The intriguing graduation of Troy Coughlin, the J&A Service Pro Modified Series’ 2015 rookie of the year, to Top Fuel dominated NHRA news during the offseason and through the recent Circle K Winternationals.
     
Pro Stock fans were watching to see how his uncle Jeg Coughlin Jr., a five-time class champion, would fare in his return to a Chevrolet Camaro.
     
Both of them advanced to their respective quarterfinals last Sunday at the season-starter at Pomona, Calif.
     
"I think with the limited amount of testing we did coming in, at least with me behind the wheel, that to come out and qualify as well as we did and run as consistently as we did, is a great start," No. 7 qualifier Jeg Coughlin Jr. said. "We're light years ahead of where we were a year ago this time, not that that means a darned thing. But I feel great, and I think we're all very optimistic. The race (against Greg Anderson in Round 2) was close, but I believe that's going to be the landscape of Pro Stock this year. It's going to be extremely tough every round.”
     
Troy Coughlin Jr. summed up his first elimination experience in four words:  "Not a bad day."
     
But the Coughlin who had the most fantastic day at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona was Mike Coughlin, who earned the Top Dragster trophy in what he called a “heart-stopping” final round. So the trio is taking its act to Phoenix next weekend for the Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park.
     
Mike Coughlin, third-oldest of the four brothers, is a Division 3 stay-at-home racer who hasn’t raced much on the national scene since the Pro Stock Truck category days.  (“We were just getting the hang of it when they pulled the plug. We were really coming on when they decided not to run it,” he said. “It was bittersweet, but it was what it was.”)
     
And his Sunday capped a week that unfolded in the most surprising of ways.
     
"To think we were in testing less than a week ago with a broken motor and little hope we'd even be able to race this weekend, to end up here in the winners circle is nothing short of remarkable,” Mike Coughlin said.
     
The feat marked four different classes in which Mike Coughlin has won a national event , including Super Comp, Pro Stock Truck, and Top Sportsman.  It is the 113th NHRA national-event victory for the Coughlin family.
   
"I don't see a lot of these West Coast racers, so it was interesting to go up against them today. I feel very fortunate to come in here and take this win,” he said.
     
Mike Coughlin coasted through the first three elimination rounds Sunday. Opponent Steve Faller had to abort his first-round pass. Then he won against Terry White, who went under his index, and Eddie Olpin Jr., who red-lighted. But the stakes started to get a little tougher after that.   
     
In his semifinal, he need a .003-second reaction time advantage to post a .006-second victory against Jesse Adams but said, "I got away with one there."
     
Coughlin, a two-time Division 3 Top Sportsman champion, defeated fellow finalist Andy Spiegel on a holeshot (thanks to a .011-second reaction time compared to Spiegel’s .033). But it wasn’t a cakewalk, he said.
     

"The final was heart-stopping, because as I staged the car I put the first bulb on and went to the brake and the car backed up out of the light. The auto-start was already initiated so I had to gather myself and get both bulbs on in a few seconds,” Coughlin said. “Fortunately, I still had a great light and actually won the race on a holeshot."
     
He started racing the JEGS Top Dragster entry again in 2015.
     
“I got into a new endeavor last year with my Top Dragster program. I’ve run it before in the past, but nothing has run this fast for me. It’s quite an experience,” he said.
     
Dad Jeg. Sr. raced in the pro ranks, and the most conspicuous career for Jeg Jr. has been in Pro Stock, although he has won a Super Gas championship.
     
“He loves it, and we all love it. But it’s a grueling schedule,” Mike Coughlin said.
     
For Mike Coughlin, sportsman racing suits him perfectly: “The schedule’s a lot more relaxed. You can pick and choose where you want to go if you want to run for a divisional or national title. You don’t have to run the whole schedule. I just had my older son about the time the truck program quit, so actually that was kind of good because I was going to go on the fulltime tour with the Pro Stocks and decided not to. So the sportsman category was a good fit for me. Then I wouldn’t have to be gone so many weekends.  And it’s a lot more user-friendly and affordable for more people.”
     
Moreover, he said, “It’s good exposure for our company, for sure. A lot of the guys and girls out there are our customers, and if they had issues at the racetrack, we can still help them. I enjoy that a lot. Even when we race the Juniors, we help out when we can. It’s pretty neat, actually.”
     
Bracket racing is a kick, he said, it's complicated and therefore more satisfying.
     
"There is a lot more to it, but that’s what makes it fun,” Coughlin said. “I enjoy racing at over 200 miles an hour and playing chess at the finish line with the other guy or girl. It’s really fun, but it’s difficult. The faster you go the more difficult it is.”
     
