day. I'm having so much fun right now."

Coughlin has earned low qualifier honors at two of the last three races on tour -- signifying he had the quickest car in qualifying -- and he successfully moved up to third place in the championship rankings with a quarterfinal showing Sunday in Atlanta. The only source of aggravation at the moment is that he lost a chance to advance deeper on the Atlanta elimination ladder due to an uncharacteristic holeshot loss, which means he outran his opponent but lost the race due to his foe's quicker reaction time.

"Holeshot losses sting a little because you know you had the better car," Coughlin said. "Fortunately, I've had very few holeshot losses in my career and I've been lucky enough to win few races when I had the better light so you can't complain. It's part of the game and all you can do is try not to let it happen again.

"The entire Victor Cagnazzi racing operation is really off to a great start to the season. My teammate Dave Connolly and I are routinely at the top of the qualifying sheets and we're third and fourth in the points behind the two fellows that have combined to win the last four championships. Those guys have set the benchmark that we're all trying to meet and so far we're doing the best job of that. It's something to be proud of."

Although the format is different this year as the race has been moved to the cooler month of May with a regular daytime schedule, Coughlin can lean on the experience of having won the Pro Stock title here in 2002. He also claimed the Super Stock trophy here in 1997 and 2003.

"Any time you return to a track where you've won before there's that extra feeling of confidence," the 36-year-old Coughlin said. "It should be totally different this year with the temperatures more agreeable and I have total faith in my team to get us up to speed right away. I'm really looking forward to Friday."