Rookie Hagan earns qualifying bonus points, takes No. 10 in Texas qualifying

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2009 NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 2 of Countdown to 1 Playoffs (six in total)
Round 20 of 24 for season
NHRA FALL NATIONALS
Texas Motorplex
Ennis, Texas
Sept. 25-27, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

ROOKIE HAGAN EARNS QUALIFYING BONUS POINTS, TAKES NO. 10 IN TEXAS QUALIFYING

ENNIS, Texas (Sept. 26, 2009) - Matt Hagan, steering the FRAM Tough
Guard/shelor.com Dodge Funny Car to No. 10 in qualifying for the NHRA Fall
Nationals, earned his first bonus points since the NHRA instituted a new
qualifying points system for the Countdown to 1 playoffs, for which all
national-event competitors are eligible.

Hagan, 12th in the point standings and not vying for a championship in the
playoffs, was the beneficiary of those points as the second quickest of the
final round of qualifying. He posted a 4.233-second elapsed time at 292.08
mph in that pass, but his quickest lap of the weekend was a 4.207/294.75,
which he established in Friday night's session.

His other passes included an opening 5.489/127.87 run (No. 11), and a
5.186/143.22 earlier today (No. 10).

"We got some extra points; that's great," said the contender for the 2009
Automobile Club of Southern California Road to the Future Award as an NHRA
rookie-of-the-year frontrunner. "But, it's hot out here. To learn how to get
down this hot race track we really had to pull the car back and do some wild
things out there.

"I'm really impressed with Tommy (DeLago, crew chief). He's been really
stepping up his game here the last couple of races," added Hagan, who was
runner-up in Concord, N.C., last Sunday. "We kind of struggled a little bit
earlier in the season and Tommy's putting a real good race car under me now.
All I have to do is go out there and drive it."

Hagan, who is awaiting the birth of his second child, daughter Penny Louise,
any day, will face his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Jack Beckman in the
opening round of Sunday's eliminations. "Obviously, I don't want to run Jack
tomorrow," he said. "But I have to take him out, and we have to try to move
on to the next round. Jack is going to try to take me out, because he's
hunting a championship (No. 6 in the playoffs).

"We'll just roll up there and the best man is going to win it. I just want
to go out there and have fun with it tomorrow and have no worries. We'll go
up there and I'm going to try to leave on Jack and I'm sure Jack will try to
leave on me."

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