Troy Coughlin raced to the qualifying lead Friday in the NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series portion of the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals. This weekend’s Pro Mod racing at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis is presented by JEGS. This is the seventh of 10 Pro Mod events on the 2016 season.

Coughlin, the reigning and two-time world champion, pushed his late model JEGS.com Chevy Corvette to a 5.773-second pass at 254.76 mph to take the qualifying lead in Friday’s only qualifying session. Coughlin won the fourth event of the year at Englishtown, N.J., in June. He has two No. 1 qualifiers in his career.

"It's a lot of hard work that (crew chief) Steve (Petty), Mike (Rees), Kyle (Pettis) and myself have done over the summertime break, trying to build new parts, new pieces, new tune-ups, new everything from after the Norwalk race,” said Coughlin. “The JEGS.com guys had to go to work, we had to make it back up. That's the name of the game. That's what they do in Pro Stock, that's what they do in Funny Car, that's what they do in Top Fuel, Comp Eliminator. I'm just excited to see a lot of this stuff pay off."

Von Smith is second with a 5.802 at 245.94 in his late model Chevy Corvette. Smith won the Pro Mod world championship in 2010.

In third is Eric Latino, who powered his ’69 Chevy Camaro to a 5.859 at 247.52.

Michael Biehle II sits in fourth and is followed by Mike Castellana in fifth and Steve Matusek in sixth.

Justin “Big Chief” Shearer, star of the Street Outlaws television show, made his first pass as a licensed NHRA racer on Friday. He did not make the top-12 but will have three more chances before eliminations begin Sunday evening.

Pro Mod qualifying for the NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series portion of the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals will continue Saturday, Sept. 3 with sessions at 2 and 5:30 p.m. The final qualifying session will be held Sunday at 1:45 p.m. before the first round of eliminations at 5:30 p.m.

 
Friday's results after the first one of four rounds of qualifying for the 62nd annual Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway Park at Indianapolis, seventh of 10 events in the NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series.  Qualifying will continue Saturday for Sunday's first round of eliminations.
 

Pro Modified -- 1. Troy Coughlin, Chevy Corvette, 5.773, 254.76; 2. Von Smith, Corvette, 5.802, 245.94; 3. Eric Latino, Chevy Camaro, 5.859, 247.52; 4. Michael Biehle, Ford Mustang, 5.863, 252.76; 5. Mike Castellana, Corvette, 5.870, 243.94; 6. Steve Matusek, Camaro, 5.895, 247.43; 7. Rickie Smith, Camaro, 5.895, 245.81; 8. Khalid alBalooshi, Camaro, 5.919, 235.51; 9. Chip King, Dodge Charger, 5.920, 242.36; 10. Bill Glidden, Camaro, 5.945, 251.53; 11. Dan Stevenson, Camaro, 5.945, 248.84; 12. Jonathan Gray, Pontiac GTO, 5.953, 247.25; 13. Todd Tutterow, Camaro, 5.955, 243.94; 14. Steven Whiteley, Cadillac CTS-V, 5.958, 244.60; 15. Doug Winters, Chevy Chevelle, 5.958, 240.72; 16. Jim Whiteley, Chevelle, 5.968, 243.77.  Not Qualified: 17. Robert Patrick Jr., 5.981, 239.87; 18. Jim Bell, 6.034, 225.63; 19. Kevin Rivenbark, 6.100, 209.33; 20. Sidnei Frigo, 6.318, 169.02; 21. Mike Knowles, 6.423, 231.75; 22. Clint Satterfield, 6.594, 234.25; 23. Chuck Little, 7.545, 132.62; 24. Ruben Tetsoshvili, 7.631, 120.80; 25. Shane Molinari, 8.690, 111.64; 26. Mike Janis, 9.427, 100.12; 27. Jay Payne, 9.617, 102.99; 28. Danny Rowe, 10.788, 83.03; 29. Gerry Capano, 10.792, 80.08; 30. Harold Martin, 15.907, 61.83; 31. Justin Shearer, broke; 32. Bob Rahaim, broke.