Hagan snags provisional No. 1 at U.S. Nationals on Saturday

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2010 NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 18 of 23
Round 1 of six in Countdown to the Championship
56th annual U.S. Nationals
O'Reilly Raceway Park
Clermont, Ind.
Sept. 3-6, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

HAGAN SNAGS PROVISONAL NO. 1 AT U.S. NATIONALS

CLERMONT, Ind. (Sept. 4, 2010) - Matt Hagan clicked it off early but still
snagged the provisional No. 1 qualifying position at the 56th annual U.S.
Nationals on Saturday, with two more qualifying rounds scheduled for Sunday
before the final 16-car field is set for Monday's eliminations rounds.

If he holds on to No. 1 through Sunday, he will have collected his second of
the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season, fourth of his career,
and his first at the U.S. Nationals.

Racing the DieHard Dodge Charger Funny Car under nearly ideal conditions in
the cooler Saturday night session, Hagan pulled out a stellar
track-record-setting 4.039-second elapsed time at 277.89 mph, after shutting
it off early.

"Wow, what a run," he said. "(Crew chief) Tommy DeLago, he really knows how
to tune these race cars. He said if it makes it past 60 foot it's going to
haul the mail. We pulled the belts down tight in there and it really left
hard. 

"I got somewhat of a vibration in there, and I said, Man, it's running
[strong] because it blurred my vision a little bit. I could see the groove
pretty good. It got out there and it felt like it was getting a little
towards the wall to me, and I just as soon click it off a little early. And
to look at the numbers and from what Tommy said, it might have been on a
4-flat lap.

"It's right there. We know what we need to do. I guess we didn't show all of
our cards.

"It was just a great run, great race car. The DieHard guys are doing a
phenomenal job. That's what our whole success this year has been about, just
those guys putting the car together, being flawless."

As for the chance of a 3-second run showing up on the scoreboard this
weekend? "It would be huge," Hagan said. "That's what we're all out here
aiming to do is to lay that 3 number down. And I think it's going to happen
before the year is up. We're right there with it. So, not promising
anything, but the conditions coming around this fall I think everybody is
going to see some 3-second laps.

"I don't think it will happen here, as I think the best sessions for that to
happen are over. It's going to be a little warmer tomorrow.

"Tommy DeLago just works his magic out there. You never know what you're
going to get because he's swinging for the fence most of the time."

After three of five qualifying rounds, in Funny Car, Hagan's other Don
Schumacher Racing teammates scored high positions: Ron Capps came in second
Saturday night (4.049/309.77) and Jack Beckman is No. 11 with the
4.136/303.16 he set earlier today. In Top Fuel, Cory McClenathan is No. 2
(3.784/324.36), Tony Schumacher is third (3.790/324.83), Antron Brown is No.
5 (3.808/319.22) and Rod Fuller is No. 9 (3.840/318.17).

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