Fresh off his second straight and fifth overall world championship, Pro Stock drag racer Jeg Coughlin Jr. is ready to trade in his 1,500-horsepower JEGS.com Chevrolet Cobalt for a gravity-driven JEGS.com bobsled at the fourth annual Whelen Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge, Jan. 2-4, in Lake Placid, N.Y.

The charity event created by NASCAR veteran Bodine raises money for the Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project, which designs and makes bobsleds exclusively for Team USA. Prior to Bodine's involvement, U.S. bobsledders were afterthoughts on the world stage, racing the castoff bobsleds from their European counterparts. Now they routinely win medals at the highest level of the sport, including the Olympic Games and World Bobsled Championships.

"It's very exciting to return to this event," Coughlin said. "I've thought about our return since last January and I'm thrilled that our family business, JEGS Mail Order, is now involved in helping fund the project. We're all very proud of our young American athletes and the bobsled team has certainly come a long way since Geoff started this deal back in the 1990s. They're gold medalists now and it's exciting to be a part of something where we're really making a difference." Fresh off his second straight and fifth overall world championship, Pro Stock drag racer Jeg Coughlin Jr. is ready to trade in his 1,500-horsepower JEGS.com Chevrolet Cobalt for a gravity-driven JEGS.com bobsled at the fourth annual Whelen Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge, Jan. 2-4, in Lake Placid, N.Y.

The charity event created by NASCAR veteran Bodine raises money for the Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project, which designs and makes bobsleds exclusively for Team USA. Prior to Bodine's involvement, U.S. bobsledders were afterthoughts on the world stage, racing the castoff bobsleds from their European counterparts. Now they routinely win medals at the highest level of the sport, including the Olympic Games and World Bobsled Championships.

"It's very exciting to return to this event," Coughlin said. "I've thought about our return since last January and I'm thrilled that our family business, JEGS Mail Order, is now involved in helping fund the project. We're all very proud of our young American athletes and the bobsled team has certainly come a long way since Geoff started this deal back in the 1990s. They're gold medalists now and it's exciting to be a part of something where we're really making a difference."

A 54-time national event winner on the quarter-mile drag strip, Coughlin will be looking for his first win on historic Mount Van Hoevenberg, the site of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympic Games and eight different World Bobsled Championships (1949, 61, 69, 73, 78, 83, 2003.) Last year in his first event, Coughlin surprised everyone with a bronze medal finish.

"I'll be real honest, it was pretty frightening that first time down the course," Coughlin said. "I remember thinking, 'What in the heck am I doing here?' But by the end of the first day I just wanted to make more and more runs. It was a real kick.

"I was stunned to come in third place in the race. That was a surprise. I'll tell you, it looks like fun on TV but it's very challenging. You have to get a feel for the sled on the fly and it changes as you pick up speed. I realized after awhile that you don't want to over-drive the thing; you have to let it go and just kind of finesse it down the course."

Just as it was a year ago, the fourth annual Whelen Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge will pit a team of NASCAR drivers against a group of NHRA professionals, first against the clock and then against one another in a team format.

The NASCAR squad is led by Boris Said, the winner of every Bodine race including the first year when it wasn't even an established event. Said will be joined by rising NASCAR superstar Joey "Sliced Bread" Logano, Craftsman Truck champions Johnny Benson and Todd Bodine, Whelen champs Ted Christopher, Philip Morris, and Brian Loftin, Daytona Rolex racer Eric Curran, and 19-year-old sprint car racer Tom Tolbert.

Coughlin will once again team with Top Fuel drivers Morgan Lucas, J.R. Todd, and Bob Vandergriff Jr. The veteran of the group, Lucas already has two silver medals in his possession, while Todd returns for his third bobsled race. Coughlin and Vandergriff will be competing for the second time.

"Morgan got the ball rolling for the NHRA guys and Lucas Oil also is a sponsor of the project," Coughlin said. "I really feel fortunate to be the only Pro Stock guy in there. I'll tell you, we probably don't have the gift of memorizing race courses and turns as well as those NASCAR guys do, but on the other hand we're not intimidated by speed and we know how to coax a car down a track, so that should even it out a bit. Plus, all the NHRA guys have done this before and that's a plus, trust me. We'll be ready for them."

"It's the most fun I've ever had," said Lucas, the driver of the GEICO/Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster. "You just can't imagine the rush of adrenaline you get when you start building speed and then it's just you and the sled and you're doing the best you can to maintain some sort of control as it skates around. It's just a blast and you can't keep the smile off your face when you reach the bottom."

Lucas posted silver medal finishes the last two years to perennial champion Said, the son of a former bobsled racer. Lucas considers it an honor to compete against the NASCAR drivers and still finds plenty of incentive to beat his round-track rivals.

"Boris has set the bar for all of us every year," said Lucas. "He's so smooth and he can get little bit more out of his sled than the rest of us. That's what makes it so much fun. No matter how hard any of us try, he seems to find the edge. That just keeps us working harder trying to beat him. Overall, it's such a great weekend to see old acquaintances and make new ones."

Lucas Oil Racing teammate Todd had an incident in his first bobsled venture when weight became an issue and plainly had to place large rocks in his pockets to increase his weight and thus increasing his speed.

"When it comes to competiveness, hopefully this time the third time is a charm," said the five-time Top Fuel winner, Todd. "I feel fortunate being chosen one of the NHRA drivers to compete against the NASCAR guys. We can also check out the USA Bobsled team and that's what we're there for is to raise awareness for those guys and make sure they have the best equipment to compete against the rest of the world."

Despite Todd's previous lack of success on the ice, it remains one of his favorite events every year now.

"It's a crazy ride that you're pretty much out of control the entire time down the hill," said Todd. "Once you get to the end of a run and you have all your runners face down … that's an accomplishment in my book. The event brings out the people and they are a lot braver than I am because if I wasn't competing, I wouldn't be standing out there in the cold watching us. You know it's cool for the fans to experience race car drivers doing something else outside their element. We just want to thank Geoff Bodine and John Morgan for having us back up there."

SPEED channel will televise four hours of the Whelen Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge at noon, Jan. 18, and at 2 p.m., Jan. 25. MRN Radio has signed on to provide live coverage of the Bodine Bobsled Challenge all three days.