NHRA-Vegas Post Race
Coughlin, Three Others Win On Goodyears At NHRA Vegas Event
Courtesy: Lee Elder, Goodyear Racing
LAS VEGAS, Nev. (April 4, 2009) – Jeg Coughlin won races in strange ways during the NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but he kept winning and eventually became one of four drivers to bring home a victory on Goodyear Racing Eagles on Sunday.
The other drivers winning on Goodyear tires in Las Vegas included Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel), Ron Capps (Funny Car) in the Full Throttle Drag Racing Series for professionals and Tony Bartone (Top Alcohol Funny Car) in the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series for sportsmen.
“It was a successful weekend for our Goodyear Eagles,” said Carolyn Ashbee, Goodyear’s sales account manager for drag racing. “We were in the finals of three sportsmen categories and that’s always a good indication for us. The Las Vegas track is a good test for our tires and they performed well in varying track conditions.”
Friday’s schedule was slowed and finally trimmed by a brief rain shower followed by heavy winds. The conditions on Saturday and Sunday were sunny, with less wind and comfortable temperatures.
Three of Coughlin’s four wins in eliminations came on foul starts by his opponents and one of those came on a very rare do-over. But Coughlin, who is among the best in the world at the starting line, stayed steady and beat Greg Stanfield in the final round.
“It doesn’t matter how it comes,” Coughlin said.
The win was the second of the season for the defending Pro Stock champ. He leads the category standings.
Capps won his third race of the five contested so far this season, but he has also lost in the first round twice. Still, he leads the standings by a hefty margin over Matt Hagan, 408-302. Capps beat Hagan in the final at Las Vegas.
Schumacher beat Brandon Bernstein in the final round and continued an amazing streak of performances at the track. Schumacher has won at least once in Las Vegas for six straight seasons. His win, doubled with the victory a week earlier in Houston, vaulted Schumacher to the top of the Top Fuel standings. He leads Antron Brown 412-394.
Capps and Schumacher are teammates at Don Schumacher Racing. The DSR crew has won in two or more categories during the same event 21 times in NHRA national competition.
More information about Goodyear Racing is available at www.racegoodyear.com. More information on the NHRA is available at www.nhra.com.
