Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Pro Stocker Coughlin gets 2nd chance at Indy

Thursday, Sept. 4, 2003 | 9:19 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

The postponement of last weekend's 49th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals will prove costly to the teams that are forced to return to Indianapolis Raceway Park this weekend for the final two rounds of qualifying and eliminations.

But not everybody involved was sad to see the NHRA postpone the event when steady rains hit the track on Sunday, wiping out the final two qualifying sessions.

Reigning Pro Stock champion Jeg Coughlin was 18th in qualifying after two rounds and in jeopardy of having his 29-race qualifying streak snapped when the NHRA elected to postpone the event.

"We are obviously excited about having a second chance," said Coughlin, who managed to get in two days of testing Wednesday and today at Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis.

"I think we have everything under control but it's not very often you get a second chance like this. We just felt as a team that (the break was) something we should take advantage of."

Like Coughlin, Funny Car driver Scotty Cannon said he welcomed the postponement. Cannon was the 13th qualifier after two rounds.

"It gives me one more shot to try to move up in the field," Cannon said of the break. "I think it's great."

Multi-car team owner Don Schumacher, however, took a more practical approach to the postponement. Schumacher fields the Top Fuel dragster for Tony Schumacher and Funny Cars for Whit Bazemore, Gary Scelzi and Cannon.

"It's a negative for everybody -- every team owner, every team," Schumacher said. "It's going to cost us additional dollars to come out and do this again. It's affecting NHRA tremendously, the income at the racetrack tremendously -- souvenirs, the food sales. It's a negative for everybody."

The $2.5 million Mac Tools U.S. Nationals resumes Friday with one round of qualifying for professional categories. Saturday's schedule will feature two rounds of pro qualifying as well as the Budweiser Shootout eliminations. Final eliminations will begin Sunday at 11 a.m. (EDT).

Top qualifiers last weekend through two rounds were David Baca (Top Fuel), Scelzi (Funny Car), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Angelle Savoie (Pro Stock Bike). Las Vegan George Marnell, who has not qualified at the past three events, was the eighth-fastest qualifier in Pro Stock.

The Mopar Performance Parts Super Stock Hemi Challenge, which was contested last weekend as part of the U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park, will be televised on a tape-delayed basis by ESPN2 on Friday, Sept. 12 at noon (PDT). The show will repeat on Thursday, Oct. 9 at 11:30 a.m. (PDT), also on ESPN2. More than 25 1968 SS/AA Plymouth Barracudas and Dodge Darts competed in the event.

"Midnight Mayhem" for street-legal cars will hit the tracks at 10 p.m. Friday; the Short Line Express NHRA Junior Drag Racing League will hold its seventh points race beginning at noon Saturday; the ninth Jerry's Nugget Championship Drag Racing Series points race will be held at 5 p.m. Saturday; and the "Back-to-School Bash" Monster Truck Thrill Show gets under way at 7 p.m. Saturday.