Hagan hangs on to No. 1 in Sonoma

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2009 NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 15 of 24
FRAM-Autolite NHRA Nationals
Infineon Raceway
Sonoma, Calif.
July 24-26, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

HAGAN HANGS ON TO NO. 1 IN SONOMA

SONOMA, Calif. (July 25, 2009) -  Matt Hagan, a contender for the 2009
Automobile Club of Southern California Road to the Future Award as an NHRA
rookie-of-the-year frontrunner, hung on as the Funny Car class low qualifier
through the final two rounds of qualifying today at the FRAM-Autolite NHRA
Nationals.

Driving the shelor.com Dodge for Don Schumacher Racing, Hagan collected his
first career No. 1 and faces No. 16 qualifier Cruz Pedregon in the opening
stanza of Sunday's eliminations. This is an important round, as Hagan stands
10th in the points, while Pedregon is in 11th. Only the top 10 in the
rankings vie for the championship in the final six events of the season in
the Countdown to 1 playoffs.

Following his two Friday passes of 4.213/287.78 and 4.068/307.51, earning
him the pole, today's attempts produced a 4.236/293.47 and a 4.195/294.75
(third quickest of the round).

"It's huge right now," said Hagan, a 26-year-old Angus Cattle farmer from
Christiansburg, Va. "I'm not so much worried about being Rookie of the Year
as I am about getting into the Countdown so we can try to run for a
championship.

"To be able to qualify No. 1 is a big stepping stone in my career, and, for
the team it's something that has boosted their morale. The shelor.com guys
rolled into the pits this morning and had big smiles on their faces. I think
everybody kind of knew it was going to stick.

"We just went up there and wanted to go down the race track today. We did
that in all four laps."

As for the weather changes between the cool, almost cold, conditions last
night to today's hot temperatures, "Last night my crew chief (Tommy DeLago)
was running back and forth, back and forth, getting information from Lanny
(Miglizzi, DSR's track consultant) about the track," said Hagan. "You just
get to see how smart these crew chiefs are, to be able to make adjustments
that quick. To watch those guys work is pretty amazing sometimes.

"Made big changes and then they come back this morning and it starts to warm
up and a lot of people didn't think it would get this warm. For us it was
more of a race-day setup. It's supposed to be a little bit warmer tomorrow.
We went down the track, so it's definitely a positive for us.

"Our match-up against Cruz is going to be huge. It's kind of make or break
right there. If we can win that round and go several rounds after that I
think that will put us where we need to be to get in this Countdown.

"There's going to be a lot riding on the first round, but I'm going to try
not to think about that. I'm just going to race my race tomorrow. The
biggest thing with that is just stay focused on your lights and make it go
to the other end. It doesn't matter who's beside you."

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