Bristol Race Weekend

Qualifying is now taking place for the Craftsman Truck Series race here at Bristol.

We will update as soon as it is finished.

Our Sprint Cup and Nationwide preview articles will be featured on the blog beginning tomorrow.

Neff tops in Funny Car

 By Rick Sheek (rsheek@starhq.com)

BRISTOL — Mike Neff nailed down his first No. 1 qualifying position on Saturday, leading the Funny Car class in the eighth-annual O’Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway.

The John Force Racing driver covered the quarter-mile strip in 4.783 seconds at 321.04 mph in a Ford.

“It’s an awesome feeling,” Neff said. “To be able to do some good things is really a good feeling. I owe it all to (crew chief) John Medlen. He’s the one that makes the calls, makes that thing perform like it does, and he’s doing an outstanding job.”

Jim Head qualified second (4.785/323.89) in a Toyota.

Neff’s pass from Friday night held up. All four Force cars qualified in the top seven, with the boss in seventh.

“It was really nice, that we were all in there pretty solid after yesterday,” Neff said. “It seems like somebody’s always been trying to fight there way in there on Saturday. That can be a real challenge.

“It’s great to have all four Fords in the top of the field. It helps us out a lot.”

Points leader Tim Wilkerson qualified fourth in a Chevrolet.

“We’re just trying to do the best we can right now,” Wilkerson said. “We’re doing all right. We’ve just go to run better tomorrow.”

Ashley Force ran the fastest speed in a Ford at 324.98 mph. She is third.

Ron Capps and 14-time champion John Force each have two Thunder Valley victories. Capps qualified ninth in a Dodge, while Force is seventh in a Ford.

Other former winners in the field are Gary Scelzi (13th) in a Dodge and Del Worsham (12th) in a Chevy.

Neff meets Tony Bartone, in a Chevy, in the first round in shooting for his first trip to the winner’s circle.

“We’re starting to get a little bit of momentum it feels like,” Neff said. “I know the performance of the car is definitely there. I conditions are going to be pretty good tomorrow, so I think tomorrow will be a great day of racing.

“I honestly think we’ve got as good a chance as anybody.”

Force teammate Robert Hight, who qualified fifth, made the top pass of the final session.

“(Crew chief) Jimmy Prock has been searching for it,” Hight said. “The guy definitely knows what these things need. I’m thinking everything is good for tomorrow.”

The late Eric Medlen holds the Thunder Valley record for elapsed time (4.755). Scelzi is the speed record holder (329.26 mph).

Five drivers failed to make the 16-car field, including Gary Densham, Jack Beckham, Scott Kalitta and Tommy Johnson.

 

Schumacher still the man to beat at Bristol

By Rick Sheek (rsheek@starhq.com)

BRISTOL — Reigning and five-time Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher remains the man to beat.

Schumacher, who has led the points since winning the season-opening event, remained top qualifier on Saturday for the eighth-annual O’Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway.

“The car’s driving fantastic, and the race track’s outstanding,” Schumacher, a two-time winner this year, said. “I think we’ll be good tomorrow. I hope we win, but there are a lot of great cars.

“Let’s face it, this year and even last year, it is just stout. You get up in the morning and you have to beat the No. 16 qualifier to win that race – there are no easy rounds.”

Schumacher’s pass from Friday night held up. He covered the quarter-mile strip in 4.502 seconds at 327.43 mph.

“We’re going to have to battle,” Schumacher said. “You can buy a trophy. It’s about the challenge and what it takes to get that trophy.

“The competition level is so outstanding right now, that it makes every one of those trophies shine. It makes them a pleasure to win, and it makes them difficult to earn.”

It was Schumacher’s second top qualifying spot of the season, in the eighth stop of the 24-event POWERade Drag Racing Series. His third pole at Thunder Valley, Schumacher has 49 in his career.

“We‘ve kept up the momentum,” Schumacher said. “You’ve got to reach and dig deep for that first round, and it makes for a great day.”

Schumacher faces Alan Bradshaw in the first round.

“It is brutal,” Schumacher said. “For a driver, it’s flat exciting.”

Doug Kalitta, the all time Thunder Valley winner with three victories, qualified third.

“I’m real excited to be out here,” Kalitta said. “We’re just happy to be going down the track. The car is running strong. We’ll just see what we can do tomorrow.”

Antron Brown, a two-time winner in his rookie season, ran the fast speed of the weekend at 330.15 mph.

