Troy Coughlin (near lane) defeats Mike Knowles in the semifinals.

Troy Coughlin’s turbo ‘Vette tops stellar field at zMAX

Words by Jeff Burk
Photos by Richard Muir

Troy Coughlin drove his Steve Petty-tuned turbocharged ‘Vette to the win at the NHRA Pro Mod Series race at Bruton Smith’s zMAX Dragway in Charlotte, NC, on April 21. He defeated Kenny Lang, who drove a supercharged ’63 split window ‘Vette tuned by legendary Canadian tuner Al Billes.

The final was a classic Pro Mod match-up between two completely different racecars. Both men had cars that, thanks to the pro tuners, ran numbers that were almost identical. Coughlin’s winning number was a 5.893/242.19 while in the other lane Lang made his best pass of the event, a 5.898/246.98 but a slightly tardy .087 RT sealed his fate and Coughlin cut a respectable .053 and held a lead on the Canadian team driver right through the win stripe!

Runner-up Kenny Lang.

The win was the Ohio native and defending series champ third NHRA title of his Pro Mod career. It brought Coughlin to 19 points behind series points leader Von Smith. Smith currently has 175 points to Coughlin’s 156.

"I'm not sure what the reaction times were there in the final, but it was a tight race. Steve Petty and all the guys did a fabulous job of putting this car together for race day," Coughlin said. "It's been a dream to drive."