Hagan hangs in there in No. 11 at U.S. Nats

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2009 NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 18 of 24
55th annual U.S. Nationals
Raceway Park at Indianapolis
Sept. 4-7, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

HAGAN HANGS IN THERE IN NO. 11 AT U.S. NATS

INDIANAPOLIS (Sept. 5, 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, qualified the Valvoline/shelor.com Dodge
Funny Car in No. 11 for the U.S. Nationals after three of five qualifying
passes. Two more rounds of qualifying on Sunday will determine the 16-car
field for Sunday's eliminations.

Hagan posted his quickest pass of 4.171 seconds at 299.46 mph right out of
the box on Friday, then followed that up with a 4.233/285.23 and a
6.067/109.62.

"Thank God we have five laps to qualify for the U.S. Nationals," he said.
"We have a good race car. We had one good lap right off the bat to make sure
we got in. It's good that it came out strong right off the trailer for us
like that.

"I think tomorrow will be a totally different day. We have to go out there
with the mindset that we're not in this thing, because it can change that
fast for us.

"I know Tommy (DeLago, crew chief) is going to work on his tune-up tonight
and hopefully he'll find something for tomorrow.

"I'm looking forward to trying to get a race-day setup on Sunday. I think
we'll be able to have that and maybe go for it tomorrow evening."

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