NHRA Pro Stock racing is considered by many to be one of the toughest classes in all of drag racing. It takes a special type of racer to win a world championship in this class due to how difficult the competition is. Jeg Coughlin Jr. is one of the best to ever run in Pro Stock and he has five championships to prove it. Last season Coughlin made his return to the class but had his share of struggles. The 2017 season is about kick off, and Coughlin ready to turn things around with his new Elite Motorsports Camaro.

For Coughlin, his racecar is like a second home to him, so getting back to racing was a welcome experience. “It was great to be back behind the wheel and communicating with the fans in 2016.  Our performance made for a ‘trying’ season, but we worked hard and made the best of it.  We are looking for a major rebound in 2017 with our Chevy-powered Camaro.”

Before last season, Coughlin had been racing Pro Stock cars that used carburetors, rather than the newly mandated fuel-injection systems. Since his team did such an outstanding job with the transition to the fuel-injection, he really didn’t feel the change to the new induction system. However, there was another rule change that took some adjustment to get used to according to Coughlin.  “Probably the single biggest rule change that affected us was the max rev limit being set at a ceiling of 10,500 RPMs.  That is where we lost a bunch of our top end acceleration in each gear which resulted in slower ET’s and MPH,” Coughlin explains.

From a team standpoint, Elite Motorsports who Coughlin drives for is making their own changes for the 2017 Pro Stock season. Gone are the Dodge Darts and their Hemi engines, and in their place are brand-new Chevrolet powered Camaros. Since the Elite Motorsports had ran Chevy products in the past, Coughlin and the team can work on making the cars fast in a hurry. “Our learning curve going into 2017 has been focused on making more horsepower with the Chevy, fine-tuning some driveline, clutch, and chassis setups.  We should be fast from the go in Pomona,” Coughlin says.

Even with the challenges of 2016 and the changes going into 2017, Coughlin is ready to have a successful season this year in Pro Stock. “I am looking forward to being competitive right from the start of the season.  The current Pro Stock contingent is going to be very tough, and I predict the top ten or so cars are going to be grouped with in a hundredth of a second or so.  With all that said, I am excited for the new season and the campaign we have put together to challenge for another Pro Stock championship,” Coughlin says.

Coughlin and his team are currently getting ready for a test session coming up in Phoenix, so they can be ready for the Winternationals in Pomona, California February 9-12^th. A motivated Coughlin with a solid car should put the rest of the Pro Stock field on notice, and make the 2017 racing season an exciting one for the fans.