Defending 2016 NHRA series Pro Mod Champion Troy Coughlin had all the right stuff at Englishtown last weekend…

The Ohio-based racer skipped to his first victory of the 2016 season during the concluding round for the NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series portion of the NHRA Summernationals. This weekend’s racing was the fourth of 10 events on the 2016 season.

Defending series champion Troy Coughlin found victory lane for the first time this season – last Sunday

Coughlin, making his first final round appearance of 2016, powered his JEGS.com turbocharged C7 Corvette to a 5.878-second pass at 255.29 mph to defeat Bill Glidden’s 7.320 at 137.92 in his Precision Turbo-sponsored turbocharged Chevy Camaro.

Coughlin was the No. 7 qualifier and beat Mike Janis on Saturday. That put him against Pro Mod stalwart Rickie Smith, but Smith’s crew had to push his car off the starting line. Coughlin would have been hard to beat, as he made a pass of 5.846 seconds at 256.50 mph.

“The round we beat Rickie Smith was kinda cool,” Coughlin said. “They had some type of malfunction in the car and it wouldn’t start, which is very odd for Rickie. He’s usually low qualifier, winning races. He doesn’t make mistakes and is a pretty good racer.”

Coughlin then stormed past No. 3 qualifier Steve Matusek in the semifinals, ripping off a .015-second reaction time to power to a pass of 5.875 seconds at 254.66 mph. Matusek had problems and slowed to a 10.012-second run at 87.36 mph.

Billy Glidden had a great outing as new driver for the Precision Turbo Camaro owned by Harry Hruska  – setting top speed (257.68 mph) and going to the final round.

In the final against Billy Glidden, Coughlin was off first with a .049 light and was never behind, winning with a 5.878-second pass at 255.29 mph as Glidden slowed to a run of 7.320 seconds at 137.92 mph.

“His dad (Bob) and my dad (Jeg Sr.) used to race together,” Coughlin said. “It’s pretty cool to see the two generations continue to do battle. We’re pretty blessed to be able to do that. It’s pretty cool.”

This is Coughlin’s seventh career victory. He qualified seventh and with this victory he is now second in the points standings behind Smith.

Steve Matusek went to the semi final round in Pro Mod.

Glidden, making his first NHRA start as the driver for the turbocharged Camaro owned by Harry Hruska, was the event’s No. 13 qualifier. He outlasted Bob Rahaim, Khalid alBalooshi and Jim Whiteley in the earlier round of competition. His runner-up finish put Glidden eighth in the points standings.

Whitby’s Eric Latino was the only Canadian entry that qualified – but Eric lost in round #1 to Matusek (5.949 secs to 5.926 secs)

The NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series will make its fifth appearance of the 2016 season at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, June 17-19, at Bristol Dragway in Bristol, TN.

Posted with files by Rob Geiger, NHRA Communications & Bruce Biegler
Photos by Steve Embling, Phil Hutchison & (Auto Imagery – Victory Lane)