BACK IN BLACK...AND YELLOW

Is driving a Pro Stock car, kind of like riding a bike, where it's just one of those things that once you learn how to master it, you just don't ever forget?

Jeg Coughlin Jr. will attempt to prove the theory this weekend.

The three-time NHRA champion, who announced last November that he was taking a leave of absence from Pro Stock racing, returns to the factory hotrod division after nearly an 11-month sabbatical, beginning with this weekend's Torco Racing Fuels NHRA Nationals near Richmond, Va.

Is driving a Pro Stock car, kind of like riding a bike, where it's just one of those things that once you learn how to master it, you just don't ever forget?

Jeg Coughlin Jr. will attempt to prove the theory this weekend.

The Ohio resident, who won Pro Stock titles in 2000 and '02 while piloting the Coughlin family-owned Jeg's Mail Order Pro Stocker, announced a deal to drive a Slammers Ultimate Milk Chevrolet Cobalt for Victor Cagnazzi Racing. The team will compete at the final three races of the season before going for a full pull in 2007. And while the three-time champ (he also won the Super Gas title in '92) may have been out the Pro Stock loop for close to a year, judging by a recent test performance that saw him make some 6.6-second runs, he should have no trouble getting back up to speed.

"We're ready to go," said Coughlin, who made some test runs in the car at Virginia Motorsports Park in early September. "We tested all three cars (Coughlin's and teammate's Tommy Lee and Dave Connolly), and all three cars ran extremely well. I kind of have an orientation back into Pro Stock, and it felt really, really good. I hit the shifts pretty good, had good reaction times and was able to run (6.64), so all in all it was pretty good.

"I had some doubts, being human because it had been a while. But I've made more runs this year (bracket racing) than the past couple of years put together, but in a different type of racing. So yes, I did have some doubts; some questions in my mind. The first full run (of testing the car) I left starting line, made a pretty good move out to the left and near the wall. Then second gear (I) brought it back in the grove...then third gear, fourth gear, I brought it down through there at about 206 mph. I thought to myself, 'Man, that feels awfully good.'"

But while Coughlin will use the final three national events of the NHRA POWERade Series to get back up to speed in Pro Stock before going full throttle at the series championship next season, he hasn't exactly been bench racing and twiddling his thumbs the past 11 months.

The former NHRA Super Gas national champion returned to his sportsman roots, and scored wins in several high-profile bracket racing events. He also performed well at last month's BTE Million Dollar Drag Race in Memphis. But the desire to compete in Pro Stock, where he was considered one of the top competitors in the class, called him back to the POWERade Series.

"I don't think I really ever lost the bug (to race in Pro Stock)," Coughlin said. " When I elected to transition out of the (Don Schumacher Racing) program, I had a pretty good opportunity to join a team, and just elected not to. I didn't feel like making another transition at that time. I just don't think I ever lost the feeling to do this. I love Pro Stock. Of the pro classes, it's the one for me. I had a blast competing at all the bracket races, and did very well at them, but I'm looking forward again to competing at the highest level -- POWERade Series racing. I love to do what I do best, and that's drive."

He also got a little nudging from Cagnazzi, who was looking to increase his operation, which in addition to the other Slammers Chevy Cobalt driven by Lee also includes the Skull Gear Chevy Colbalt piloted by Connolly, whose team uses a Cagnazzi Racing powerplant.

"(Cagnazzi) and I had been talking for sometime, perhaps since the tail end of last year," Coughlin said. "My thoughts were just maybe the timing wasn't just right yet. The bottom line I was looking for a program that was fully funded, where basically I would be hired to drive the race car. That's what Victor was offering. The first time we spoke, the thoughts were, 'Hey, would you be interested in becoming a part of Cagnazzi Racing?'

"I had already been through a situation like that with Schumacher. I just elected that if I made another transition, my goal was to do it with a fully-funded team. That's what we spoke about. He asked, 'If we secure sponsorship, would you be interested in driving for us?' I told him I would certainly consider it."

And eventually, those tides that bind pushed Coughlin back into a Pro Stock driver's seat.

"We continued to stay in touch through the remainder of the season, through the winter and all of this season and really he had a great opportunity to bring me in as part of Cagnazzi Racing and part of Slammers," Coughlin said. "When the opportunity came to join with Slammers Ultimate Milk, which came in pretty early in the season, I was very excited about it. I'm really excited to be working with Victor and his organization and I think it's going to be similar to the situation I had with my only family and my own organization at Jeg's. I see a great opportunity for all us."

Some, in fact, believe that the addition of Coughlin could be the difference that finally could put Cagnazzi Racing operation over the top. Coughlin, winner of 34 national events in Pro Stock, doesn't view himself as a savior, but he does believe he brings something positive to the table.

"I'm hoping my experience will compliment theirs," he said. "They really have a championship-caliber program for the most part intact. I don't see myself as the hero coming in; the missing ingredient, because the folks they have put in place are very good drivers. It could be one of those situations where the chemistry just gels. We could start winning races.

"That's the way I feel about it, especially after our first test session together when we were able to reel off a .68, .66 and .64. But it's a different animal when you're in a crowd of Pro Stock cars at a POWERade national event. But we have good experience at the shop in North Carolina with the engine program and research and development. I think the experience in the crew chief and crew is second to none. I'm really excited to join Tommy Lee and Dave Connolly and really challenge for some race wins."

He also believes that competing the first portion of the season in bracket racing can't hurt. In fact, it might actually help.

"I think the one thing the bracket racing does is that by making 350 runs this year, the mental focus it takes to challenge for round wins and race wins is really second to none," Coughlin said. "My job at Cagnazzi Racing is to drive. So to take those mental challenges I've experienced in bracket racing, I'm hoping to take those into professional racing and Pro Stock.

"It's all very similar. Yes, you do drive the cars completely different, and the style is different, but the competitive edge and competing to win is very, very similar. I've done a lot of that this year, and I have that in my favor. Yes, I'm not as experienced this year letting the clutch pedal out like the other 20-25 Pro Stock drivers, because they've done it all year. But I have done it for a number of years and based on the testing, it appears I've adapted real well right back into it. When we roll into Richmond, we'll be focused and ready to race."

And Win.<p>

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