April 16th, 2012 / Author: BTS
CHARLOTTE (April 15) — Five-time world champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. recorded the biggest upset of the opening round of Sunday’s pro eliminations at the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals before slipping away to a semifinal finish at zMax Dragway.
Jumping off the starting line with the best reaction time in the class — .026 seconds –Coughlin piloted his JEGS.com /Mopar Dodge Avenger from the 16th and final qualifying position to a better elapsed time than the higher-ranked cars of Ronnie Humphrey and Rodger Brogdon to advance out of the first round along with low qualifier Jason Line. Under the unique four-wide format, the two quickest drivers of each foursome of racers move forward in the competition.
“It was exciting to get that win and have the car react well, especially after a tough qualifying session,” Coughlin said. “We really struggled the first two rounds of qualifying and the guys caught up to it a little in Q3 and Q4 and we were able to get the last spot, which was a feat in itself.
“Everyone worked hard overnight and the car was happier and in control today but still a little lazy. It was telling us to give it more so that’s what we did going into the semifinals.”
Facing Line, Erica Enders and Mike Edwards in the first quad of the semifinals, Coughlin once again launched well and was running side-by-side with Line and Enders until his Avenger got a little loose near mid track and slowed to a 6.691 at 209.92 mph. Both Line (6.543 at 212.46 mph) and Enders (6.568 at 210.70 mph) ran quicker, thereby eliminating Coughlin.
“We gave her what she wanted but with the sun on the track it appears we went just a little bit too far,” Coughlin said. “We weren’t off by much but it was enough. Truthfully, it would have taken our best poke of the weekend to beat a 6.54 and a 6.56 so we’ll take a semifinal finish here and head to Houston.
“The guys do have another new HEMI they want to try so I would imagine we’ll have some testing to do before we head to Texas. We’re working very hard at getting this car to be quicker and faster and we’re going to stay after it until we do.”
April 16th, 2012 / Author: BTS
CHARLOTTE (April 15) – Erica Enders thought she was on an episode of “Punk’d.” Unfortunately for Enders and her GK Motorsports team, Ashton Kutcher was nowhere to be found.
As Enders drove past the zMax Dragway finish line, the No. 1 flashed on her lane, indicating she had won the 4-Wide NHRA Nationals. It wasn’t flashing, as it usually does when showing the winner, but no other lanes had win lights on, either.
Alas, Greg Anderson had crossed the finish line first, so despite wild celebration from Enders’ crew and fans in the grandstands, he indeed had won.
“I thought it was our day,” Enders said. “To have it and then lose it, it’s definitely a roller coaster of emotions. But either way, win or not, I couldn’t be more proud of my guys. I’m really blessed to have them. Maybe God’s storing us one up for Houston.”
Enders, gunning to become the first female winner in Pro Stock history, had a stellar day at zMax. She was fastest in her first-round matchup against Mike Edwards, Grace Howell and Steve Kent, advancing to the semifinals with a pass of 6.598 seconds at 209.59 mph.
Racing Jason Line, Jeg Coughlin and Edwards in the semis, Enders left first with a .017-second reaction time and got to the line first to advance to her first final round of 2012.
There, she left first again with a .016 light. With Line’s red light, and Nobile’s tire shake, the race came down to Enders and Anderson, and Anderson ran her down with a pass of 6.540 seconds at 212.23 mph, edging Enders’ run of 6.608 at 210.93 mph. The margin of victory was about a half-car length, and a malfunction prevented Anderson’s win light from coming on.
“It was a really weird, confusing deal, but he did win,” Enders said. “He ran a great lap, and it was evident on the replay. Light malfunction or not, he won the race, and that’s all there is to it. It sucks that it was such a roller coaster of emotion for a team that’s worked so hard to make history. To think you have it, and have it taken away in an instant is difficult to swallow.”
Enders, in the far left lane, had .037 seconds in the bank on the Christmas Tree on the starting line.
