Rookie Matt Hagan bows out in Pomona opening round

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 MATT HAGAN BOWS OUT IN POMONA OPENING ROUND

POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 8, 2009) - NHRA Rookie-of-the-Year contender Matt Hagan
had his first taste of competition driving the BrakeSafe Rear-End Collision
Avoidance System Dodge Funny Car for Don Schumacher Racing today at the NHRA
Winternationals.

After qualifying 14th in only one qualifying round at the season-opening
race of the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, Hagan squared off
against Ashley Force Hood in the first round of eliminations after a
four-hour rain delay. Under cool conditions and continuing threat of rain,
Hagan and Force Hood launched with nearly identical reaction times. Hagan
lost traction early, reaching the finish line in 7.981 seconds at 92.32 mph,
while Force Hood posted a 4.334/303.43 to take the win.

"Basically, the BrakeSafe Dodge went out there and it struck the tires and I
watched her flames go out and I thought maybe there's a chance I could catch
her. I hit the throttle again and it went back up in smoke. It was a tricky
race track out there.

"There were a lot of people struggling in the right lane and even on the
left side they were having to pedal. It's just a situation where a lot of
these guys haven't seen this cool of a track in a long time, so it made it
tough for the driver and the crew chief.

"I'd have felt a whole lot better if we had won it. It's really great to be
able to run against this caliber of drivers. We're going to have our ups and
our downs. The biggest thing we can do right now is keep our heads up and
roll into Phoenix and make sure the guys stay motivated because we're going
to win some, we're going to lose some. We hope we win more than we lose so
all we can do is get out here and keep trying."

The event was postponed until Monday after completing the Top Fuel and Funny
Car elimination rounds because of rain.

Next up is the 25th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals at Firebird Raceway in
Chandler, Ariz.., Feb. 20-22.


***