Sun, 27 Oct 2002, 03:43 PM Jeg Coughlin Jr. Wins Chevrolet's First NHRA Pro Stock Title Since 1984

Courtesy of Jeff Romack, GM Racing Photo copyright 2002 Auto Imagery, Inc.

LAS VEGAS -- By winning round one of eliminations today against Scott Geoffrion, Jeg Coughlin Jr. clinched his second NHRA Pro Stock title and the first Pro Stock championship for Chevrolet since 1984.

Jeg Coughlin

"When we got down early in the season, we never gave up," said Coughlin. "The parity of the Pro Stock class this year has put a lot of pressure on every team out here, but our goal has always been to bring home a POWERade Pro Stock championship for GM, Chevrolet and everyone at Jeg's High Performance."

Coming into the ACDelco Nationals, Coughlin needed to leave this event with a net gain of just 31 points over his closest rival, second-place Jim Yates. But Yates, and third-place Greg Anderson, both failed to qualify for eliminations, and that all but assured the Jeg's Mail Order Chevy Cavalier driver of his second Pro Stock crown. Coughlin put the finishing touches on the championship with his round-one victory.

"There've been a lot of contributing factors to our success this season," said Coughlin, "including more horsepower from our GM DRCE engine program and learning how to use it at the track better by applying different fuel and timing curves. Our chassis program, our clutch program and our suspension program have all been extremely solid, and the aerodynamics of the Chevy Cavalier are hard to beat."

Coughlin's 2002 POWERade championship march has included seven national-event victories in nine final rounds with an astonishing hot streak where he's posted all of his wins during the last 10 races. The 32-year-old Columbus, Ohio native drove his yellow and black Chevy Cavalier to the points lead with a victory in Chicago on Sept. 29th and has not relinquished first place since.