Defending winner Brandon Bernstein, who has won twice here, qualified sixth. The other former winner in the field, Larry Dixon, qualified 10th.

Cory McClenathan, who won the second all-star race here in 2000, is the No. 12 qualifier.

Since only 16 teams showed up, no driver failed to make the field.

The tracks records for elapsed time are held by Schumacher (4.477) and mph by Kalitta (331.53).

Final eliminations began today at noon.

“I think it’s great that you come out to an even race track,” Schumacher said. “Yeah there will be lane choice, but we can go down either lane and we’ve smoked the tires in both lanes.

“We have a great place to race. Hopefully we’ll get some cloud cover tomorrow and just have a great day.”

 

Professor at top of Pro Stock class

By Wes Holtsclaw (wholtsclaw@starhq.com)

BRISTOL — Pro Stock’s Professor returned to one of his favorite classrooms in a big way. Its defending champion, however, was sent home early.

Thirty years since he raced Lee Edwards in the finals at the track, eight-time Bristol winner and six-time NHRA champion Warren Johnson established a track record with his run and speed during Saturday’s NHRA POWERade Series O’Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals qualifying session at Bristol Dragway.

Johnson sped down the quarter-mile strip in 6.674 second with a speed of 207.43 miles per hour.

Johnson’s son and teammate Kurt Johnson had previously set the elapsed time mark with a time of 6.687 seconds during Friday’s second run and held onto the second qualifying position with a time of 6.685 seconds and 206.29 mph.

“Whether its him or I, it’s fulfilling to see the work that he and I and our crew members have put into it,” said Warren Johnson, who qualified atop the field for an NHRA-record 138th time in his career. “It’s really a team effort from top to bottom.”
“It just shows that everybody at the shop’s doing their homework,” said Kurt Johnson, who enters Sunday’s eliminations as Pro Stock’s most recent winner.

Each of the drivers tested twice at Bristol in the previous month trying to improve their setup.

“Part of the reason we test here was to work through what we felt we had done wrong,” Warren, the 45-year veteran added. “We came here and worked on that. We came here and it was beneficial. It’s a testament to the Bristol crew over here because the track we tested at is just the same as the one we race on which is very, very rare.”

Kurt, the 2003 Bristol winner, added: “We picked up every run and that’s what it’s all about. You’ve got to put the whole package together.”

The elder Johnson previously earned the number one qualifying spot at Bristol in 2003, with his most recent win at the track coming in 2005. Today, he will be attempting to end a two-year winless drought.

“It’s coming together pretty nicely,” he said. “We have a few areas we have yet to work on and sure up in the next race or two so we can be better the rest of the season.”

On the other end of the spectrum, defending NHRA and Bristol Pro Stock champion Jeg Coughlin couldn’t get his new program to work ending a streak of 70 consecutive qualifying efforts.

“That’s the way it goes,” Coughlin said. “We’ve got the finest pro stock cars in the country here. We came in here changing our program and it bit us. We felt like if we smacked it, we could run a 70 but we didn’t. We’ll sit here and watch.”

Former NHRA champ Greg Anderson enters today with the number three qualifying spot after a run of 6.699 seconds.

Anderson said the success of Warren and Kurt Johnson is pushing the other drivers to improve on what they have.

“They’re doing a great job and making us all work really hard,” Anderson said.

Local favorite Allen Johnson had the best run of the final qualifying round with a 6.704 second sprint to push his way into the fourth position.

“We’ve been catching it every run,” the Greeneville-native said. “That one right there hit a home run. We’re happy with that.

“We’ve got plenty (of power). But Warren and those guys have come out with something pretty awesome that’s put everybody back to work. Dad’s done a good job with the engines.”

Vic Gaines qualified fifth, with Dave Connolly, Ron Krisher, Greg Stanfield, current Pro Stock points leader Jason Line and Todd Hoerner wounding out the top ten.

Former 12-year NBA player and Wake Forest All-American Tom Hammond qualified for his second event of the season with the 11th position, with Max Naylor, John Nobile, Jim Yates, Johnny Gray and Mike Edwards completing the field.

 

Bristol legend Smith not too fond of current Pro Stock class

By Rick Sheek (rsheek@starhq.com)

BRISTOL — Rickie Smith, Bristol Dragway’s all-time national event winner, doesn’t think much of the Pro Stock class these days.