“We got last lane choice, and I knew I had to get in the Tree and get after it,” Enders said. “I was .17 in the semis and .16 in the finals. You really can’t ask for much more than that. I knew I had to get all over it. I let the clutch out, and I was like, ‘I got this.’
“I see my win light on at the end of the race track on the wall, and all I hear in my helmet are my guys on the radio: ‘We freaking did it! We finally won! Good job! We love you!’ Everybody’s on the radio screaming, and I’m like, ‘Thank you, guys! I love y’all. You’re awesome!’”
Her Cagnazzi Racing crew members celebrated wildly for several moments, even high-fiving exuberant fans in the stands. Soon, though, NHRA officials confirmed Anderson had won, and the fans began booing.
At the top end, Enders was never told Anderson won, but she soon figured it out.
“We pull off the track, and everybody’s coming around my car,” Enders said. “I’m just stoked, and then two seconds later, I get out of the car, and everybody goes to Greg’s car.”
Enders’ crew members could only shake their heads afterward, and engine specialist Rich Saulino said he’d never seen anything like that in his 48 years of racing.
But like Enders, her crew members are encouraged by the performance of the Chevrolet Cobalt. Enders reached her fourth final round in the last 19 races and moved up to sixth in the Pro Stock points standings.
Plus, Enders has been spot-on at the starting line in the last two races. In addition to the .16 and .17 Sunday, she was .015, .026 and .027 in Las Vegas.
“She’s been driving great,” team owner Victor Cagnazzi said. “She was calm and consistent all weekend. She shifted well and hit the Tree well. Fabulous.”
Crew chiefs Dave Connolly and Tommy Utt continue to upgrade the performance of the car, so Enders’ first victory could come soon.
“We had a really good hot rod today,” Enders said. “This four-wide stuff is always interesting anyway, but I think we all did a helluva job. My guys work their butts off for me every week, and I think they want this just as bad as I do, if not more. The excitement that you saw on the starting line tonight shows that.
“Our spirits are definitely high. We’ll go to Houston, my home track, and hopefully got one for real this time.”
April 15th, 2012 / Author: BTS
CHARLOTTE (April 14) — After a Friday the 13th he’d just as soon forget, five-time world champion drag racer Jeg Coughlin Jr. rebounded enough during Saturday’s action to earn the final spot in the field at the third annual NHRA 4-Wide Nationals.
Coughlin failed to get his JEGS.com /Mopar Dodge Avenger down the racetrack in the first two qualifying session but his crew worked overtime last night to correct a myriad of nagging issues. The car responded well in Saturday’s first pass, posting a 6.589 at 211.63 mph, and then improved to a 6.587 at 211.30 mph in Round 4.
“The two pairs of runs we made were very similar,” Coughlin said. “On Friday the 13th, both runs were terrible, which is just a coincidence because normally 13 is a lucky number for me. Today we had two almost identical 6.58s, so we’re moving in the right direction.
“We were happy to get down the racetrack today but we left a lot on the table. In Pro Stock terms that’s four or five hundredths of a second. That would have put us in the thick of the pack but it wasn’t meant to be. We did come a long way after a short evening’s rest and we’re gonna have to come a ways further before tomorrow. The good news is we’re very capable of doing just that.”
Under the unique 4-Wide format, Coughlin will face Jason Line, Ronnie Humphrey and Rodger Brogdon in Sunday’s first round of eliminations. The two quickest cars out of the foursome will advance to the semifinals.
“Two of the four will move on and I like those odds,” Coughlin said. “It’s a unique format and it makes it interesting.
“We were prepared to make some wholesale changes if the car didn’t respond in Q3 but we went from having too much wheel speed to having a ton of bite and the guys were able to adjust from there. We think we know what to do and now we need to go out there and win a few rounds and try to grab a hold of that Wally trophy.”
April 15th, 2012 / Author: BTS
CHARLOTTE (April 14) – GK Motorsports driver Erica Enders posted her best qualifying effort of the season Saturday and will start final eliminations for the 4-Wide NHRA Nationals from the No. 4 position.
