JEGGIE RACES TO FOURTH 2009 WIN
Coughlin won a class-leading fourth national event in 2009 by winning the United Association NHRA Route 66 Nationals over No. 1 qualifier Mike Edwards. The victory extends his points lead over second place Edwards to 93 points.
"We've been fortunate to go to a lot of finals and win a lot of rounds this year but we've also had times when we've had to outright abort some runs," Coughlin said. "Our biggest goal for the weekend was to get this JEGS.com Chevrolet Cobalt to go straight every run and get to the finish line under power. We did that, thanks to the guys in our pit, and this win is really just a result of that effort. It's very satisfying."
Jeg Coughlin Jr. has won four NHRA Pro Stock championships by understanding one simple fact of drag racing. One cannot win a race if they don’t get to the finish line.
Coughlin won a class-leading fourth national event in 2009 by winning
the United Association NHRA Route 66 Nationals over No. 1 qualifier
Mike Edwards. The victory extends his points lead over second place
Edwards to 93 points.
"We've been fortunate to go to a lot of finals and win a lot of rounds
this year but we've also had times when we've had to outright abort
some runs," Coughlin said. "Our biggest goal for the weekend was to get
this JEGS.com Chevrolet Cobalt to go straight every run and get to the
finish line under power. We did that, thanks to the guys in our pit,
and this win is really just a result of that effort. It's very
satisfying."
After beating first-timer Ryan Ondrejko in Round 1, Coughlin faced
three of the toughest drivers in the class to earn his 45th career Pro
Stock title. His impressive march started with a .014-second
quarterfinal win over six-time world champion Warren Johnson. He then
slipped by three-time world champion Greg Anderson by just .005
seconds, before squaring off with top qualifier Edwards, who has
enjoyed a clear performance advantage over the entire class this season.
Although every run Edwards posted this weekend leading up to the finals
was quicker than Coughlin's final-round run of 6.663 at 207.30 mph, it
didn't matter as Edwards crept through the staging beams and
red-lighted, handing Coughlin and his jubilant crew the trophy before
either man popped the clutch.
"Mike's been in a zone of his own for the last several races and he's
such a good racer that you know you need to get up on the wheel to race
him," Coughlin said. "He was clearly quicker than us by at least
two-hundredths of a second going into the final so I was really focused
on hitting the tree. I went by it and felt like I'd really gotten it
and then as I was shifting into second gear I caught the win light
flashing in my lane out of my peripheral vision and the party started.
If you could have seen inside my helmet you would have seen a grin as
big as Texas."
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