The veteran driver and crew chief stresses big money has taken over the sport, fan interest has deteriorated and no longer does ability on the drag strip win races.

“We won a lot of races up here,” Smith, the five-time IHRA champion with 10 victories at Thunder Valley, said on Saturday at the eight-annual O’Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals. “We always ran good up here, but things just got out of hand with NHRA. If you can’t spend a million or million and a half, you can’t even be competitive in Pro Stock.

“We’re just kind of playing. We really don’t expect to qualify. It kind of helps me to learn about the car a little more, but you’ve got to have power to qualify. I don’t care how good you think the car works.”

Smith, 54, was inducted into the Legends of Thunder Valley last year. He wasn’t able to attend, but his daughter and grandson were on hand to accept the honor.

The stands are full now, Smith believes, because of the Fuel classes. And NASCAR is having no trouble maintaining its popularity.

“You’ve got Dale Earnhardt or Jeff Gordon tapping on somebody’s bumper, that’s where the fans get into it,” Smith said. “That’s the only thing we’ve got in Pro Stock to get excited are the fans in staging line battles. Because the cars don’t catch on fire, blow up or hit the wall like Funny Car. That’s excitement.

“The guys over here, I think they’ve lost the point of Pro Stock – keeping the fans involved. If you don’t keep the fans involved, there’s not much to it.”

Smith, the 1977 Super Mod IHRA champ, won his first Pro Stock race here in ‘80 and his last in ‘93. The final year Bristol Dragway was open under IHRA sanction, Smith prevailed in Pro Modified.

“You’ve got teams coming in with two or three million dollar deals, they’ve just dominated the class because they have money,” Smith said. “I’m not saying they don’t have talent. They have talent, but they’ve just dominated it with the money so bad.“Back when I was coming up, with Glidden and all of us., we worked like hell to get where we were at – and we didn’t have big sponsorship. We did 90 percent of all the work.

“Clutch calls, gear ratios – I made all the calls, Glidden made all the calls and Warren made all the calls. Now you’ve got three or four guys doing it. The excitement of the class is gone. Right now, I don’t see fans into Pro Stock like they were back then.”

In the old days, Smith was archrivals with Warren Johnson and Bob Glidden – the all-time winners in Pro Stock history. Smith said those relationships don’t exist any longer.

“Back then we had staging-line battles,” Smith said. “We argued a little bit. There was a little feud going on here and there.

“There just isn’t any of that going on over here no more. To me, Pro Stock is dead in a way. There’s no rivalries like you had years ago. That’s what keeps the fans interested.”

Smith is currently running a Pro Mod circuit overseas in the Middle East country of Bahrain. He will return on Monday.

“Right now the most exciting thing to me is the Pro Mod thing,” Smith said. “It’s just the cars get a little crazier. These things here, they just go up and down the race track.

“They’re more like a Super Gas car, is what I call it. The excitement is just not there. Nobody’s playing staging line battles -nobody’s playing a mind game. That’s what gets the fans involved in it.”

Smith’s son, Matt, is the reigning NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle champ. The younger Smith, with one win this year, is second in the points to Matt Hines.

“Matthew does 98 percent of his own deal,” Smith said. “I just help him a little bit here and there on tune-ups and different stuff. He runs that deal.

“He doesn’t have a fourth of the budget that the top teams have. He does all of the work himself, he builds his own engines, he drives his truck to the track – he does just like I did. I applaud him. He’s done all of his on his own.”

The elder Smith stresses what it means to him to be mentioned among the elite in Thunder Valley history.

“Through the years for people to respect you that much, it’s a big honor,” Smith, from the mountain town of King, N.C., said. “That right there is probably worth more than any championship I ever won. I worked hard to win those championships, but when you get voted to go up there beside Larry Carrier, Wally Parks and Don Garlits – it doesn’t get any better than that. That was amazing for me.”

Capps hopes new chassis changes fortune

By Wes Holtsclaw (wholtsclaw@starhq.com)

BRISTOL — Ron Capps is hoping a new chassis finally gets him over the hump.

A year ago, the NAPA Auto Parts Funny Car driver appeared ready to pick up his first NHRA title with one of the best seasons of his career.

Once the Countdown to the Championship began, however, things went awry for the Don Schumacher team which quickly sank to a fourth place finish after leading the series’ point standings the bulk of the year.

“Once we were in it, we didn’t peak at the right time,” Capps, a three-time Funny Car championship runner-up said Friday at Bristol. “We won all of these races and went in as the points leader, then all of a sudden we had to snap out of this test mode.”