Enders surged to the top quarter of the field in Saturday’s first session, going 6.517 seconds at 212.33 mph in her Chevrolet Cobalt.
“You can throw Friday out the window,” Enders said of her first two qualifying sessions, when she finished No. 14. “We made a bunch of changes coming into today, and it showed in the first session this morning. We were trying some stuff in the last round, so we should be good for tomorrow, and I’m confident that we will be.”
With the unique four-wide format, Enders will be the top qualifier in her quad. She faces No. 5 qualifier Mike Edwards, No. 12 Steve Kent and No. 13 Grace Howell in the first round. The top two advance to the semifinals.
The Charlotte race is the only national event that uses four lanes instead of the usual two. That ups the difficulty of staging, as witnessed by the final qualifying session. Three of the drivers in Enders’ group pre-staged and staged, but Jason Line did not stage, thinking his bulb already indicated he had.
Line was then was timed out, and the remaining three had slower-than-usual reaction times, though Enders was best.
“It’s difficult because it’s different,” Enders said of racing four-wide. “It’s just so different from anything else we do, but it’s really not that hard of a concept. Your stage bulb goes with your lane, and you can throw the rest out. The only thing that can set people off, and we saw it in the last session, is when one of the drivers doesn’t know what stage light was his. (Line) got timed out, and that throws everybody else off. You’ve just got to be ready for anything because anything can happen with this format.”
Enders’ approach to eliminations will be to try to keep her staging process as simple as possible.
“You’ve got the best drivers in the world out there, but we’re all human,” Enders said. “It’s difficult, different. But like I said coming in here, I’m confident on our abilities and the performance of our car and my driving and ability to set aside the distractions and focus on me, my car and my lane.”
April 2nd, 2012 / Author: BTS
GK Motorsports driver Erica Enders had her best weekend of the 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season, racing to the semifinals of the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Along the way, Enders was terrific behind the wheel, leaving first in all three Pro Stock elimination rounds Sunday. Her three reaction times were .015, .026 and .027 seconds, and she won on a holeshot in the first round against Ronnie Humphrey.
“After Gainesville, where I hit the Tree and it turned out to be on the wrong side, I had to come back here and get my confidence back,” Enders said. “We left on everybody today, so that’s a plus.”
Enders fell to eventual race winner Allen Johnson in the semifinals, but her solid performance moved her into the top 10 of the Pro Stock points standings.
“It is early, but we need to stay in the top 10,” Enders said. “That’s money every weekend, and it’s important for how it sets up for the Countdown to the Championship. We’re going to race hard all year and hopefully build some consistency. I’ve got all the faith in the world in my guys. We’ve hired the best people you can hire. We’re going to be OK.”
After qualifying 10th, Enders faced No. 7 qualifier Humphrey in the first round. She cut a .027 light, beating Humphrey off the line by a gigantic .072 seconds. Enders made a pass of 6.661 seconds at 206.42 mph, beating Humphrey to the finish despite his faster pass of 6.647 seconds at 206.95 mph.
In the second round, Enders faced Larry Morgan, who upset No. 2 qualifier and three-time Vegas winner Mike Edwards in the first round. Enders left first again with a .015-second light, then beat Morgan with a pass of 6.728 seconds at 205.63 mph to Morgan’s 6.743 at 205.16 mph.
Against No. 3 qualifier Johnson, Enders left first again, .026 to .047, but Johnson’s car was faster, going 6.659 seconds at 206.89 mph to Enders’ 6.735 at 206.01 mph.
“We’ve been fighting our hot rod all weekend,” Enders said. “That’s evident by the elapsed times we put up there. We’re going to sort her out. We’re going to test before Charlotte and be ready to go there.
“I’m proud of my guys. We fought a good fight this weekend. It was nice to make it to the semifinals.”
Enders will take a break next weekend, enjoying some time off with her family and with boyfriend Richie Stevens.
“It’ll be nice to get away a little bit and take some much-needed time off,” Enders said. “We’ll head to Charlotte fresh.”
