The JEGS Pro Mod Father and Son Team Go Head to Head

a3508516-09mar15On April 25th, the two-car JEGS.com team consisting of father and son racers, Troy and T.J. Coughlin successfully qualified both of their Pro Mod Chevrolet Corvettes for this weekend’s elimination rounds at the Royal Purple Raceway in Houston, Texas. Round One was postponed from Saturday evening until 10 a.m. Sunday morning, but this did not deter the spirits of such a persistent team.

Screen Shot 2015-04-28 at 8.59.25 AM“We’re both in, and in this class, anyone that’s in the field can win the race,” Troy said. “That’s already been proven this year. We made a bunch of passes down both lanes between the two JEGS.com cars, so we have enough data to run either lane and get some win lights. The crew guys will plug in the right tunes for tomorrow and these cars will be hauling the mail, I promise you that.”

Troy Coughlin, who pilots the 2015 Stingray was slotted 11th overall that day, after a best pass of 5.915 at 250.92 mph. Not far behind was T.J. Coughlin’s 2014 Corvette, a few spots back in 14th place with a best of 5.954 at 248.20 mph.

For those unfamiliar, a Pro Mod can be one hell of car to handle down the strip under ideal conditions, much less in inclement weather. Additionally, we can only imagine what that first pass must have been like for a young driver like Troy. We really commend his performance and devotion to race professionally alongside his father in such a competitive class.

T.J. mentioned, “For a while there it looked like Dad and I may have to face each other in Round One, but the order got shuffled around a bit in the final session and now we won’t face each other until Round Two, if we both get that far, and I’m confident we will. That will be a fun race, and I’m sure it’ll happen many times throughout the year, so we’ll be keeping score for sure.”

“We had two solid passes out of the three we had, so although I think we can run much better, I know (tuner) Steve Petty and the guys have done a ton of work this weekend to get us qualified, and we’re thankful and thrilled to be in the field. This class is very challenging and it makes it even more challenging when the weather is all over the place like it’s been so far this weekend, especially with these turbocharged cars. Thank goodness Steve is the best tuner out there.”

The race was interrupted several times by scattered rain showers, but luckily the event was not fully canceled. The rain also didn’t seem to deter the spectators as they were not about to miss out on the action. As discussed above, their is quite a science to perfecting the tune for a car when the weather changes. The amount of humidity and temperature of the air can fluctuate rather drastically, and this is only compounded when you have a power adder in the mix. All part of the fun!

Troy even mentioned, “These Texas fans are outstanding and they’ve been so cool to T.J. and I. As a father, I’m so proud of how fast he’s adapted to these race cars because they can be animals, but he’s been great and it’s neat to see the fans appreciate what he’s doing. I think people see a little of themselves in T.J. because he’s just a kid living a dream and racing in the NHRA.”

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Sunday is a special day of the week for a lot of people for many reasons. For a few of the families here at Corvette Online, Sunday usually meant it was race day, and still does for a lucky few. Accordingly, April 26th would be no different for the family JEGS team of Pro Mod drivers. While it may be hard to be beat by your own son, we can imagine that it is at least as equally gratifying to know you had a hand in fostering such a performance and can selflessly cheer on your own son.

Specifically, Troy Jr. beating his two-time world champion father in the quarterfinals, enabling him to advance to his second straight semifinal. This would mark the first-ever race with his son and still enabled him to earn some points along with gaining some valuable track and car data.

Screen Shot 2015-04-28 at 8.59.12 AMTroy Sr. mentioned, “Racing him for the first time in competition was fun, it was exciting, it was emotional–every bit of all that. I couldn’t be more proud of him. He’s doing great, and it’s what I expected from him all along.”

Troy Jr. may be a rookie, but his performance would say otherwise as he grabbed a massive hole-shot upset win over Danny Rowe in Round One leaving the tree with a sizable .054-second lead. He would cross the line with a slower 5.915 at 249.16 mph compared to Rowe’s quicker 5.866 at 248.39 mph, but it wasn’t enough for Rowe to close the gap.

Troy Sr. ran next, which was ultimately decided by a tenth of a second, mainly due to Senior having to backpedal his car to maintain traction. Later, Bill Glidden would overtake Troy Jr. with a lightening-fast reaction time of .003-seconds reaction time allowing him to edge out the win.

To wrap up the day, Troy Jr. said, “I’m so proud of the team. We’re happy, if not completely satisfied. We always want to come away with the win, but there wasn’t much I could do against Billy with a .003-second light and a 5.88. We’ll just have to try harder. It was quite surreal racing Dad. We’ve been going head to head on practice Trees since I was 5. To have it happen in a Pro Mod race for the first time was majestic. He’s my hero. He’s my idol. He’s a world champion. It was a huge moment for me. This is new ground for the Coughlin family, and we are enjoying it immensely.”

Everyone here at CorvetteOnline wishes the entire JEGS team continued safety and success throughout the remainder of the season and will continue to follow and support them.

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About the author

Brent Davis

Brent was born and raised in Southern California. After earning a Bachelors Degree in business marketing from California State University San Marcos, and a project management certificate from the University of California at San Diego, he decided to turn a lifelong passion for automobiles and motorsports into a career. Brent has a specific passion for diesel-powered and all-terrain vehicles that have helped him haul and recover recreational toys over the years.
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