Coughlin clocked a 6.680-second lap at 206.20 mph to edge Johnson’s 6.698-second run.

“I felt great all season long and we just have kind of had our ups and downs as far as why we haven’t been able to seal the deal and get a race win,” Coughlin said. “We tested before we came to Topeka at Tulsa just up the road and worked on some things from a chassis standpoint and worked on some things from my own package from behind the wheel. As a result we were really happy when we came out of there. We were really aggressive all four runs and I just had confidence in my team and myself.”

Coughlin’s victory march also included wins over Greg Stanfield, Rickie Jones and Vincent Nobile. When Coughlin beat Jones it gave him his 500th NHRA career Pro Stock round win.

“It almost brought a tear to my eye to see the win light come on in the second round,” Coughlin said.

Warren Johnson, Bob Glidden, Greg Anderson and Kurt Johnson are the only NHRA Pro Stock drivers with at least 500 round wins.

Coughlin now has 53 career Pro Stock wins and he is second in the season points with 647 points

Sunday’s win takes all the cake,” Coughlin said. “It almost meets up with some of the best races I have ever won. This feels fantastic. Any day you are hoisting a Wally at the end of the day, it is what you are here for, but (Sunday) was extra special. We had not won in a couple of years and I took the 2011 season off. So to have the success we have had this year with the J&J horsepower and this whole program and to finally hoist the Wallly on Sunday is exactly what the doctor ordered.”

“Any day you are hoisting a Wally at the end of the day is a good thing, and it’s what you work for,” Coughlin said. “Today was extra special for several reasons. We hadn’t won in a couple of years. To finally get a Wally on Sunday is exactly what the doctor ordered. We have been working hard and trying to work smart, and today was our day, and it felt fantastic.”
Coughlin won from the fourth qualifying position and beat Greg Stanfield, Rickie Jones, and Vincent Nobile en route to the victory, the 53rd of his career. He also joined the 500 round-wins club, earning round wins 499, 500, 501, and 502. He is only the 12th driver in NHRA history to accomplish that feat.
“I’ve been very blessed,” Coughlin said. “My family has been behind me all the way, and they are a huge part of getting this 500th round-win as well.”
Coughlin remains in second place in the series standings, but with the victory, cut leader Mike Edwards’ advantage to 76. Runner-up Johnson stayed in the third place but also trimmed Edwards’ lead by about 30 points.
“This Pro Stock race has just begun to heat up,” said Coughlin, a four-time world champ. “We are getting ready to go into a great stretch of races, and I love where we are sitting.”

The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series continues with the Toyota NHRA Summer nationals, May 30-June 2, at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown.

Final Round
TOPEKA, Kan. – FastNews Network – Results of final, round 4 eliminations in Pro Stock at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, 25th annual NHRA Kansas Nationals:
W/L Driver R-Time E-Time Speed
(W) Jeg Coughlin (JEGS.com/Mopar Avenger) 0.013 6.680 206.20
(L) Allen Johnson (Team Mopar Avenger) 0.013 6.698 206.57
Weather conditions: air temperature 82 degrees, relative humidity 66 percent, barometer 28.46 inches, adjusted altitude 4,145 feet, track temperature 94 degrees.
Coughlin is 25 – 20 against Johnson in prior events and Johnson is 2 – 1 against Coughlin in prior final rounds. they left together with identical reaction times and then Coughlin lead all the way down the track for the win. Jeg Coughlin’s MOV: 0.0186 seconds (approximately 6 feet). Coughlin gets his first win this season and his 53rd career win.

Things just keep getting bigger, baddder and better over at Obsession Racing. As always the lovely Jill Swanson was right in the middle of things and brought us this latest update including images of the Obsession beast flaunting with this seasons new paint scheme.

Monster truck racing has continued to grow in number of contestants, vehicle sophistication and spectator attendance. To say it is exciting is an understatement. The hair raising sound alone is worth your time. It’s nothing short of a pure adrenalin rush.
Our support and best wishes for the grass roots, family effort, Obsession Racing Team.

