As the world now knows, two-time NHRA Pro Stock titlist Jeg Coughlin, Jr. will return to active competition in Victor Cagnazzi’s Slammers Milk-backed Chevrolet beginning with the NHRA POWERade Series national event at Virginia Motorsports Park later  this fall.

Far from being dormant on the sidelines, Coughlin has been actively campaigning this season in a variety of cars, and did double duty at the U.S. Nationals with another appearance in the Hemi Challenge while also racing in Competition Eliminator.

More than just a marketing partnership between Coughlin and Cagnazzi, the Jeg’s Mail Order operation is going to handle the complete line of Slammers products because of their almost limitless shelf life, meaning that everyone involved will be able to effectively track product sales, something few sponsorship programs are really able to do.

Coughlin explained his reasoning for coming back to Pro Stock, and a lot more, to Torco's Competitionplus.com



COMPPLUS:  What made you decide to come back to Pro Stock?

COUGHLIN:  I’ve always felt like Pro Stock’s been a good home for 
me.  I really enjoy the cars, enjoy drivin’ ‘em, enjoy getting in and 
out of them every day, so I found that home in the late 90s and never 
had any interest in going further.  The Top Fuel and Funny Cars are 
awesome, but they’re not for me.  We’ve had a great run of success in 
Pro Stock.  When we transitioned from our own team to Schumacher’s 
team in 2004 I really thought that it would be a home for me for some 
time, and a secondary home for Jeg’s as well, because we did bring 
some sponsorship dollars with us.  However, it was apparent to me 
early one that that probably wasn’t going to pan out long term.



COMPPLUS:  Was it a problem of what you guys wanted to do with the 
car as opposed to what crew chief Bob Glidden wanted to do?

COUGHLIN:  No, there were no problems like that anywhere, the problem 
was the car just didn’t perform the way they wanted it to perform, and as they “advertised,” so it wasn’t a case of Bob-this, or Don-that, it just wasn’t right for me.

My dad came in to a test session and fixed things on both cars, and in an hour-and-a-half I was driving both cars, and then he came to one race and I made it to the final where I lost by a couple of thousandths, but that had nothing to do with it either, 
even though was all over the chat rooms and stuff.  I thought my dad showed a lot of courage to come in and work in that environment and work on that car and then stick around to work on them during a race.  That was about the time that I decided that with everything that was happening that it wasn’t the place for me.  Don was very well aware of how I felt, and so was Bob.  It wasn’t any one thing in particular.



COMPPLUS:  Let’s talk about the Slammers program a little.  How did this all come about?

COUGHLIN:  I talked to Victor Cagnazzi and a couple of his guys late last year.  They approached me because they’d heard all the rumors about the situation at Schumacher’s and they asked me if I’d be interested in driving the car, and transition what I had over at Schumcher’s to their program.  I told them I wasn’t really up for 
another change at that point, that if I couldn’t make it work where I was I’d sit out for a while.  Part of our discussion that day was that it would be a fully funded team, but our plan at that point was not to bring any money to the team.  But, there is some Jeg’s 
involvement now.  That’s the way it’s worked out.



COMPPLUS:  So this team is going to be under Victor’s umbrella?

COUGHLIN:  Yes, this is 100 percent Victor’s team with full backing 
from Slammers Ultimate Milk.



COMPLUS:  Tell us about your marketing plan for Slammers.

COUGHLIN:  We met with the Slammers folks earlier in the year just to 
get to know them and all of the people at Bravo Foods.  They’re very 
personable people.  One of the guys on Victor’s team said to them, 
Hey maybe we could get Jeg’s to sell this stuff, and we hadn’t even 
thought about that at that point.  When we got to talking we found 
out it’s a shelf-stable milk which doesn’t need to be stored in a 
refrigerated environment, and its good for about six months.  Well, 
we got to talking a little more, and that was like icing on the cake 
for the deal.  We’re really excited to be the first real direct 
suppliers of Slammers Ultimate Milk and offer the great flavors they 
have.



COMPPLUS:  How much product do you think you can move for them?

COUGHLIN:  That’s yet to be seen.  You know, for the last few years 
Jeg’s has prided itself on having something to offer for everyone, 
and this is truly a something for everyone product.  It’s a 
disposable product, so we’re optimistic that we can sell a lot of 
it.  With our delivery you can reach anywhere in the country in two 
days or less, so that’s another great deal.



COMPPLUS:  How soon will you start marketing Slammers in your catalog 
and on the web?

COUGHLIN:  If it’s not on there tonight I’d be surprised!



COMPPLUS:  Who’s going to be your crew chief on the car.

COUGHLIN:  At this point I really don’t know.  There’s two Slammers 
cars going to be run, so they’ll probably need some new talent there.



COMPPLUS:  Is Tom Lee going to stay in the other car?

COUGHLIN:  I haven’t heard any differently, so I would have to say yes.



COMPPLUS:  What about your brother, Troy?  Does he have any interest 
in Pro Stock, or is he happy with what he’s doing?

COUGHLIN:  He’s really happy doing that Pro Street deal, and he’s 
also really interested in this Pro Mod car he’s built.  It’s 
something we have to pass through the organizations, so hopefully, he 
can run it legally in NHRA and IHRA.  I think he’s excited about that 
whole program.  The motors are making good power, and it looks awesome.



COMPPLUS:  Because of your close ties to National Trail Raceway, how 
do you feel about the race moving to Norwalk Raceway Park?

COUGHLIN:  National Trail’s always been our home track, so that has a 
slight sting to it, but we’ve actually raced more at Norwalk than we 
have at National Trail because the track seemed to be a little more 
consistent for us in Pro Stock.  Bader’s always done one heck of a 
good job in preparing the track, so we would test there three or four 
times a year, so it’s become a second home to us.  I’m sure NHRA has 
done their due diligence on the demographics and on the facility 
itself, so it’s probably a good move, and we’re behind that.