Ohio’s Troy Coughlin has claimed a second consecutive NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series World Championship crown….
Coughlin clinched the championship during the NHRA Toyota Nationals held at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The weekend’s final Pro Mod racing event of the season was sponsored by Aeromotive.
Coughlin took the title in his yellow and pink JEGS.com Corvette after winning his quarterfinal matchup against Brazil’s Sidnei Frigo and his closest challenger, Bob Rahaim, lost in the same round. Mike Janis, who held the points lead coming into the event, was upset in the opening round of eliminations on Saturday evening. Janis finished second in points.
Troy Coughlin clinched his title when he won this battle of C7 Corvettes in round #2 at Las Vegas
Coughlin earned $50,000 for winning the season long title. He also won the championship in 2012.
“It seems like it just happened yesterday that we won the first title,” Coughlin said. “Boy, what a sweet deal. What can I say about all the guys on this JEGS.com car. It’s pretty exciting. To come back and do it again, that doesn’t happen very often. As tough as this class has gotten over the last couple years, it makes it that much sweeter, for sure.”
The event’s Pro Mod title went to a former Pro Mod champ — Khalid alBalooshi who powered his Al-Anabi Racing ’69 Camaro to the victory over Pete Farber.
In the final, alBalooshi posted a 6.854 second run at 245.76 mph to finish in front of Farber’s ’69 Dodge Daytona, which trailed with a 6.942 at 244.43. In earlier rounds he outran Rickie Smith, Steven Whiteley and Rick Snavely. It was alBalooshi’s first win of the season and third of his Pro Mod career.
Kahlid al Balooshi prevailed to win the season finale event for NHRA’s J&A Pro Mod Series
Eric Latino (from Whitby Ontario) was the only Canadian driver to qualify in Pro Mod at Las Vegas
Here are the final official (Top 10) points standings for the 2015 J&A Service Pro Mod Series:
1. Troy Coughlin, 623; 2. Mike Janis, 609; 3. Bob Rahaim, 571; 4. Rickie Smith, 534; 5. Don Walsh, 500; 6. Bill Glidden, 496; 7. Danny Rowe, 477; 8. (tie) Khalid alBalooshi, 467; Troy Coughlin Jr., 467; 10. Pete Farber, 431.
BFR’s Rebuilt Mustang Debuts!
The formidable Can-Am BELL / FISCUS RACING (BFR) unveiled a new Pro Mod car, driven by Kevin Fiscus, during the 15th annual NHRA Toyota Nationals Pro Mod season finale.
Fiscus’ new car, a beautiful blue 2012 Ford Mustang powered by a twin Precision turbocharged Pro Line Racing HEMI motor, had previously been driven by Jim Bell. After Bell had an unfortunate wreck with the car in 2014 during a PDRA event at Rockingham Dragway, the Mustang was sent off to Larry Larson at Larson Race Cars to be completely rebuilt. Larson and his team expertly reconstructed the car from the ground up, and spent countless hours making sure even the smallest detail was perfectly managed. In addition the to PLR power plant, a state of the art EFI system from FuelTech was wired in. Lastly, a new carbon fiber body from Tim McAmis was installed. Matt Riha applied the fresh paint and did the flawless airbrush work on the amazing paint scheme. The rebuild was finished in mid-October, 2015, and Fiscus took over driving duties.
The stunning car was unveiled at the NHRA Pro Mod season finale race in Las Vegas, and Fiscus put the first passes on the latest iteration of the Mustang. In the first qualifying session on Friday, Fiscus went straight down the groove with a 6.025 at 242.10 mph pass and was ranked fifteenth. For the second session, the untested Mustang made a move towards the center line and Fiscus wisely clicked it off to keep the car from hitting the wall. He coasted through the traps to post an 8.116 at 117.67 mph run on score boards, and dropped down into twenty-first. Saturday morning’s third and final qualifying session saw a big improvement from Fiscus, but his 5.980 at 247.07 mph run was not enough to get him into the Top 16 of the highly competitive thirty-car field with a 5.948 bump spot. Fiscus sat at twenty-first overall.
Teammate and Bell/Fiscus Racing owner Jim Bell also had a solid first round qualifying run with his Pro Line Racing 481X-powered 1969 Chevrolet. Bell’s resulting 6.053 at 235.76 mph run put him in eighteenth at first, but a similar run of 6.065 at 239.78 mph during the second session did not move him up in the standings. The team went to work on figuring out why the power was down so much, as the car was close to 9 MPH slower in the eighth-mile, which translated to the sub-par quarter-mile numbers. On Saturday, Bell had his quickest run of all the qualifying sessions. Although his third pass of 6.039 at 243.24 mph showed his car was running consistently, it wasn’t quick enough for him to move up. Bell qualified twenty-fifth once the final rankings had been posted.
“What an amazing NHRA year this has been,” said Bell. “The competition has gotten tougher and tougher at each race, and we’re honored to be a part of the action. We’re already looking forward to next year’s season!”
For the 2015 NHRA Pro Mod season, Fiscus finished 18th overall in championship points, and Bell placed 24th.
Both Bell and Fiscus will be competing in the Pro Mod class at the Premier Street Car Association (PSCA) Street Car Super Nationals (SCSN) race at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Nevada on November 19-22, 2015.
Posted with files by NHRA Communications and Ainsley Jacobs
Photos courtesy of Auto Imagery & Bob Johnson