This season, although he currently sits ninth in Funny Car points, Capps is admittedly not having his usual strong start to the season having yet to reach a final round.

“For our standard, we haven’t had a good season so far. It’s been strange,” Capps said.

Due to John Force’s major accident a year ago, NHRA issued a new mandatory chassis that teams have to run by July.

Many of the teams in the top of the current standings have yet to make the move. Capps and his crew decided to get a start at Bristol, hoping it provided the spark they need.

“We’ve made one run in this car (prior to Bristol),” Capps said. “We’ve only been to the finish line one time, but it’s hot and humid and our other car wasn’t doing so well these last couple of weeks so we decided to do it this week.

“If we have a bad weekend, we’ll have a bad weekend but we need to get start getting used to this car because it’s going to be the future and we have to have it, so we need to get going.

“Some of the guys that are doing real well, haven’t switched so it’ll be interesting to see what happens when they all switch too.”

The move to the new chassis certainly didn’t hurt Capps’ team in qualifying.

Capps delivered a run of 4.831 seconds on Friday night with a speed of 317.79 mph to capture the ninth qualifying position.

Regardless of today’s finish, Capps is hoping that the move enables him to peak at the right time at the end of the year.

But first thing’s first, he’s got to lock up a top ten finish going into the Countdown. Given the talent of the Funny Car class, an automatic top ten isn’t a given.

“It’s going to be interesting,” Capps said. “There are too many good teams. If you look at funny car, it’s the toughest division in the history of the NHRA by far. We’ve got four funny cars in DSR that can win any given time. Then you go down the list, a lot of cars are capable of winning. You can’t do that in Top Fuel. Just being able to qualify is a big deal. I understand that. We go through it every weekend.”

But if any track can give the NAPA team a boost, it’s Bristol.

Capps is a two-time winner and multiple finalist at the track which he considers one of his favorite.

“Every since we started coming here, we had the special Winston race and I went to the final there. I’ve won twice here and been to another couple of finals,” said Capps. “They ask, why you do well on certain tracks? I don’t know. There are guys that do well at certain places.”

Capps also wants to do well for his sponsor, NAPA, which approved one of the sharpest looking cars in Funny Car racing with a new paint scheme.

“NAPA’s always been pretty conservative with their paint scheme, and Michael (Waltrip)’s joked a few times that he wants a paint scheme like ours. It was funny, because when the guys came out with the design it was so flashy we didn’t think NAPA would run something like that. They made a great decision on the paint scheme and everything. We just need to get them a win.”

 

Scelzi on Force attention: “I think it’s a problem”

By Rick Sheek (rsheek@starhq.com)

BRISTOL — Gary Scelzi, the four-time NHRA champion, has some definite ideas about how the Funny Car headlines are being overwhelmed by what he considers a team not at the top of the class.

Reality shows, a woman winning for the first time, and driving for her father who she defeated in the final round at Atlanta.

The subject is 14-time world champion John Force and his little girl, Ashley Force – who is second in the Funny Car points. Radio interviews, television spots and non-stop spotlight – Scelzi doesn’t think it is fair.

“Yes. Absolutely. I think It’s a problem,” Scelzi said on Friday at Bristol Dragway before qualifying for the eight-annual O’Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals. “I think it’s even a bigger problem now with Ashley, that the whole TV show is all about them whether they win, lose or not. I know that they draw ratings.

“Everybody loves Ashley. She’s a beautiful, well-spoken girl. She’s done a great job driving the race car, but this class isn’t just John Force and his family. It’s the rest of us, and it’s a problem.”

Scelzi prevailed at Thunder Valley in 2005 in Funny Car, when he won the tightest championship race in NHRA history. He captured three Top Fuel titles in his five years on the circuit.

The point being, though, for Scelzi is why points leader Tim Wilkerson – Funny Car’s only two-time winner through seven POWERade Drag Racing Series stops – and reigning champ Tony Pedregon aren’t more of the focus in ESPN2′s in-depth coverage of the sport.

“John Force and I are close friends,” Scelzi said. “That’s nothing against him, but I think it’s a problem. I hear about it every week.

“‘Hey are you still racing? I don’t see you on TV.’ Not that I’m worthy to get on TV. I’m not complaining about Gary Scelzi.”

But the person fronting the sport isn’t the winner anymore.

