Reigning POWERade Pro Stock champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. began his 2008 racing
season in unique fashion by participating in the third annual Chevy Geoff Bodine
Bobsled Challenge at the U.S. Olympic compound in northern New York. Piloting a
bobsled for the first time, Coughlin was one of five NHRA pros to take on
several NASCAR drivers in the charity event, which raises money for the U.S.
Bobsled team.
Although his experience sledding down a 19-turn course
where racers reach speeds in excess of 60 mph was nonexistent prior to the
practice sessions for this event, Coughlin took home a bronze medal in the
individual race featuring 10 NASCAR and five NHRA professionals. Coughlin was
also third-best in the NASCAR vs. NHRA Challenge.
"I was a little suspect
Thursday morning when we pulled up to that course and I started realizing I was
pretty much committed to this deal," Coughlin said. "It's one thing to say it
would be fun to drive a bobsled when you're sitting in your office back home but
quite another when you get there and see that massive hill.
"Some great
members of our national team took us under their wing and gave us a heap of
instruction and before you know it we were in sleds making our first few runs.
They started us down low and we made enough runs to get comfortable. Then we
moved up to Gate 3, where the women's teams usually start, and we raced from
there.