JEG COUGHLIN JR.
nity to, you know, have a little
more family time, a little more
home time with the business
and more personal time, which
is something that, again, not
complaining, but I have made
sacrifices for it in the last 30
years of traveling the country
and doing what I love to do.
At the same time, it seems
like the two mentalities – busi-
ness and racing – overlap a lot.
Could you imagine doing one
without the other?
I can recall my dad always
saying racing was always a nice
outlet for him from the business
side, and I can relate to that.
Early on in my career with the
tandem, you can almost see your
mindset switching from home to
the race, just switching to racing.
And then on the way back, just
kind of switching back to the
work side of things and that’s
always been fun. Like any suc-
cessful operation, people are our
best assets and we’ve been very
fortunate to have some great,
great folks on the racing side
and in the business side in our
lifetime. So that’s made those
transitions almost seamless in
a lot of cases.
There’s a lot of similarities
to the methodologies and the
attention to detail and the focus
that it takes to be successful at
either one. So, I would definitely
say I’ve been able to feed off of
either side to improve the other,
and had a lot of fun doing it.
You’ve always been known
for your driving ability, stay-
ing cool under pressure and performing when
it matters most. Do you think that was always
inherently there or have you made it a point to
develop that mental aspect of racing?
I’m sure it’s a combination of a lot of things.
Looking back on it, my father was very instru-
mental in the kind of driver I turned out to be
because of the questions he asked me. You know,
he wasn’t genuinely interested in the answers,
but he was, in my opinion, subliminally building
traits and variables for you to think on, or get
better, or succeed on or any combination of those.
I think the environment that I grew up driving
in, the questions that were asked and learning to
respect the race car, and even the sounds of it, or
the smells of it, or the actions of it, all those little
things kind of added up to knowing your car and
being one with your car. That’s what gives you the
confidence to go out and perform.
of the year playing out and
can you put a dent in what
they’ve done?
I think we’re in a great po-
sition and that’s not an opti-
mistic statement. I’ve got a
fast car, I’ve got a great team.
If you dissect the races we’ve
had this year, we’ve had var-
ious issues and some of them
have been self-inflicted from
behind the wheel. Those you
don’t dwell on, you just move
on and trust that you’re going
to have a great car under you.
You’ve got to get out and mix
it up, have fun and the goal is
to turn the win light on.
We get so robotic in every-
thing we do because the cars
are so finicky nowadays that
we don’t probably mix it up
enough. But I genuinely be-
lieve the worm will turn in our
case, and we’ve got some great
events ahead of us and hope-
fully a great Countdown ahead
of us as well. As a team, we’ve
been the fastest car two or three
races and we’ve been lacking
at a few races. That worm will
turn, too, and as we get those
to come together on the same
day, then you have results and
it leads to the type of runs we’ve
had in previous seasons. Those
are the fun times.
What’s neat about the envi-
ronment I’m in with Richard,
and Rickie and Rick (Jones)
and Mark (Ingersoll) and Lump
(Brian Self ) and Erica, Alex
(Laughlin) and (Matt) Hartford
and his team, it’s a fun environ-
ment. Even when things aren’t
maybe going as well as you’d like
them to be under your awning, there’s usually
something positive going on in someone’s. That’s
obviously a very easy reminder to know that we’re
going to be alright.
COUGHLIN ISN’T
LOOKING TOO FAR
INTO THE FUTURE.
WITH THE BULK
OF THE PRO STOCK
SEASON STILL TO
COME, HIS MAIN
CONCERN IS TRYING
TO WIN A SIXTH
WORLD TITLE.
As far as some of the other demeanors from
behind the wheel, that could be a good Midwest-
ern raising, I don’t know. I’ve been the young
kid that has been upset after a loss and kicked
something or hit something. You look back on
those or get questioned on some of those events
shortly after, and you learn real quick that there
wasn’t a whole lot of gratification in anything
that you did, whether it was you hurt your hand
or whether, you know, somebody saw you do
something.
I get upset all the time when I get beat and
that’s just the nature of the beast. But last I
checked, there’s no rewind button. We can’t do
it again, so you’ve got to just take it and try and
learn from it and move on.
KB Racing has dominated the early start
of the 2019 season. How do you see the rest
Is that environment a major reason why
you’re racing Pro Stock in 2019?
I figured I would get in and race for a couple
of years and that’s gone a little longer, and it’s
probably a testament to Richard and I having a
good working relationship.
How long do I see it going on? For sure, at
least another 10 races or so (laughing).
No, I would say I look forward to the summer.
We’ve got some great events coming up. We’re
looking for the Western Swing to be a great
momentum builder for us going into Brainerd
and Indy and then into the Countdown. Then
it’s go time.
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