“I watched Tony Pedregon beat Ashley Force a week ago, and they interview Ashley Force,” Scelzi said. “John’s thousand’th (round) win, and that’s a great accomplishment, but we still have to race. I think we’re a little carried away on it.

“I think we need to help each other’s teams, the other sponsors, keep what we’ve got and get more. I don’t think we’re going to do that.”

Scelzi stresses the blame doesn’t fall on the sanctioning body.

“I don’t think NHRA has anything to do with it,” Scelzi said. “I think it is whoever’s producing this stuff at ESPN. I haven’t spoken to them. I probably shouldn’t be speaking now.

“Not that they don’t deserve attention, but there’s other people out here. It seems like the whole show’s about them.”

Scelzi holds the top speed record at Thunder Valley at 329.26 mph. Winless in 2008, this could be the weekend for the Californian to break on through.

“That’s the reason I came here,” Scelzi said. “Even when we’re struggling, I know that Todd Okuhara is a brilliant man. But I know this car is extremely close to breaking out.

“I’ve got to be perfect, Todd’s got to be perfect and the crew’s got to be perfect. That’s how you win.

“As tough as Funny Car is right now, it’s even moreso. It’s more pronounced. Hopefully the weather will hold, and this place is going to throw down some numbers.”

Okuhara, the crew chief, is obviously optimistic of what kind of performance could lie in store for his Dodge Charger.

“The conditions are really good this weekend, if it doesn’t rain,” Okuhara said. “Looking at the track prep, and maintenance of the race track, it’s pretty awesome. It’s probably the best concrete surface of the whole circuit.”

Herbert moving on after tragedy

By Rick Sheek (rsheek@starhq.com)

BRISTOL — Doug Herbert may be mired at 10th in the POWERade Drag Racing Series Top Fuel points, but he has a smile on his face.

He’s by no means content with the Snap-OnFranchise.com dragster, but the fact he is trudging on after the most tragic event his his 40 years is a testament to his perseverance. Herbert’s sons, John (17) and James (12), were killed in an automobile accident around Lake Norman, N.C., in January while he was preparing for a test at Phoenix.

“The racing year, we’ve had a tough year in racing,” Herbert said before Friday’s qualifying for the eighth-annual O’Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway. “We were out there testing, when I got the phone call that my boys were in a car accident, so we didn’t get to do any testing. The year started out pretty tough for us as far as that goes.”

Herbert insists there was never any question of continuing his career after the deaths of his children.

“I love racing,” Herbert said. “The thrill of winning races is exciting, and that’s what keeps me coming back. Both John and James have been here when I won races before.

“They’ve been here every year. They loved racing and I love racing. I guess the thought maybe had crossed my mind, but I’m a racer and I like to race.”

Herbert points out his two kids were a part of this NHRA family in the pits.

“Racing’s a big part of my life, and all of my friends are out here,” Herbert said. “All the racers are supportive, and my boys knew everybody. They knew (John) Force, and they knew Kenny Bernstein, and they knew Scott and Connie Kalitta, (Tony) Schumacher and all those guys.

“It’s been tough on them, too, because they knew them. They were friends with them.”

In fact, if not for his first love Herbert would really be struggling to continue. The single father does have a daughter, the youngest of his three children.

“My life would be different if I didn’t have the racing,” Herbert said. “That’s my hobby, but it’s also kind of like a family out here, too. Every race we go to is kind of like the first race, because I see people here that I see at Richmond, and I see people there I see at Pomona every year.

“Every race every weekend, it’s a little bit easier to talk about. Because I don’t have time to think about it. It’s kind of like when it very first happened, yeah it was a great shock for me. It took awhile, but it gets a little bit easier.”

Off the track, Herbert is also devoting time to speaking to young people about the importance of safe moves behind the wheel on the highway.

“The teenage driver is the most important part about the car,” Herbert said. “They have more to do about the car than anything else. They’re the most important thing.

“I’m just doing what I can do, and see if we can make something good come out of it.”

Herbert’s win at Reading a year ago, breaking a three-year drought, propelled him into the Countdown to the Championship. He finished sixth in the standings, tying his best showing.

“We could have had our moments,” Herbert said. “At Houston we really had a pretty good car. We had a car probably that was good enough probably to win the race.

“Hopefully we’ll put that together pretty soon. I think we’ve got a car that’s good enough. This is a place we’ve won at, in the old days, six times. I think we should be good. We are focused.”

