Quarterfinal Finish for Coughlin in Texas

Courtesy of Jegs

HOUSTON, TX – Troy Coughlin and his JEGS.com Chevrolet ran into a buzzsaw in Sunday’s second round of the NHRA Pro Mod Series presented by ProCare Rx.

Danny Rowe put down the fastest elapsed time for a winner in the quarterfinals of the NHRA Spring Nationals at Royal Purple Raceway, ending Coughlin’s day. Rowe made a pass of 5.954 seconds at 245.45 mph to beat Coughlin’s 6.041 at 247.53 mph.

“Everything worked like it’s supposed to,” Coughlin said. “We backed up from the burnout and got lined up straight, just like we always do. No issues. We pulled up and staged, and he had a fantastic light. We were not too far behind, but we just got out-ran. Bottom line. I saw a lot of black Camaro out there.”

Coughlin’s turbocharged ’68 Camaro won in the first round Saturday evening, beating Leah Pruett on a holeshot. Coughlin and crew chief Steve Petty continue to look for speed out of the car, which is in its first full season.

“You have to be patient,” Coughlin said. “There’s going to be a lot of trial and error. Obviously, we’re going through those growing pains for some reason, but we are. We’ve got to analyze all our data and figure out where the weak links are and fix them. That’s the bottom line.”

Coughlin and the team have some time to work on the car, as the Pro Mod series races next June 1-3 at Englishtown, N.J., for the Toyota SuperNationals.

“We’ll look at the videos and look at what you’ve got and try and figure out how to make it run faster,” Coughlin said. “It’s got its tongue out. It needs to pick up a good bit. We’ll try to find out what we’re doing wrong and what we’re doing right and try to capitalize on the good stuff and try to fine-tune and fix the old stuff.”