NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Troy Coughlin picked up an important first round win at the NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series portion of the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway Motorsports Park. This weekend’s Pro Mod racing, presented by Real Pro Mod Association, is the 11th of 12 events on the 2017 schedule.

Coughlin raced his JEGS.com Corvette to a 5.752-second pass at 257.33 mph to defeat Rickie Smith in the first round of eliminations. With his win and No. 1 qualifier Mike Castellana’s first round loss to Pete Farber, the battle for the Pro Mod crown will be decided at the J&A Service Series season finale in Las Vegas. 

"It's pretty exciting,” Coughlin said. “I mean, when I saw the scoreboard light up on Farber's side [when he ran Castellana], I saw that and said, ‘Just keep yourself together here and try to get around Rickie.' We had to step on this thing and keep on thrashing on it. The guys have been doing a great job doing that. I couldn't be more excited about our chances at a championship. [Castellana going out first round] keeps us in the race. There's still 7 rounds of competition left.”

Coughlin will face Steven Whiteley, who defeated Danny Rowe, in the second round of eliminations. Farber, who was the No. 16 qualifier, defeated Castellana with a 5.823 pass at 249.39 to better Castellana’s 7.370 pass at 132.41. Farber’s next opponent will be Sidnei Frigo.

Eliminations for the NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series portion of the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals will continue Sunday.