Herbert of course passed by the Snap-On Tools plant in Elizabethton en route to Thunder Valley this weekend, and has added motivation to fare well for the many local workers who are behind him.

Back in his rookie season of 1992, Herbert reached the winner’s circle for the first time in IHRA competition.

“Bristol’s always been one of my favorite tracks,” Herbert said. “Coming over here is special, and then having all the Snap-On guys from the manufacturing plant here. Then we’ve got a lot of guys from Doug Herbert Performance (Parts in Cherryville, N.C.) that come over here, and all my friends from down around home.

“This is kind of one my my home tracks.”

Cory Mac finds good fit at Schumacher Racing

NHRA Photo (Cory McClenathan delivers a win earlier this season)

By Wes Holtsclaw (wholtsclaw@starhq.com)

BRISTOL – After driving for an array of owners, Cory Mac has found the perfect fit.

One of Top Fuel’s most popular and successful drivers, Cory McClenathan began a new chapter to his career this season with Don Schumacher Racing.

Right off the bat, Schumacher reunited McClenathan with former Joe Gibbs teammate and crew chief Mike Green.

The pair have made some magic thus far in the 2008 NHRA POWERade Series season with one win and one runner-up finish while maintaining a top five position in points.

“After struggling for a few years with different owners, trying to do it your own and that type of deal, I think the one thing it’s taught me is not only have my sponsors been loyal to me, but dealing with the right team, the right owner – they’ve all made things so much easier for me,” McClenathan said Friday before the first round of qualifying at Bristol Dragaway.

“Bringing Mike Green in – which we’re long time friends and we worked together in the nineties at Joe Gibbs Racing – has made it much more easier for me. Mike takes care of the day-to-day stuff with the guys, the parts and the pieces. I take care of the sponsors and try to be there for the guys when they need me. What it comes down to is it’s taken some things off my plate so I can go back to driving the car. I’m enjoying myself more.”

Another positive to racing for Schumacher is his teammate, five-time NHRA champ Tony Schumacher, who currently leads the Top Fuel points race.

McClenathan who handed Schumacher a defeat in his first career final round appearance, said the teams work well together and it’s helped his program.

“It’s funny, because when Tony came in his first real race was Indianapolis and he raced in the final round. Well, I raced in the final round and I beat him. Now, he’s whipping up on us,” he said. “The guard’s changed a little bit, the times have changed and, being my 18th year in Top Fuel, the competitions much tougher. But it’s good to see that we can put two cars together.

“Obviously, the Fram and Army guys work well together. We’re finally seeing what are two identical cars running very close ET’s. Tony’s got a 200-point lead on me right now, but we’re hoping to close that gap a little bit,” he said. “What we always try to do is qualify on the opposite side of the ladder. But it’s not always going to happen. It’s been very fun, very exciting and Tony and I have a very friendly rivalry going. We try to get each other pumped up too.”

Much like his career, having been through many highs and lows with multiple owners, the driver has had his share of ups and downs at Bristol.

Nothing would please him better than a win in today’s finals.

In 1999, Cory Mac won $200,000 in the Top Fuel-Funny Car Winston Showdown. Then in 2006, his dragster was completely destroyed in an accident.

“I’ve had my highs and I’ve had my lows here,” McClenathan said. “Some of my lows were a little bad. The accident here a couple of years ago was a little catastrophic, hard to the body, hard on mental mind, hard on parts obviously.

“Then again, in 1999 we won the Winston Showdown. We had it only two years. Force won one and I won one. My biggest paycheck ever was here. But, we’ve not won a national event here. We’ve got to qualify well and maybe we can put one on the scoreboard here. Points are important right now and that’s what we’re looking at.”

Three-time champ Coughlin has seen drag racing evolve

By Wes Holtsclaw (wholtsclaw@starhq.com)

BRISTOL — Jeg Coughlin Jr. has seen drag racing evolve in many ways from a young age

“I’ve grown up around the sport since diapers, so to see all the different segments the sport has evolved has been awesome,” Coughlin said last Wednesday. “It’s a professional sport and it’s grown by leaps and bounds.”

The youngest of Jeg Coughlin’s four racing sons, Jeg Jr. grew up watching his father pilot Top Fuel dragsters while working within the family company — the ever-popular JEGS High Performance mail order service.

Now as a three-time NHRA POWERade Series world champion in his own right, the driver of the JEGS.com Cobalt has a closer look and involvement in where the sport of drag racing is headed.

