CHANDLER, Ariz. (Feb. 21, 2010) - Starting from the No. 2 qualifying position, Matt Hagan made it to the quarterfinal round today at the 26th Annual NHRA Arizona Nationals before bowing out to his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Jack Beckman.
In his opening match-up against Paul Lee, the driver of the DieHard Dodge Charger Funny Car won the round despite a parts failure on the car which caused the burst panel to pop and the parachutes to deploy, slowing him to a 4.307-second pass at 216.90 mph. Lee struck the tires and crossed the finish line with a losing 7.147/92.14.
Hagan and Beckman launched in the second round with nearly identical reaction times, but a loss of traction at the hit of the throttle ended Hagan's day, as he watched his teammate take the win with a 4.136/303.78 to his own 6.968/126.84 pass.
"On the first lap we had a parts failure, but we still won the round," said Hagan. "And we were really scrambling in the pits. It was a mad dash to get everything back together. We didn't have a whole lot of time between rounds to look at everything, and it went out and smoked the tires.
"I know we have a really fast race car; we just have to find that sweet spot out there and when we do, look out!”
The final rounds of Top Fuel and Funny Car eliminations have been postponed until Monday morning because of lateness caused by rain and on-track incident delays. No matter the result, Hagan will be in fifth place in the unofficial NHRA Funny Car point standings.
Next up is the 41st annual NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., March 13-15, 2010.
POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 14, 2010) - Matt Hagan, racing the all-new DieHard Dodge Charger Funny Car in the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, started off the season in good form, reaching the quarterfinals and leaving the 50th annual NHRA Winternationals in sixth place in points.
The 27-year-old Angus Cattle farmer from Christiansburg, Va., qualified fifth then dismissed Gary Densham in the opening round of eliminations with a 4.524/270.00 to Densham's 4.572/278.69. He was then defeated in the second stanza when Bob Tasca III pulled out a 4.196/301.00 to beat a tire-smoking 4.636/237.25 pass by Hagan.
He didn't think not having lane choice made a difference. "I think both lanes were pretty tough no matter what you did in the heat of the day,” said Hagan, in his second full season in the Funny Car class. “It was a hot race track. It's just one of those things where at the beginning of the year we hadn't seen a whole lot of those hot conditions. When we were testing earlier in the year we had cool, tight conditions.
"Anything goes right now. I think we definitely have a great race car in this DieHard Dodge. Tommy (DeLago, crew chief) hit it dead on with the 4.09 (-second elapsed time in qualifying) that put us where we needed to be. We just went out there and it came a little loose.
"We're going to put it behind us and move on to the next race."
Next up is the 26th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals in Chandler, Ariz., Feb. 19-21.
FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS, after one event: 1. John Force, 121 (winner today) 2. Ron Capps, 94 (runner-up today) 3. Bob Tasca III, 78 4. Jack Beckman, 74 5. Del Worsham, 59 6. Matt Hagan, 57 7. Ashley Force Hood, 56 8. Cruz Pedregon, 51 9. Robert Hight, 43 10. Tony Pedregon, 33 10. Jim Head, 33
POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 10, 2010) - With DieHard on board as primary sponsor of the Dodge Charger Funny Car he drives for Don Schumacher Racing, and with the continuing support of shelor.com, Matt Hagan is aiming for a victory at this weekend's 50th annual NHRA Winternationals.
No longer a rookie, the 27-year-old Angus Cattle farmer from Christiansburg, Va., has his first national-event win in his sights, as he prepares for his second full NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season.
"After last year, you had to really sit down and think to yourself and do some soul searching," said Hagan, who was winless in 2009 but had reached two final rounds and qualified No. 1 twice. "To go to 24 races and make about 100 laps during the year and not come out with a win was disheartening, but we got really close.
"In the off-season I had to step back and look at what I could improve on and what I can make better this year.
DieHard Backs Don Schumacher Racing and Matt Hagan for 2010
BROWNSBURG, Ind. (Feb. 9, 2010) - Don Schumacher announced today that Sears, Roebuck and Co.'s iconic brand DieHard will be the primary sponsor of the Dodge Funny Car driven by Matt Hagan in the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.