News from Obsession Racing

March was another busy month for Obsession Racing. It started off with Rick and Eric doing a one night show on March the second for Outlaw Monster Trucks in Victorville California. They each drove their trucks Obsession and Obsessed. This was a freestyle only show. Eric was the crowd’s favorite and won the show. We are always very proud of him how he controls the truck with ease while putting on a fantastic show!

On the ninth of March both trucks were in Santa Maria California again for Outlaw Monster Trucks venue. This was also another one night only freestyle show. Eric won two rounds of freestyle in Obsessed and Rick won one round in Obsession. This was a great night for Obsession Racing and they both had fun doing the show together.

Following the Santa Maria Show they made a quick trip back to the shop to get ready for the Las Vegas display for Monster Jam. We had both Obsession and Obsessed on display. This is the largest gathering of Monster Trucks in any one place. For that reason this brings fans from all 50 states. It is really rewarding to get to be able to meet all the fans. Some of them have never seen us live before, only on television and through the internet. We enjoyed everyone’s company and always look forward this venue.

During this time frame we also had to mount two new trophy truck bodies for the Robbie Gordon Stadium Super Trucks Series. You won’t see the Obsession and Obsessed names on these trucks due to this is a racing series. LAT Oils, Superior Welding #103 truck is driven by Eric Swanson and the E.B. Bradley #95 truck is driven by Rick Swanson. We are really looking forward to doing this series. For those of you that cannot make a live event, NBC and NBC Sports will be televising these races.

Contact: Jill Swanson
(951) 301-8124

It will also be remembered for the blistering run made by Brandon Pesz during qualifying on Saturday. Piloting his Way Cooool, Pro-Extreme ‘54 Vette, Brandon took it to the edge while laying down a 3.739 at 203.28 pass, leaving no doubt he and dedicated team were in-it-to-win-it! And that he did with a hard fought 3.769/198.88 win over Garrett Race Cars Camaro on Sunday.

After making the head turning qualifying pass Barndon was asked what he expected the following day. “We’ll see some fast numbers (on Sunday), but as long as we can get from A to B, we should be good,” Pesz said. “It was headed for a run in the 3.60s on that lap, but I had to pedal it once. It hooked back up and went on through.”

“To get your first win like this, it’s just a great feeling. It’s been a long time coming,” Pesz said. “We were running strong at the end of last year and I knew we would be strong this year. It’s great to start out like this, especially at the first event and at your home track.”

Pesz finished as the No. 2 qualifier and then worked hard throughout eliminations, running a 3.75 in the quarterfinals and knocking off Lethal Threat Racing teammate Todd Martin in the semifinals. But nothing came easy on a day where Pesz certainly earned his paycheck.

“The car was all over the track. I really had to drive it today, but it’s fulfilling knowing at the end of the day you really had to earn it,” said Pesz, who thanked Todd and Sheri Martin, LAT Oils, Kryptonite Kustomz and Trick Titanium.

Johnson won the $50,000 K&N Horsepower Challenge bonus event Saturday, $25,000 for winning Sunday’s race and the $25,000 NHRA Sweep Bonus for winning both events. In doing so he enterer an elite group of Pro-Stock drivers to have swept both events in the 29-year history of the K&N Horsepower Challenge.

The new look Mopar Express Lane Dodge Avenger made its debut this weekend in grand style as Allen Johnson drove it straight to victory lane in Saturday’s K&N Horsepower Challenge. The Mopar driver’s efforts also put him second in final qualifying for Sunday’s elimination rounds at the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The K&N Horsepower Challenge is an annual race-within-a-race bonus event at Las Vegas, in which all four Mopar drivers were among the eight Pro Stock entries for this year’s edition. As the top seed, Johnson faced off against his teammate and fan vote favorite, Jeg Coughlin Jr. in the first round to treat fans to an incredibly close race. Although the Jegs.com driver had the starting line advantage with a 0.019 second reaction time versus a 0.039, Johnson’s Dodge Avenger ran him down and beat him to the stripe by just 0.0031 seconds, also giving the Mopar Express Lane car the quickest pass in the third round of qualifying.

