Jeg Coughlin Jr. has won four NHRA Pro Stock championships by understanding one simple fact of drag racing. One cannot win a race if they don’t get to the finish line.

Coughlin won a class-leading fourth national event in 2009 by winning
the United Association NHRA Route 66 Nationals over No. 1 qualifier
Mike Edwards. The victory extends his points lead over second place
Edwards to 93 points.

"We've been fortunate to go to a lot of finals and win a lot of rounds
this year but we've also had times when we've had to outright abort
some runs," Coughlin said. "Our biggest goal for the weekend was to get
this JEGS.com Chevrolet Cobalt to go straight every run and get to the
finish line under power. We did that, thanks to the guys in our pit,
and this win is really just a result of that effort. It's very
satisfying."

Last year, Tony Pedregon lost a body and most of a chassis during a qualifying run for the Route 66 Nationals,
a race he eventually won.  This year Pedregon was as dominating as he
was last year, it just didn't cost him nearly as much to grab the win.

“We had a good race and run tough opponents all day,” said Pedregon
following an easy win of a tire-smoking Ashley Force Hood. “This win
cost a lot less than the win here last year did. That’s definitely a
good thing. The economy is tough so just like any other business is
feeling the heat, we are too. We are trying to stay competitive and be
the best we can be and use less, and I’m so proud for Quaker State.
Getting to the semi-finals and getting to some final rounds is great -
but it’s really all about winning. We feel confident that we are going
to make the Countdown, we just have to keep doing the work in order to
get there. We want to be in the top five, outside of that we just want
to win races.”

Fifteen years ago seems like yesterday to Spencer Massey.

As a 12-year old, Massey, an aspiring second-generation drag racer,
received a high-five from legendary Don “Snake” Prudhomme in
celebration of what would be the legend’s final national event victory.

That monumental victory came during Prudhomme’s 1994 Final Strike tour.
Little did that kid know that many years later, on a rain-delayed
Sunday afternoon in Joliet, he’d be celebrating a Top Fuel win just
like Prudhomme had done so many years ago. To add icing to the cake,
Massey's first NHRA Top Fuel win came in Prudhomme’s dragster.

“It really hasn’t all sunk in and this season has been a dream,” Massey
said. “I don’t want anyone to pinch me because I don’t want to wake up
from it. We’ve needed to do well and we’ve needed to go rounds.”

Extreme Pro Stock racer Brian Gahm has learned to be flexible and resourceful throughout his championship career. In winning
his second ADRL event of the season, the Lucasville, Ohio, driver had
no other choice but to prepare for two equally important runs on Friday
in Martin.

On one run, Gahm had to gain a solid berth in the race at hand, the
ADRL Summer Drags, and complete unfinished business from the ADRL
Memphis Drags.

“It didn’t mess with me but then again you have, no real choice, you
just have to load it up,” Gahm explained. “If you made a good run, you
got in and you have two more on Saturday. We did a good job of getting
down the track.”

Just weeks after notching his 100th NHRA divisional event win, Top
Alcohol Funny Car ace Frank Manzo scored NHRA national event win No.
80 this weekend at the United Association Route 66 NHRA Nationals in
Joliet, Ill.  The Morganville, N.J., racer was joined in the winner’s
circle by Jim Whiteley, Grand Junction, Colo., who wheeled his Top
Alcohol Dragster to his second win in as many weeks.

ADRL Pro Extreme racers Jason Scruggs and Travis Swearingen used
Saturday afternoon at U.S. 131 Dragway to prove that if one cannot be
fast, they

Travis Swearingen fights to collect his 1941 Willys in first round action. (Rogert Richards)

can
still emerge spectacular. Scruggs blew an engine (and front end) to
smithereens in the first round of the ADRL Summer Drags while
Swearingen (and we’re being sarcastic) wrecked several times in two
seemingly-out-of-control passes but just didn’t hit anything.

Both racers will be in Topeka next month, but not before spending a few bucks in cosmetic and other repairs.

Scruggs came to the line in Saturday’s first round of eliminations with
a nearly two year old engine between the fenders of his Garret Race
Cars-built Camaro.

MASSEY, T. PEDREGON, COUGHLIN AND GUIDERA WIN UNITED ASSOCIATION ROUTE 66 NHRA NATIONALS

Top
Fuel rookie driver Spencer Massey raced to his first career victory
Sunday at the United Association Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66
Raceway near Chicago.

Tony Pedregon, Jeg Coughlin and Matt Guidera also were winners in their
respective categories at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series
event.

Massey, who drives for NHRA legend Don “The Snake” Prudhomme, just
edged category points leader and event No. 1 qualifier Antron Brown at
the finish line. Massey’s U.S. Smokeless/United Association dragster
posted a performance of 3.856 seconds at 308.35 mph to take the win
over Brown, whose Matco Tools/DirecTV dragster trailed with a 3.870 at
301.54.

Point standings (top 10) for NHRA professional categories following the
12th annual United Association Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66
Raceway, the 10th of 24 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing
Series -

Final round-by-round results from the 12th annual United Association
Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway, the 10th of 24 events in
the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series:

Sunday's final results from the 12th annual United Association Route 66
NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway. The race is the 10th of 24 in the
NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series: