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Topeka the Next Test for Battle-hardened JEGS Team
Courtesy of Jegs
TOPEKA, KS - Five-time world champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. and his JEGS.com/Mopar Dodge Avenger race team are hoping this weekend’s 24th annual Dollar General NHRA Summernationals at Heartland Park Topeka will kick off a 
successful summer that will ultimately earn them a berth in the 2012 playoffs.
“One of the primary goals when we started this race team was to run well enough in the regular season to get a spot in the Countdown to the Championship,” Coughlin said. “That remains our top priority. We have 10 races left before the cutoff, including Topeka, so every event is important.”
Coughlin has tasted success in Topeka in the past, winning the event outright in 2000, his first championship season in the Pro Stock category. He’ll be looking to duplicate that feat this time through, although just going a few rounds on Sunday would be a nice pick-me-up for his race team.
“We’ve been tested this year, for sure,” he said. “Probably much more than any of us expected. We’ve got a fairly young group, but it’s an experienced group.
“Right now, we’re five or six hundredths behind the top teams. We probably have three hundredths sitting right here in the pit that we just need to find through the set-up. The other three is going to have to come from some additional horsepower. We’re working very hard to improve in both areas.”
Voices Unlimited “Track Day” at Victoria Day Weekend Challenge May 18
Courtesy of PMRA
CAYUGA, ON – Team members of the Pro Modified Racing Association, the Quick 32 Sportsman Series, and the Pro Bike & Sled Series will be provided an opportunity to meet members of Voices Unlimited as they get an up-close look at
the cars and spend some time with the drivers this coming Friday as part of the drag racing opener at the Cayuga Dragway of Toronto Motorsports Park May 18-20.
This three-day event will begin Friday, May 18 as teams get set up at the track and perform some testing and tuning on the quarter mile. During Friday as the teams prepare for racing, members of Voices Unlimited will have a chance to meet with the teams, and all racers will be invited to take part in a Voices Unlimited-prepared barbeque supported by Cayuga Foodland from 11 am to 4 pm.
Drag Racing IS Entertainment: Perspective by Bill Bader Jr.
Courtesy of Pro Sportsman Association
Norwalk, OH – Bill Bader Jr., son of legendary race promoter and former IHRA President Bill Bader, runs Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio, home to an NHRA national event, a regional/divisional race, and as many major
independent shows as any track in the country. Bader Jr. is as smooth as they come, all business, and a total pro – just like his dad.
“Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals” rolls off his tongue faster than most people could say “Norwalk,” his track workers aren’t track workers – they’re “team members” – and this weekend’s Division 3 Lucas Oil Series event isn’t a points meet; it’s the B’laster Cavalcade of Stars presented by Budweiser. The Pro Sportsman Association’s Todd Veney caught up with Bader Jr., 44, to get his thoughts on what it takes to make a racetrack work, why he switched from IHRA to NHRA, and how he drew a turn-away crowd for a divisional race.
Mike and Samantha Coughlin to continue title chase in Norwalk
Courtesy of Jegs
NORWALK, OH – Team JEGS drivers Mike and Samantha Coughlin find themselves in similar situations as they head to this weekend’s sixth annual B’Laster Cavalcade of Stars presented by Budweiser.
After a pair of late-round finishes at the recently completed season-opening North Central Division Lucas Oil Series event in Indianapolis, they are both solidly in contention for championships in their respective Top Sportsman and Super Comp divisions. Now, Mike and Samantha will resume the chase as the tour moves to the scenic Norwalk facility located just a couple of hours from the JEGS Mail Order headquarters in Delaware, Ohio.
“Norwalk is a great track and it seems to agree with fast cars like mine,” said Mike, whose JEGS.com Chevy Cobalt is routinely one of the quickest cars in the Top Sportsman class. “We haven’t made and changes to the car. The car was just about perfect the last time I drove it (in Indy) thanks to my dad, Jeg Sr., [crew chief] Greg Cody and Tony Collier, who helps me dial-it-in at the track.
Troy Coughlin Jr. wants a win at Spring Fling 20s
Courtesy of Jegs
BRISTOL, TN – For sportsman racers looking to make their mark in the world of high stakes E.T. bracket racing, there is no better event than the annual K&N Spring Fling 20s. Held each May at picturesque Bristol Dragway in the Smoky
Mountains of eastern Tennessee, the event is the brainchild of racers Peter Biondo and Kyle Seipel, who have made it one of the “must attend” races each season.
JEGS Mail Order will have a strong presence at the event as a presenting sponsor of Saturday and Sunday’s $20,000-to-win main event races as well as the live video feed that will bring the action to a worldwide internet audience throughout all four days of competition.
Past Mac Tools U.S. Nationals champion Troy Coughlin Jr. will be flying the familiar yellow-and-black JEGS colors as he brings his JEGS.com dragster to the event.
Coughlin plans to compete in all four main events, including Thursday’s $12,000-to-win race and the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday races that pay $20,000 to each winner. Coughlin is also one of the 32 racers who will compete for a new dragster in the Dragster Shootout race held Friday night. Last year, Coughlin won the event and was rewarded with an American Race Cars dragster chassis.
Full line of PMRA, Quick 32 Sportsman Series, and PBSS Official Swag
Courtesy of PMRA
CAYUGA, ON – Fans of the Pro Modified Racing Association, the Quick 32 Sportsman Series, and the Pro Bike & Sled Series will be able to support their favorite drag racing by wearing 
Official Apparel and Merchandise items from a full line of clothing available for each series.
A wide range of PMRA, Quick 32 Sportsman Series, and PBSS-themed apparel, including hats, t-shirts, polo shirts, sweatshirts, and jackets, are all available in sizes for children, women, and men. Products from some Series teams, and other race-related items, are also available.
This colorful clothing is of the highest quality and is offered at each race meet at the Pro Modified Racing Association, the Quick 32 Sportsman Series, and the Pro Bike & Sled Series tent.
Deflorian Sees Positives despite Premature Exit in Maple Grove
Courtesy of Black Diamond Motorsports
Photo by Roger Richards
Reading, PA – Having been one of the quickest and most consistent cars throughout qualifying, Black Diamond Motorsports driver John Deflorian, Jr entered Saturday’s semi-final eliminations of the American Drag Racing League,
(ADRL) Northeast Drags II presented by Penske racing in Mohnton, Pennsylvania cautiously optimistic about his chances of scoring his first win of the 2012 season.
Despite the different conditions that engulfed Maple Grove Raceway on race day, the number one-qualified Deflorian and Black Diamond Motorsports team responded well, posting the quickest elapsed time of the opening round at 4.055-seconds at 178.68 miles per hour (mph) to defeat Elijah Morton .
In the second round against Todd Hoerner, Deflorian was able to deliver the quickest elapsed time of that round, covering the eighth-mile in 4.073-seconds with a top speed of 177.63 mph. In the semi-finals Deflorian unleashed at astounding 4.048-seconds at 178.59 mph, low elapsed time of the race and only .011-seconds from the American Drag Racing League world record.