“Any time you can stack up against the eight drivers that were in that thing, just to be there is an honor, and to beat them is an even bigger honor,” Johnson said. “We got it done today. It was a lot of fun. I appreciate K&N. Man, what an awesome company to sponsor this thing. We’ve been out here with them for many years now, and they’re quality people and a quality company.”

Johnson, who earned his 18th career victory, cruised to his second consecutive win of the season and second straight at this event with a final round performance of 6.713 seconds at 206.76 mph in a Dodge Avenger. His final round opponent Erica Enders-Stevens shut her Chevy Camaro off at mid-track.

“It seems like our car really likes altitude tracks, and hats off to my guys for pulling off the sweep today,” Johnson said. “Erica is a great driver and has come into her own and she makes me rise to the occasion. We’re good friends, but the friendship kind of goes on hold when the helmet goes on.

“It’s awesome to win both races. It takes a lot of money to run these cars so anytime you can infuse a little extra money into the budget it is a good thing.”

The Coleman Motorsports team had their Wiks racing engine topped off with LAT Racing Oil, the King shocks dialed in and the tank filled with F&L race fuel in preparation for qualifying on Friday. Jason took the car around the time trials course in 4:13.468, good enough for a top ten start in 9th place. “We had hoped for a better starting spot but 9th is not that bad,” said Jason, “On a shorter course you are in traffic by lap two. You don’t have a chance to build a huge lead in clean air.” The team did a quick check and then put the car away for the night.

Saturday’s race went according to plan with no problems. Jason and navigator Jeremy Munyon ran five, 14 minute laps that catapulted the team from their 9th place starting position into 5th in the standings. “The course was a little drier this year than last but SNORE did a great job putting the course together,” said Jason, “The dust was not too bad, we had a good run.” The two day race format meant that they would do it all again on Sunday. The Coleman Motorsports team does a great job preparing the car for the race. Their experience, hard work and the support they get from Golden Construction, McKenzies, HB Ultimate Training Center, Dirt Bagz, Laughlin, Universal Metro, Christianbelle Electric, Simpson, Jakes Fabworks, Hella and Scott Shop Towels allows them to field a solid car that can take the abuse. No changes were made after the first race; they checked all the vitals
and put the car away.

The course is always tougher on Sunday but the plan was to pick up a few more spots, landing the team on the podium. Everyone in the top five ran slower on Sunday due to the bigger holes and deeper ruts. The Coleman Motorsports car was flawless and Jason put in consistent laps but the top three drivers were on their game too. In the end, they moved up another position to finish 4th place over two days of intense racing.

“The holes get deeper and the bumps get squared off after a full day of racing on Saturday but SNORE did a great job prepping the course for Sunday,” said Jason, “We are proud of the effort we put in. The car was flawless, the crew did a great job in the pits and I can’t thank our supporters enough however, I’m a little disappointed that we didn’t get on the podium. We will go back to the shop and analyze our performance and make adjustments so that next race we will be back running out front.”

About Coleman Motorsports
Coleman Motorsports is a family run race team that is committed to winning races and championships. Whenever they show up to race they mean business but that doesn’t mean they aren’t having fun doing it. Driver Jason Coleman has many race wins as well as the 2010 SNORE, class ½-1600 championship to his credit. They attack every race with professionalism and energy in order to represent their team and their many sponsors in the best light possible. Their goal is to not just compete but to excel at everything they do. For the latest up to date information visit colemanmotorsports.com

Race Photography By Mike Wilson
MWilsonPhoto / mwilsonphoto.com

Contact: Jill Swanson
951) 301-8124