Matt Hagan paused for a moment before he spoke to the assembled media at the NHRA Springnationals in Houston, Tex., moments after defeating Jeff Arend in the final round.

This marked Hagan's first victory in three career final rounds in his two full seasons on the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series circuit, and moved him into second in the class point standings. He's now 70 points behind leader John Force, who was eliminated in the first round.

“You just can’t put your emotions into words,” said Hagan. “Other than my wife and kids, this is the best feeling in the world. This was such a big weekend for us because everyone ahead of us went out early.”

While the victory might come as a surprise to some, Hagan always believed in his DieHard-sponsored, Don Schumacher Racing team.


Matt Hagan paused for a moment before he spoke to the assembled media at the NHRA Springnationals in Houston, Tex., moments after defeating Jeff Arend in the final round.

This marked Hagan's first victory in three career final rounds in his two full seasons on the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series circuit, and moved him into second in the class point standings. He's now 70 points behind leader John Force, who was eliminated in the first round.

“You just can’t put your emotions into words,” said Hagan. “Other than my wife and kids, this is the best feeling in the world. This was such a big weekend for us because everyone ahead of us went out early.”

While the victory might come as a surprise to some, Hagan always believed in his DieHard-sponsored, Don Schumacher Racing team.

“I have always felt we had a good car capable of winning … even believed we could win last year,” said Hagan. “It has been just a matter of putting together four wins in a row. And, you have to have some luck too.

“We have a winning car … a championship car … it’s just a matter of everything falling into place.”

Hagan defeated Melanie Troxel with a 4.217, 302.48 then Cruz Pedregon with a 4.18, 303.78. In his semifinal win over Tony Pedregon he pedaled the DieHard car to triumph, posting a 4.632, 220.29.

Hagan never worried about the final round, and instead used the moments before the final round contemplating his actions mentally. The memories of past races played in his mind as well including the Concord qualifying explosion. In the semis, Hagan had to pedal his way to victory.

“The track was tricky and we had to pedal the car in the third round and after the blow up in Charlotte, there’s a tendency to draw up when you get into those kinds of situations. When you look over and the guy’s not beside you – you have to stay after it. You have to do what it takes to get that win.”

The victory not only marks Hagan’s first, but John Medlen’s as well with DSR. Medlen joined the team two races ago and along with Tommy Delago has helped Hagan into back-to-back finals.

“From the first day, he got here, his fingerprints were on the team,” Hagan said of Medlen. “He and Tommy hit it right off. He was getting a lot of stuff bounced off of him that first weekend. Medlen lets Tommy do his own thing and is just there. Those are some smart guys and my assistant crew chief Glenn [Huzar] is in there too.

“I have three smart guys in there and provides me with a lot of confidence. This is a team sport, and I am holding this trophy because of my guys.”

Hagan’s triumph represented No. 141 for DSR since 1998.