Coughlin Collects at NHRA Pro Mod Round #2

Troy Coughlin raced to the NHRA Pro Mod Series victory during the Dollar General NHRA Four-Wide Nationals fueled by Full Throttle at zMAX Dragway. The NHRA Pro Mod Series portion of the event was contested in the traditional two-lane configuration.

“Charlotte’s such a great place to race,” Coughlin said. “The JEGS.com car was rocking and rolling. I’ve got my family with me, and I couldn’t be more excited.”

Defending world champion Coughlin powered his JEGS.com Corvette to his third career victory in the popular 250-mph doorslammer touring series with a final round performance of 5.893 seconds at 242.19 mph. Runner-up Kenny Lang trailed Coughlin with a 5.898 at 246.98 in his Summit Racing ’63 Corvette.

Defending series Champion Troy Coughlin drove his R2B2 built turbocharged Corvette to victory at Concord.

“I’m not sure what the reaction times were there in the final, but it was a tight race,” Coughlin said. “I could sense that he was there. I could hear that thing humming. But we got him. Thank God. What a day.”

To advance to the final round, Coughlin raced past Chip King, Mike Castellana and Mike Knowles in earlier rounds.

“(Crew chief) Steve (Petty) and all the guys did a fabulous job of putting this car together for race day,” Coughlin said. “It’s been a dream to drive.”

With the win, Coughlin moved into second place in the series standings, 19 points behind leader Von Smith. Smith lost in the second round to eventual runner-up Lang.

The Canadian Corvette duo of Kenny Lang and Al Billes placed runner-up in Pro Mod.

Ontario’s Eric Latino entered his first ever NHRA national event and very well during his circuit debut — running a couple of high fives.

Danny Rowe was the quickest Pro Mod at Concord running low ET at 5.867 secs.

Photos by:  Bruce Biegler