Hagan will start from 13th on Sunday in Brainerd

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2009 NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 16 of 24
28th annual NHRA NATIONALS
Brainerd (Minn.) International Raceway
Aug. 14-16, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

HAGAN WILL START FROM 13TH ON SUNDAY IN BRAINERD

BRAINER, Minn. (Aug. 15, 2009) - Matt Hagan, the 26-year-old contender for
the 2009 Automobile Club of Southern California Road to the Future Award as
an NHRA rookie-of-the-year frontrunner, qualified 13th for the 28th annual
NHRA Nationals today.

With only three qualifying sessions completed between Friday and today
because of rain, Hagan pulled out a solid 4.266-second pass at 286.50 mph in
today's only run driving the shelor.com Dodge Funny Car, which followed an
8.092/80.08 and 4.755/175.62 on Friday.

"It was kind of a tough weekend for us," he said. "On the first lap I guess
we missed an opportunity. We pulled some timing out of the car and I felt it
nose over. Well, sometimes it feels like it's spinning the tire. And you try
to take care of the equipment because you don't want to blow it up, so you
pull your foot out of it. If you're unsure about something it's always
better to step off than to keep your foot in it. That put us a little behind
the 8-ball for qualifying yesterday evening.

"We went out there and smoked the tires pretty bad in the evening session.
This morning we ran a good number, it went right down the race track, and
that's what we needed to do.

"Since there was not a fourth session, we're pretty satisfied with where
we're at. We have Cruz Pedregon in the first round tomorrow, and that is an
important match-up." Hagan is 11th in the standings, Pedregon is 10th. If
Hagan defeats Pedregon he will move into 10th place. Only the top 10 in
points will vie for the Funny Car championship in the Countdown to 1
playoffs which begin following the U.S. Nationals on Labor Day for the final
six events.

***