Hagan slips to second in final Phoenix qualifying

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2010 NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 2 of 23
26th annual NHRA ARIZONA NATIONALS
Firebird International Raceway
Chandler, Ariz.
Feb. 19-21, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

HAGAN SLIPS TO SECOND IN FINAL PHOENIX QUALIFYING

CHANDLER, Ariz. (Feb. 20, 2010) - Matt Hagan and the DieHard Dodge Charger
Funny Car team made a stab in the final qualifying session at improving
their No. 1 pole-position time of 4.068 seconds at 311.34 mph he set on
Friday.

But, when one run today was cancelled because of rain, and the second
delayed because of another shower, Hagan smoked the tires in his final
attempt, relinquishing the top spot to John Force. Hagan will start No. 2 in
Sunday's eliminations and will face Paul Lee in the opening round.

Force charged to a 4.063/308.78 to grab the pole, while Hagan, alongside
him, crossed the finish line with a 7.608/85.75. He did hold on to his
track-record speed of 311.34 mph, recorded on Friday.

"We're not bummed out that we lost the pole," said Hagan, in only his second
full season of Funny Car competition. "After the rain delays, the sun came
out and the track got hot. Obviously, we would have loved to have kept the
pole, but we didn't. We'll just go racing now.

"When it smokes the tires that early, you know that Tommy (DeLago, crew
chief) was trying to lay some power down. The track conditions just weren't
there for us to try to run what we were looking for.

"We'll keep our head up about that. We got the DieHard car qualified really
well and we'll put the day behind us. I know we have a good, fast race car
and I think we're going to go some rounds tomorrow.²

***