As the popularity of motorsports has grown across the globe, the demand for improvements across the board have led to larger budgets from NASCAR to the NHRA.

Better facilities, better cars and better technology have improved racing in many ways, particularly the NHRA.

“The motorsports budgets in the world are huge now — not even close to what they were years ago,” Coughlin said. “NHRA teams are no different. They’re not as large as the cup teams or F1 teams by any stretch, but we can feed off of those informations and we’ve done that.

“You can start at the track level. No doubt the tracks are better, the facilities are better. The cars themselves, we’ve got better pieces. They’ve done a better job in the last ten years of bringing in better engine technologies, better metals so that cars are staying together and making more horsepower.

“The chassis themselves — we’ve got computer aided designs, we’ve got wind tunnels got chassis dynos,” he said. “Really we could talk on the technology side for days and days and days.”

Then there’s the demand of broadcast and presentation to the viewers at home. Coughlin has played a big role in advancing in-car coverage for ESPN2 with his team’s bumper and rear cams, but even he admits that the sport’s evolution will continue.

“The way they’re bringing the show to the viewers with on-board cameras, that’s no secret in motorsports,” Coughlin said. “We at Jegs enjoy bringing the viewers into our cockpit with our famous bumper cams or rear cams. The sport’s just evolved so much and it’s not done.”

The evolution of the sport isn’t just limited to the shops and tracks. The racing and champion-crowning process itself has evolved thanks to the NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship playoff format.

Instead of a driver running away with the title, the new format, which debuted last season and has been tweaked for the current schedule, sees ten drivers getting an opportunity to contend for the crown in the final six races.

Coughlin delivered at the track when it mattered most at the end of the 2007 season, battling through the Countdown format en route to his third career title.

According to Coughlin, it was more gratifying winning in a pressure-filled format than running away with the crown earlier in the season.

“It’s funny. If you look at the history of Pro Stock and the world champions, there’s typically a runaway winner,” Coughlin said. “We did it in 2000 where we started off and won a ton of races. In 2002 when we won, we had a mid-season slam where we closed it pretty early. Greg (Anderson’s) done it a couple of times. Jason (Line’s) done it. Warren (Johnson’s) done it several times. The climactic ending in Pro Stock has been lacking and I think Countdown to the Championship format has brought that back in. I found much more gratification winning the championship last year under the pressure.”

And although he came out on top last year, there were still things to learn about the format in preparation for future seasons.

“Our championship certainly was not the best season out of all the teams, but we all signed up for the same program at the first of the year,” said Coughlin. “I think after the first of the year, they made a nice refinement to the program. The teams now definitely understand the importance of the format and the consequences you could have. We’re already preparing for Charlotte ten races away from it. The fans are going to have one heck of a show.”

Coughlin returns to Bristol Dragway as the favorite for next weekend’s O’Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals.

After all, the defending series champion is also the defending Pro Stock champ at the event.

A year ago, Coughlin qualified in the number one spot and battled through eliminations to top Ken Koretsky in the final round.

Last year’s win was gratifying for Coughlin, who notes that he’s been a fan of Bristol from a young age.

“I love coming here. I’ve been coming here to Bristol, Thunder Valley, since I was a kid,” he said. “That’s one thing I can remember. When the Top Fuelers crack the throttle, it echoes it’s awesome. The smell, the nitro — and here I am a stock guy talking about the fuel guys — I love it.

“The surface is always fantastic. The facilities are second to none. It’s a treat for the teams to come to such a great facility period. I know the fans come from all over the Midwest and east coast to Bristol. They know the sounds and everything is pretty special. We’ve started coming here for the Winston Showdown years ago and have enjoyed it ever since.”

Coughlin currently sits in second place in the 2008 NHRA POWERade points standings, trailing leader Jason Line by seven points following a round two finish at last week’s O’Reilly Midwest Nationals in Madison, Illinois.

Jeg is one of four NHRA pros who have on at least one round of competition at each of the season’s first seven events.

“This year’s been going fantastic,” Coughlin added. “We’ve been going in and out of the points lead, but we’ve got our work cut out for us. There’s four of us within a round of each other. There’s some excitement from week to week. It’s been exciting for the fans to follow and for us to be a part of. It’s intense and it almost feels like the Countdown. That’s how we’re running right now and we need to continue this pace all year and keep lady luck on our side.”