Hagan qualifies No. 9 in dramatic fashion

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2010 NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 4 of 23
Inaugural NHRA Four-Wide Nationals
ZMax Dragway
Concord, N.C.
March 26-28, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

HAGAN QUALIFIES NO. 9 IN DRAMATIC FASHION

CONCORD, N.C. (March 27, 2010) - Matt Hagan survived a spectacular explosion
in the third round of qualifying for the Inaugural NHRA Four-Wide Nationals
to qualify the DieHard Dodge Charger Funny Car in the No. 9 spot.

After struggling to qualify in the first two sessions, Hagan pulled out a
solid 4.104-second lap at 296.50 mph in the third session, despite
experiencing a spectacular engine explosion at the finish line which
destroyed the DieHard body as well as other major mechanical components.

Hagan was stunned by the concussion, but came out with only minor scratches
and bruises and was ready to race again in the final session. The DieHard
team, with help from nearly every Don Schumacher Racing team on the
premises, rebuilt the chassis and replaced the body, engine, etc., to get
Hagan back on track.

The 27-year-old Angus Cattle farmer from Christiansburg, Va., went on to
post a stellar 4.110/308.14 in that pass, eliciting a round of applause from
the thousands of fans in the stands.

"It was a pretty bad boom," he said of the explosion. "I felt it start to
lay over and before I could get my foot out of it it grenaded and I was just
kind of along for the ride. I saw Del (Worsham, his left-lane opponent) over
there to the left of me, and I was trying to keep it away from him; there
was just a lot going on.

"It hit my hand so hard I just had to check and make sure all my fingers
were there. Thank goodness it was just a couple of nicks and stuff. All the
safety stuff did exactly what it was supposed to do, and I'm grateful that
everything worked the way it was supposed to."

As for the final pass, "It's always good to get back on the horse after you
have something that bad happen to you," he said. łTo be able to get back on
the horse and go out there and run a 4.11, a nice solid easy lap, nothing
major going on, was what I needed, so I don't have to think about it all
night tonight.

"I know we have a good race car. I don't how it's going to pan out with this
four-wide stuff. They seem to be throwing the lights a little quick up
there. I don't know if everybody is going to adapt to that or not, but it's
a little adjustment for me. It seems they're falling pretty quick. As soon
as everybody gets staged it's boom and go. You have to be right on top of
your game, so hopefully I can get a good night's rest, get some aspirin in
me and hopefully come out strong tomorrow."

Hagan faces Robert Hight, Paul Lee and Jeff Arend in the opening round of
Sunday's eliminations.

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