HAGAN WINS BATTLE OF THE GIANTS
Mon, 2010-06-07 20:28
Two giants met in the NHRA Route 66 Nationals Funny Car final – one in performance and the other
in stature.
Score one for the big fella.
Matt Hagan, who stands 6’1”, 210 pounds, showed not only was he big in person, but large in driver performance.
Hagan stopped a streaking Robert Hight at three wins and secured a national record en route to the winner’s circle. In the final round, he ran a 4.035 elapsed time to back up a 4.022 second run recorded a round earlier.
"This was (crew chiefs) Tommy DeLago and John Medlen's race,” said Hagen, whose victory marked the second of his career. “These guys put a great race car underneath me all weekend long. We've kind of been testing some stuff the last three races. It's been tough because we don't have the testing time to do that. That's why we struggled a little bit. But these guys made a decision together to come back and put back what they knew in the race car and it's just been great ever since.”
Two giants met in the NHRA Route 66 Nationals Funny Car final – one in performance and the other
in stature.
Score one for the big fella.
Matt Hagan, who stands 6’1”, 210 pounds, showed not only was he big in person, but large in driver performance.
Hagan stopped a streaking Robert Hight at three wins and secured a national record en route to the winner’s circle. In the final round, he ran a 4.035 elapsed time to back up a 4.022 second run recorded a round earlier.
"This was (crew chiefs) Tommy DeLago and John Medlen's race,” said Hagen, whose victory marked the second of his career. “These guys put a great race car underneath me all weekend long. We've kind of been testing some stuff the last three races. It's been tough because we don't have the testing time to do that. That's why we struggled a little bit. But these guys made a decision together to come back and put back what they knew in the race car and it's just been great ever since.”
Hagan began to flex his muscles with the Diehard-sponsored Dodge Charger in qualifying.
"After qualifying (No. 3) I came back and I told Tommy that's the race car I'm used to,” recalled Hagan. “It's just great to have that confidence again that these guys are going to [get the car to] go down the race track. They sure did it today. It was great to set the national record and win the race. How better of a weekend could you have?”
While the weekend might have turned out great for Hagen in the end, getting to the point was a challenge of starts and restarts. Rain delays pushed what started as a normal race day into a drag racing survival of the fittest up until the midnight hour.
“It was tough because we had a round where they started us up and had to shut us down,” Hagen explained. “The guys had to go back and get fuel. I’m sitting in the car for about 15 minutes trying to keep my adrenalin up. I just wanted to stay focused and make sure we didn’t do anything we shouldn’t and get out of rhythm. It says a lot about out team that they can keep their composure in these situations.”
Hagan’s path to the victory went through Tony Pedregon, Jeff Arend and Ashley Force Hood before beating Robert Hight.
The points from the victory and world record moves Hagen into third place in the Funny Car point standings behind Hight and John Force.
nhra
Score one for the big fella.
Matt Hagan, who stands 6’1”, 210 pounds, showed not only was he big in person, but large in driver performance.
Hagan stopped a streaking Robert Hight at three wins and secured a national record en route to the winner’s circle. In the final round, he ran a 4.035 elapsed time to back up a 4.022 second run recorded a round earlier.
"This was (crew chiefs) Tommy DeLago and John Medlen's race,” said Hagen, whose victory marked the second of his career. “These guys put a great race car underneath me all weekend long. We've kind of been testing some stuff the last three races. It's been tough because we don't have the testing time to do that. That's why we struggled a little bit. But these guys made a decision together to come back and put back what they knew in the race car and it's just been great ever since.”
Two giants met in the NHRA Route 66 Nationals Funny Car final – one in performance and the other
nhra
Score one for the big fella.
Matt Hagan, who stands 6’1”, 210 pounds, showed not only was he big in person, but large in driver performance.
Hagan stopped a streaking Robert Hight at three wins and secured a national record en route to the winner’s circle. In the final round, he ran a 4.035 elapsed time to back up a 4.022 second run recorded a round earlier.
"This was (crew chiefs) Tommy DeLago and John Medlen's race,” said Hagen, whose victory marked the second of his career. “These guys put a great race car underneath me all weekend long. We've kind of been testing some stuff the last three races. It's been tough because we don't have the testing time to do that. That's why we struggled a little bit. But these guys made a decision together to come back and put back what they knew in the race car and it's just been great ever since.”
Hagan began to flex his muscles with the Diehard-sponsored Dodge Charger in qualifying.
"After qualifying (No. 3) I came back and I told Tommy that's the race car I'm used to,” recalled Hagan. “It's just great to have that confidence again that these guys are going to [get the car to] go down the race track. They sure did it today. It was great to set the national record and win the race. How better of a weekend could you have?”
While the weekend might have turned out great for Hagen in the end, getting to the point was a challenge of starts and restarts. Rain delays pushed what started as a normal race day into a drag racing survival of the fittest up until the midnight hour.
“It was tough because we had a round where they started us up and had to shut us down,” Hagen explained. “The guys had to go back and get fuel. I’m sitting in the car for about 15 minutes trying to keep my adrenalin up. I just wanted to stay focused and make sure we didn’t do anything we shouldn’t and get out of rhythm. It says a lot about out team that they can keep their composure in these situations.”
Hagan’s path to the victory went through Tony Pedregon, Jeff Arend and Ashley Force Hood before beating Robert Hight.
The points from the victory and world record moves Hagen into third place in the Funny Car point standings behind Hight and John Force.
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