When he isn’t driving his own Top Dragster car, Coughlin continues to be involved with the Jr. Dragster program. Older son Jack is a is a well-rounded young athlete who progressed through the NHRA’s Jr. Dragster program. But Jack’s younger brother, Clay Coughlin, who cheered on his dad at Pomona, is carrying on the family success – and benefiting from the family’s innovative spirit.
     
Clay Coughlin earned his first trophy just after his eighth birthday and finished second in his class last season at National Trails Raceway, near Columbus, Ohio. This year, he’ll run in the 7.90 class, which is the top level.
     
Mike Coughlin was animated about some “cool stuff in the works” for the Jr. Dragster.
     
At the center of that “cool stuff” is an electric motor combination for Jr. Dragsters that his 79-year-old grandfather, Jeg Coughlin Sr., spearheaded. For a baseline, he turned to engineers at Tesla Motors, the electric-car pioneers.
     

"I wanted something for my grandchildren to drive," Coughlin Sr. said. "I wanted them to have an electric motor car that’s easy to maintain and easy to tune. We’ve done that with what we have going now."

It’s a turnkey conversion kit that project manager Dave Ruark said has extended shelf life: “This motor can move from class to class with a few simple adjustments of voltage and amps. There is no need to get a different motor for each class, and that alone is going to save people a lot of money in the long run. Plus, we’ve taken away the cost of fuel. To refuel, you just have to plug it in between rounds."

"I made a bunch of phone calls and researched several options," Coughlin Sr. said. "It took a while to narrow it down to a good, reliable motor and controller. We wanted something to get the kids more involved with tuning their own race cars, too. With the set-up we have now, a child can plug in an [electronic] tablet and within a few seconds have a tune-up in the car that will run almost the same E.T. and speed time after time."
     
He said, " Everyone kept telling me about the biggest and the fastest, but I wasn't looking for fastest.  We needed a consistent and reliable combination, but it also needed to be economical. Racing at any level can be very expensive. Maintaining parts and pieces can be a big financial burden. We wanted to try to alleviate some of that worry and cost."
    
According to Ruark, this motor delivers that.
     
“After 1,000 runs, you unscrew two bolts on the motor, replace the brushes, screw the bolts back on, and you're ready to race another thousand runs," he said. "It really is that simple. Again, it gets the kids more involved because it’s something they can do themselves with little, if any, guidance from their parents. They can tune it and maintain it by themselves if they want."
     
Thinking about all that has kept Mike Coughlin occupied, considering his job at the 250,000-square-foot JEGS High Performance headquarters at Delaware, Ohio, is to oversee the race teams (which include his older brother Troy’s turbo-charged Pro Modified Corvette).
     
"I don't usually start my racing until much later but with my brother Jeg (Coughlin) racing in Pro Stock and my nephew T.J. (Troy Coughlin Jr.) making his Top Fuel debut, I figured I'd come have some fun with them. Let me tell you, winning is fun."
     
It’s especially fulfilling when he reports for work each day and sees the spiral steel staircase that’s lined with trophies from all the racers in the family.
     
(They include the drag-racing ones from eldest brother John and the circle-track hardware from John’s son Cody, who this weekend at Daytona, Fla., is embarking on his first season as Matt Crafton’s Toyota Tundra teammate at ThorSport Racing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series – and playing a role in a soon-to-be-released feature film, “God Bless The Broken Road”).
     
“It’s impressive. It’s pretty neat. It’s kind of a reminder of how blessed we’ve been,” Mike Coughlin said of the display. “We’ve been blessed, and we’ve worked hard to get to where we are today.”
     
He credited some others who worked hard, as well, and contributed to the victory.
     
"There are many people to thank, but the guys at Proline Racing are at the top of the list," Coughlin said. "They got us a brand-new motor overnight to Phoenix, and we were able to put it in this JEGS.com dragster and make a few quick test passes before coming [to Pomona] and racing five rounds. This thing has been very fast and flawless right out of the crate.
     
"Ryan Mikie and the group at ComSync EFI are also a big part of this win. Their system is perfect for the way we run this car and it's so forgiving for what we do,” he said.
     
"My crew guys, Tony Collier and Greg Cody, have been awesome ever since we got to Phoenix to test. We'll stay out and race the Phoenix national event and then come back here [to Auto Club Raceway at Pomona] for a divisional. We're planning on making the most of this trip."
     
So far he has.
     
The trophies, he said, are “a lot of fun to win. They’re always hard to win, and they’re hard to win anymore. Hopefully we’ve got room for some more. If not, we’ll make a spot.”
     
After the victory at Pomona, he’ll have to find a rare open riser on the staircase.
     
The drag-racing and circle-track-racing Coughlins will be working hard again when the NHRA visits Chandler, Ariz. Then Troy Coughlin Sr. will get his chance at the Gatornationals to pursue a fourth championship with the start of the 12-race J&A Service Pro Modified Series schedule.