Drag Illustrated Issue 156, May 2020 | Page 60

WORLD DOORSLAMMER NATIONALS ANOTHER BARRIER BROKEN JEG COUGHLIN JR. ADDS INAUGURAL WORLD DOORSLAMMER NATIONALS TITLE TO RETIREMENT TOUR ACCOLADES PULLING INTO THE LANES for the final round of the Drag IllustrateD World Doorslammer Nationals at Orlando Speed World Dragway, Jeg Coughlin Jr. could sense something special. The starting line was crowded with people, giving an outlaw feel to Pro Stock for perhaps the first time in class history, and two legends were set to face off in a magical setting of an inaugural race. There was a no more fitting finale than Coughlin and longtime rival Greg Anderson – a pair of icons pitted against each other with $75,000 on the line – and both delivered in epic fashion. In a side-by-side thriller that will be remembered for years, Coughlin’s run of 6.484-seconds at 212.36 mph in his RJ Race Cars JEGS Camaro edged out Anderson’s 6.485 at 213.81 in his Summit Racing Equipment Camaro, handing the five-time Pro Stock world champion the biggest single-race payout in the history of the class, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2020. It set off a memorable celebration and gave Coughlin another incredible moment in a career that has been filled with him. “I’ve been fortunate to run a bunch of big-money bracket races in my career and I’ve seen the organized havoc like this, and it’s just badass,” PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHRIS SIMMONS, ROGER RICHARDS, COURTNEY ENDERS, STEVE BRENWALD, WAYNE STEWART, DARRELL MARTIN, BEN HEINDL, LUKE NIEUWHOF, KAYLEE CURRAN, AND DWAYNE CULPEPPER OUT WITH A BANG JEG COUGHLIN’S FINAL YEAR RACING FULL-TIME IN PRO STOCK ALREADY HAS ONE INCREDIBLE MEMORY THANKS TO HIS VICTORY AT THE WORLD DOORSLAMMER NATIONALS. THE FIVE-TIME WORLD CHAMP HAS PUT TOGETHER A REMARKABLE LIST OF HIGHLIGHTS, AND THE TRIUMPH IN ORLANDO ONLY ADDED TO IT. Drag Illustrated 60 DragIllustrated.com