Elite Motorsports Adds Jeg Coughlin Jr. to Full-Time NHRA Pro Stock Squad
Elite Motorsports’ Erica Enders won her sixth NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Pro Stock championship on the final day of the 2023 season in November. At that race, her teammate Aaron Stanfield earned the win, while Enders watched from the sidelines, having secured her title in the first round.
Like most championship teams – whether in motorsport or other sports – Elite Motorsports isn’t sitting still and resting on their laurels. The eight-car Pro Stock squad, that earned five of the top ten final positions in class, will change a little bit. Their motivation to succeed in the door slammer class is as strong as it’s ever been.
Less than a month after winning the championship and the series’ final race under Camping World naming, Elite and team owner Richard Freeman are focused on the Mission Foods Drag Racing Series future. “We have some of the best true partners in motorsports and we’ve worked hard to develop deep relationships and an understanding of each partner’s individual goals and objectives,” with regard to their participation, he said.
“We have a powerful lineup of drivers and the talented individuals outside of the car are equally as strong,” Freeman noted. “To have Jason Johnson and the group at Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage be a major partner in our program and continue to grow their involvement around our team, speaks volumes about how our team operates.”
Richard Freeman and his team know better than to mess with success. Six-time Pro Stock champ Enders will continue, in 2024 and beyond, to pilot the Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage/Melling Performance Chevrolet Camaro, while her teammate Troy Coughlin Jr., who finished fifth in the final standings, once again will take on competition in a JEGS/White Castle Camaro.
The makeup of this team will have some changes, as 2017 Pro Stock champ Bo Butner III is moving to the team’s two-car Mountain Motor Pro Stock squad starting in 2024, with backing from Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage, a partner Butner brought to the team. The second driver will be named at a later date. A 27-time NHRA national event winner, four-time divisional champion and bracket racing star, Butner also transitions to the role of director of team development for Elite Motorsports.
“This new position will help foster new talent in and out of the car,” Freeman said. “Having won NHRA events in six different categories and numerous bracket races, Bo is a perfect fit to help and head up this effort. We are in this for the long haul,” he said. Butner is looking forward to the new challenge: “Helping with team development at Elite Motorsports is going to be a fun project to help ensure long-term success in and out of the race cars,” he allowed.
Stanfield, who not only won the season closer in Pro Stock, earning fourth place in the season-long standings, is also the Factory Stock Showdown reigning titleholder. He moves to the second Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage Camaro for the 2024 Mission Foods Drag Racing Series campaign. He’ll have support from longtime partners Janac Brothers Racing and JC3 Energy Services. Melling, a longtime supporter of Enders, began to support Stanfield during the 2023 Countdown to the Championship and is moving to an associate sponsorship level for the upcoming season.
“To say this has been a crazy couple of days would be an understatement,” Stanfield remarked. “From winning Pro Stock at the NHRA Finals, my wife having our second baby, to now driving a Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage car with the support of Melling and my longtime sponsors, Janac Brothers Racing and JC3 Energy Services, seems more like a dream than reality.”
Melling Performance and Melling Engine Parts have been a large part of Enders’ success since joining Elite Motorsports and they continue to support her programs at Elite. Their relationship has grown within the team at Elite to include the Melling brands in a more comprehensive manner, across the entire Elite fleet. “What a blessing it’s been to ride with Erica the past seven seasons,” Mark Melling, CEO of Melling Engine Parts said. “We really enjoyed our involvement with Aaron last year as well and look forward to 2024 with fingers crossed there will be a fifth championship in Pro Stock with Melling’s involvement.”
When he returned to Pro Stock for the final two races of the 2023 season, many wondered if Jeg Coughlin Jr. was planning a full-time return to the class he once dominated? The answer is yes: Coughlin Jr. will race full-time in 2024 with backing from SCAG Power Equipment and their more than 1,500-strong dealer network.
“We couldn’t be more pleased to have Jeg Coughlin Jr. return to the seat of a Pro Stock car at Elite Motorsports,” Freeman said. “SCAG Power Equipment came onboard for the last two events of the 2023 NHRA season to put Jeg behind the wheel of Erica’s new car, to break it in during real competition. SCAG Power Equipment is another of our partners that share the same values we share,” Freeman continued. “Jeg is a great fit for SCAG, and seeing him interact with dealers in Vegas, at the track and away from the track, only proved what a great ambassador to a brand he can be.” Coughlin Jr. will have support from Outlaw Mile Hi Light Beer in addition to SCAG Power Equipment.
Following his initial test at Tulsa and during the final two races of the year, Jeg Coughlin Jr. erased any thoughts he forgot how to drive one of these cars. “The feel and acceleration of the car, working with the Elite team, drivers, and crew, and working with our great partners, surpassed my expectations and solidified in my mind that I want to make a run for future Pro Stock championships. I really look forward to working with the team at SCAG Power Equipment to learn and help grow the relations with their dealer network and end users. The car looks great and I couldn’t be more proud to transition to the SCAG ‘Cats Eye Gold’ in 2024.”
Jerry Tucker, who was in the running for NHRA’s Rookie of the Year honors in 2023, is returning to the team with continued support from Outlaw Mile Hi Light Beer and the Cuadra family comes back with support from Corral Boots and other Cuadra brands. This year it’ll be a four-car Cuadra effort with Fernando, Fernando Jr., Cristian and David Cuadra wheeling Elite-prepared cars.
In addition to competing at all 20 events in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, Elite Motorsports is participating in the inaugural PRO Superstar Shootout in Bradenton, FL being held February 8-10, as well as a match race at the NHRA Open, scheduled to take place August 8-11 at Rock Falls Raceway in Eau Claire, WI.