Rookie Hagan lands in No. 14 in Pomona qualifying

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series
Round 1 of 24
NHRA Winternationals
Auto Club Raceway at Pomona
Pomona, Calif.
Feb. 5-8, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Judy Stropus, 203-438-0501; cell 203-243-2438;
jstropus@earthlink.net

ROOKIE HAGAN LANDS IN NO. 14 IN POMONA QUALIFYING

POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 7, 2009) - NHRA Rookie-of-the-Year contender Matt
Hagan, racing the BrakeSafe Rear-End Collision Avoidance System Dodge Funny
Car, posted a less-than-perfect pass of 4.345 seconds at 283.01 mph, but it
was good enough to land him in the No. 14 position in the only qualifying
session run at the NHRA Winternationals. Rain washed out Thursday's and
Friday's qualifying rounds as well as one of two today.

In his first national event driving for Don Schumacher Racing, Hagan will
face Ashley Force Hood in the opening round of eliminations on Sunday.

"I think that we had a really successful weekend so far," said Hagan. "Of
course, we always like to have more laps, but we have a good baseline now
and we're going to go out there tomorrow and let the clutch out and see what
happens.

"We're having a lot of fun. The BrakeSafe guys are really getting along. And
the name of the game here is to get everybody together and make sure we're
working as one."

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