I expected to meet a lot of interesting people at the Capitol Offense 24 Hours of Lemons, last weekend, but four-time NHRA Pro Stock World Champion Jeg Coughlin, Jr., wasn't one of them. Yet there he was, with three of his buddies, racing the "Buckeye Blitz" -- an '85 Honda Accord covered with 100 Ohio State University football helmet stickers. When Jeg gives up drag racing and moves to Formula One, you'll know where his road racing career started -- right there at West Virginia's Summit Point Motorsports Park.
Jeg and teammates Scott "Woody" Woodruff, Kenny Underwood, and Jay Roberts didn't have the finish they wanted. They were done in, twice, by a busted wheel bearing. But the team wasn't singing the blues. As Jeg said, they "learned a lot" about endurance racing and, just as importantly, "had a blast."
Jeg Coughlin, Scott "Woody" Woodruff, Kenny Underwood (standing, left to right) and Riley (sitting), pose with the "Buckeye Blitz" at the Capitol Offense 24 Hours of Lemons, Summit Point Motor Sports Park, 19 June 2011. Not pictured is co-driver Jay Roberts. [All photos copyright John Edwin Mason, 2011. Click on any image to see a larger version.]
Fun is what it's all about at the 24 Hours of Lemons. This relatively new racing series just might be the fastest growing motor sport in the country. Combining outrageous humor with serious racing, it's part circus and part sport.
The most important rule is that the car can't have cost more than $500 to purchase and prepare (with exemptions for anything related to safety, tires, and brakes). If the end product looks like something Daffy Duck would drive, so much the better. Can you really call it racing? You bet. It takes more than a little mechanical creativity to build a cheap car that's safe, goes fast, and holds together for a very long race. As for the drivers, they range from near novices to pros.
Jeg Coughlin's "Buckeye Blitz" (car 28) goes wide to stay out of the way of faster traffic at the Capitol Offense 24 Hours of Lemons, Summit Point Motor Sports Park, 18 June 2011.
Jeg's fiancé, Samantha Kenny, gets the credit for introducing him to the Lemons racing. She took part in a race, last year, and had so much fun that Jeg knew that he wanted to get in on the action. Even though the Capitol Offence 24 Hours of Lemons was the team's very first road race, Jeg and his co-drivers weren't complete neophytes. They've all worked with instructors and done hot laps at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, which hosts IndyCar races.
This shot will give you an idea of what the 24 Hours of Lemons is all about -- hard racing and good times. Car #11 is the race winning '98 Mercedes 500S of team Opulence-We Has It. Capitol Offense 24 Hours of Lemons, Summit Point Motor Sports Park, 18 June 2011. [Click on the photo to see it big.]
Has drag racing lost Jeg forever? Not a chance. He may not be racing Pro Stock this season, but he's been winning consistently in big bucks bracket races. It's probably only a matter of time before he's back in the pro ranks.
On the other hand, Jeg's not the kind of guy to walk away from unfinished business. He said that that the team plans to enter the American Irony 24 Hours of Lemons, at Michigan's GingerMan Raceway in July. The other teams had better watch out. Jeg knows a thing or two about competition.
Comments