ABOUT JEG

Jeg Coughlin Jr. returns to Pro Stock competition fulltime under the Elite Motorsports banner in the 2024 NHRA season. Before stepping out of the seat in 2020, Jeg Jr. spent over three decades building a drag racing resume few will ever match. His six career NHRA world championships, 84 national event victories and unmatched feat of having collected wins in seven different eliminator categories makes him a first-ballot Hall-of- Famer.

Following the path of his legendary father Jeg Coughlin Sr. into the sport, Jeg Jr. has earned hardware from numerous classes including Super Gas, Super Comp, Stock, Super Stock, Comp, Top Dragster and Pro Stock. His first career win came in 1990, his first national championship in 1992, both in Super Gas.

At the end of the 1997 season, after already winning races in Super Stock, Super Gas and Comp, Jeg Jr. turned to the professional ranks of Pro Stock. He would compete in the final three races picking up his first professional victory at Houston Raceway Park in just his second Pro Stock start. He remains one of only two drivers to win events in four NHRA categories in a single season.

Competing the full Pro Stock schedule in 1998, Jeg Jr. earned the NHRA Rookie of the Year Award with four victories. He’d go on to win his first of five Pro Stock world championships in 2000 with a career best 10 event wins. Jeg Jr. would win four more Pro Stock championships in 2002, 2007-08 and 2013 with 65 Pro Stock victories and 34 No. 1 qualifiers before stepping out of the seat in 2020.

Jeg Jr. made a soft return to the driver’s seat during the final two events of the 2023 NHRA season breaking in a new car for six-time champion Erica Enders. In the Nevada Nationals and NHRA Finals, Jeg Jr. raced to semifinal and quarterfinal finishes after qualifying 11th and sixth respectfully.

Jeg Jr. is amongst the top 10 in Pro Stock races won, sitting fourth behind retired legends Bob Glidden (85) and Warren Johnson (97) with rival Greg Anderson (103) leading and is tied for ninth in overall professional victories. He is also the only professional driver in any class to have won a national event from all 16 starting spots. Away from NHRA national event drag racing, he has managed to bag several big cash prizes at many of the top bracket races around the country.

Jeg Jr.’s wife Samantha also drag races, running the occasional race in Super Comp, Super Gas and bracket racing. They have two children, Carly, 9, who is a competitive cheerleader, and Jeg III, a The Ohio State graduate who competed on the golf team and is currently working on a podcast, ‘I Can Fly.’

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