The DieHard brand has been marketed by Sears since 1967. To help promote the DieHard battery chargers, portable power and inverters, Don Schumacher Racing will campaign the DieHard Dodge Funny Car, with associate sponsorship from shelor.com, in the 2010 NHRA series.
"We at DSR are proud to welcome DieHard into our family of outstanding supporters of our team," said Schumacher, DSR team owner. "The brand has been synonymous with automobile racing for 43 years, and we expect to continue to add to DieHard's long list of racing accomplishments during the 2010 NHRA season."
"The agreement between DieHard, one of the most trusted names in the automotive industry, and Don Schumacher Racing is a perfect match," said Erik Rosenstrauch, general manager of DieHard brand business unit, "Our involvement with one of the premier racing teams in NHRA further enables us to drive our business and engage consumers about the excitement behind DieHard.”
"Wow," said 27-year-old Hagan, in his second year with DSR and no longer a rookie after his first full NHRA season in which he landed in two final rounds in 2009 and qualified No. 1 twice. "It's awesome to have DieHard on the side of the Funny Car I'll be driving for DSR in 2010. They've been around longer than I have and their racing reputation speaks for itself. I'll do all I can to maintain their outstanding racing tradition this season."
Crew chief Tommy DeLago will continue to tune the DieHard Dodge in 2010, as the 23-event season begins in Pomona, Calif., Feb. 11-14.
DieHard recently launch the all-new DieHard.com, which includes a help center, battery selector, maintenance guide and a series of videos documenting DieHard’s performance inside the DieHard Torture Labs.
About the DieHard brand Introduced in 1967, Sears designed the DieHard to produce 35 percent more usable starting power than other similar batteries. Featuring a revolutionary tough, thin-walled case of translucent polypropylene plastic, which was 50 percent thinner than conventional black rubber-type battery enclosures, the design's extra room meant bigger plates, more acid and extra starting power. Consumers consistently rate DieHard as "most trusted," "dependable," "performs in extreme conditions" by overwhelming margins, according to a 2009 Battery Brand Tracker Survey.
About Don Schumacher Racing Don Schumacher Racing, headquartered in Brownsburg, Ind., consists of six professional NHRA teams: the U.S. Army Top Fuel dragster driven by seven-time world champion Tony Schumacher; the FRAM dragster of Cory McClenathan, and the Matco Tools dragster of Antron Brown. The Funny Car teams are the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge driven by Ron Capps, the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge piloted by Jack Beckman, and the DieHard Dodge driven by Matt Hagan. Since 1998, Don Schumacher Racing teams have won 136 national events in 260 final rounds, and eight world championships. More information may be found on http://www.shoeracing.com.
JUPITER, Fla. (Jan. 15, 2010) - Matt Hagan set the third quickest lap among the three Don Schumacher Racing Funny Cars during a "closed" test session from Monday through Thursday at Palm Beach International Raceway this week. Testing will continue today.
Hagan's DSR teammate Ron Capps was unofficially the quickest in the Funny Car class, with a 4.091-second lap, while his other DSR stablemate Jack Beckman recorded a 4.095-second elapsed time.
Hagan, driving two shelor.com Dodge Funny Cars this week, posted a 4.099-second lap at 307.8 mph on Wednesday, his best in 11 passes.
"Testing went well," said Hagan, who finished 11th in the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series standings as a rookie. "We ran two good laps and ironed out the car for the beginning of the year and we're really excited to get a new season under way. We had no problems. The shelor.com Dodge went down the track and it felt great. Everything came right back to me.
"For me, getting my head around driving the car again and basically doing my job and not leaving anything out there is very important. There's still a lot of rust to get off after two or three months away from racing.
"After this test session we're going to have another month before the start of the season, so it will be easy to get a little rusty again. You just want to keep everything fresh in your head, and make sure that you're ready to go on race day.
"We had a brand-new car that we were testing on Thursday and we're going to test on Friday. And we're trying to get our backup car ready to go just in case anything happens to our primary car. We're getting all the bugs out of it and making sure that we can pull it right out of the box if anything happens and go racing.
“This track is really nice. You can go out there and stand on it and know it's going to hook up when it goes.”
The first race of the 23-event 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series will be in Pomona, Calif., Feb. 11-14. -- by Judy Stropus
