Matt Hagan picked up his first win of the season in his Mopar®-powered Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car for Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) on Sunday, Sept. 18 at zMax Dragway in Concord, N.C. in the opening round of the NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoffs.
Hagan opened the weekend by becoming the first Funny Car driver to break the four-second barrier, with a pass of 3.995-second to earn the No. 1 Qualifier spot. In addition, he recorded the fastest 1,000-foot Funny Car speed at 322.27 mph, the first 320-plus run in history, in a separate run.
Hagan was victorious in the opening stanza over John Smith with a 4.018/322.27. The quarterfinals found the native of Christiansburg, Va. up against Cruz Pedregon, who he dispatched with a run of 4.054/316.38. The semifinals pitted Hagan against fellow DSR driver Jack Beckman, as three of the four Mopar-powered DSR cars found themselves in the semis. Beckman got off the line first, with Hagan using a 4.032/318.69 number to track down his teammate, who ran a 4.090/317.79. In the finals, Hagan powered to the win over series point leader Mike Neff.
"I’m still floating after seeing my name (and national ET-record numbers) on the wall here at Charlotte," said Hagan. "When you have a group of guys behind you like I do, Tommy DeLago (crew chief), Glen Huszar (assistant crew chief) and the rest of the team, you can do great things. We hope to take our momentum and karma to Texas (next weekend) and repeat last year’s win, as we keep working towards a championship."
Johnny Gray, in his Mopar-fueled DSR Funny Car reached the semifinals, after an opening round win over John Force and a quarterfinals triumph over Jim Head, before falling to Neff. Teammate Ron Capps bowed out in the opening round.
Hagan is currently second in the Funny Car standings, following the opening race of the NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoffs, with Beckman third and Capps sixth. Next up for the Mopar-powered NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series competitors is the 26th Annual AAA Texas NHRA Fall Nationals at Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Texas, Sept. 22–25. For more information on the NHRA, log on to NHRA.com.
Hagan opened the weekend by becoming the first Funny Car driver to break the four-second barrier, with a pass of 3.995-second to earn the No. 1 Qualifier spot. In addition, he recorded the fastest 1,000-foot Funny Car speed at 322.27 mph, the first 320-plus run in history, in a separate run.
Hagan was victorious in the opening stanza over John Smith with a 4.018/322.27. The quarterfinals found the native of Christiansburg, Va. up against Cruz Pedregon, who he dispatched with a run of 4.054/316.38. The semifinals pitted Hagan against fellow DSR driver Jack Beckman, as three of the four Mopar-powered DSR cars found themselves in the semis. Beckman got off the line first, with Hagan using a 4.032/318.69 number to track down his teammate, who ran a 4.090/317.79. In the finals, Hagan powered to the win over series point leader Mike Neff.
"I’m still floating after seeing my name (and national ET-record numbers) on the wall here at Charlotte," said Hagan. "When you have a group of guys behind you like I do, Tommy DeLago (crew chief), Glen Huszar (assistant crew chief) and the rest of the team, you can do great things. We hope to take our momentum and karma to Texas (next weekend) and repeat last year’s win, as we keep working towards a championship."
Johnny Gray, in his Mopar-fueled DSR Funny Car reached the semifinals, after an opening round win over John Force and a quarterfinals triumph over Jim Head, before falling to Neff. Teammate Ron Capps bowed out in the opening round.
Hagan is currently second in the Funny Car standings, following the opening race of the NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoffs, with Beckman third and Capps sixth. Next up for the Mopar-powered NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series competitors is the 26th Annual AAA Texas NHRA Fall Nationals at Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Texas, Sept. 22–25. For more information on the NHRA, log on to NHRA.com.
