Mike Coughlin came tantalizingly close to once again winning the Division 3 Top Sportsman championship in 2011 and is more fired up than ever for another title run in 2012.

Mike, in integral part of one of drag racing’s top families, returns with his JEGS.com Chevrolet team to contend for more race wins and ultimately his third overall championship. He won two races in 2011, at Indianapolis and Chicago, and was runner-up at Bowling Green, Ky.

Entering the final race of the season, Mike just needed a second-round win to secure the title, but a broken transmission sidelined him in that fateful run and Coughlin ended up second, giving him more incentive for 2012.

Coughlin, one of four sons born to drag racing legend Jeg Coughlin Sr., already has two Division 3 Top Sportsman championships on his resume, winning titles in 2007 and 2009.

With brothers John, Troy Sr., and Jeg Jr., Mike has helped push the family total to 12 championships and more than 100 major drag racing victories in the past two decades.

Mike himself won the Pro Stock Truck title in Englishtown, N.J., in 1999, joining his three brothers on a national event winner's podium. Later that year, he won NHRA’s most prestigious and longest-running event, the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, which helped him finish the year as one of the few competitors to qualify for every event.

In 2001, Mike won three more Pro Stock Truck races in four final-round appearances during a five-race span to drive from 13th place to fourth by season's end, while establishing performance records for elapsed time and speed by driving his JEGS Mail Order Chevy S-10 to a 7.379-second run at 182.65 mph in Chicago. He capped the season by winning the final Pro Stock Truck event in history at the NHRA Finals in Pomona, Calif.

Returning to his sportsman racing roots in 2002 with a Super Comp entry, Mike remained one of the most consistent drivers in the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, routinely winning races and contending for the national title each year.

By 2006, he shifted gears to a much quicker six-second, 200-mph JEGS.com Chevy Cobalt for the new Top Sportsman class. Within a year, he was the 2007 Division 3 champion after dominating the class in his JEGS Mail Order Chevy Cobalt with three event wins and the largest points total of any competitor in the division, regardless of class.

He followed that up with another steady showing in Division 3 Top Sportsman competition in 2008, winning the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event in Indianapolis and finishing fifth overall despite entering just five events.

His hunger and passion to return to the champion's podium pushed him to a second Division 3 Top Sportsman title in 2009, which came on the strength of one national event victory, one divisional trophy, and one divisional runner-up result.

Mike and his wife Kriss reside in Delaware, Ohio, with their sons, Jack and Clay, and their two boxers.

Vehicle: JEGS.com Chevy Cobalt
Series: National Hot Rod Association, Top Sportsman
Hometown: Delaware, Ohio
Birthplace: Columbus, Ohio
Age: 45 (DOB January 23, 1966)
Family: Kriss (wife), Jack & Clay (sons)
2012 Car: JEGS.com Chevy Cobalt
Crew Chief: Greg Cody
Years racing: 26
Professional victories: 6 (Pro Stock Truck)
Professional final rounds: 9 (Pro Stock Truck)
Sportsman wins: 6 (3 in Top Sportsman, 3 in Super Comp)
Sportsman final rounds: 9
Total NHRA national event victories: 12
Total NHRA national event final rounds: 18
Total NHRA divisional event victories: 11
Total NHRA divisional event final rounds: 14
Career-best elapsed time: 6.679 seconds, Indianapolis, Ind. 2011
Career-best speed: 209.92 mph, Indianapolis, Ind. 2011

Mike Divisional Championships
Year	Event	Location	Class	By Cls
2007	Division III Champion		Top Sportsman	1

Mike Divisional Wins
2011	Indianapolis Raceway Park	Indianapolis, IN	Top Sportsman	4
2008	Indianapolis Raceway Park	Indianapolis, IN	Top Sportsman	3
2007	National Trail Raceway	Columbus, OH	Top Sportsman	1
2007	Route 66 Raceway	Joliet, IL	Top Sportsman	2
2005	Route 66 Raceway	Joliet, IL	Super Comp	5
2003	Edgewater Sports Park	Cleves, OH	Super Comp	4
1996	Edgewater Sports Park	Cleves, OH	Super Comp	3
1994	Great Lakes Drag-O-Way	Union Grove, WI	Super Comp	2
1989	Beech Bend Raceway	Bowling Green, KY	Super Comp	1

• Won his first major event title in 1987 at the Fall Classic at National Trail Raceway in Street E.T.
• Claimed. first Lucas Oil Series title at Beech Bend Raceway Park in 1989 when he won the Super Comp class
• Won his first IHRA national event title in Top Sportsman at the 1991 Ethanol Sportsman Nationals
• In 1997 finished second in the Division 3 Super Comp standings and claimed a runner-up finish at the JEGS Allstars event
• Turned Pro in 1998 when he made his debut in the Pro Stock Truck class at the Sears-Craftsman Nationals
• Won his first NHRA national event title in the Pro Stock Truck class at the 1999 NHRA Mopar Parts Nationals in Englishtown, N.J.
• Qualified for every event and finished fourth in the 1999 Pro Stock Truck standings in his JEGS.com Chevy S-10. Also ranked No. 1 in reaction time in the Pro Stock Truck class
• Set NHRA national record for Pro Stock Truck in 2001 at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill., with 7.379-second, 182.65 mph run
• Won the last-ever NHRA Pro Stock Truck race at the 2001 Auto Club of Southern California NHRA Finals in Pomona Calif.
• Shared a memorable Coughlin family double win on Father’s day in 2003 when he won the Super Comp title at brother John won in Super Stock at their home track, National Trail Raceway.
• Finished No. 2 in the 2004 NHRA Lucas Oil Division 3 championship in Super Gas. Also finished No. 35 nationally in a field of 1231 drivers
• Drove his Jegs.com dragster to the Super Comp title at the 2005 JEGS NHRA Cajun SPORTSnationals event in Belle Rose, La. Later posted a runner-up finish at the inaugural JEGS Northern SPORTSnationals held at National Trail Raceway
• In 2005, made special guest appearance along with his wife, Kriss, on the popular “Emeril Live” television cooking show with master chef Emeril Lagasse
• After enjoying success in Super Gas, Super Comp, and Pro Stock Truck, made his debut in the new Top Sportsman class in 2006 with a new Jegs.com Chevy Cobalt
• Won the 2007 NHRA North Central Division Top Sportsman Championship after winning two events in his new JEGS.com Chevy Cobalt
• Won the Top Sportsman title at the 2007 JEGS NHRA Northern SPORTSnationals, posting his third consecutive SPORTSnationals victory and his fourth-straight final round appearance.
• Won a second NHRA North Central Division Top Sportsman championship in 2009 following a clutch victory at his final points-earning event of the season at Silver Dollar Raceway in Reynolds. Ga.
• After missing most of the 2010 season, made a successful return in 2011 with a pair of division 3 Lucas Oil Series wins and a second place finish in the North Central Division Top Sportsman standings.

• Took a hiatus for most of 2010 while recovering from knee and hip surgery
• Works in family owned business, JEGS Automotive/JEGS Mail Order.
• Is the second youngest of the four Coughlin brothers
• Brother John can be found racing in Top Dragster and helping with his son Cody's circle track effort.
• Brother Troy races in Pro Mod.
• Brother Jeg Jr. races in Pro Stock.
• Enjoys spending time with family, including watching his sons, Jack and Clay, who are both aspiring Jr. Drag Races and avid athletes.
• Hobbies include spending time with his family and dogs, water skiing, restoring classic/muscle cars, tinkering with car audio systems, and bowling.