Hagan hangs on to No. 1 for U.S. Nationals

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 HANGS ON TO NO. 1 FOR U.S. NATIONALS

CLERMONT, Ind. (Sept. 5, 2010) - Matt Hagan's Funny Car track-record-setting
No. 1 elapsed time of 4.039 seconds at 277.89 mph he set on Saturday held
through two more qualifying sessions on Sunday, earning the driver of the
DieHard Dodge Charger his second No. 1 of the season, the fourth of his
career and the first at the U.S. Nationals.

Today's two rounds of qualifying, in the heat of the day, produced a
4.107/297.88 and a 4.094/301.07 (quickest of the round). Hagan earned seven
valuable bonus points for his efforts.

³Itıs huge to come out here and qualify No. 1," said Hagan, who is competing
in his first Countdown to the Championship playoffs after a 2009 rookie
season in which he finished 11th and out of the Countdown. "I remember back
when I was racing in the IHRA (in 2008) and Iıd come over here [to race in
NHRA] and qualify 16th," he added, referring to his first time at the U.S.
Nationals. To be able to go from that and within two years qualify No. 1
here is a huge step in the right direction for my career and the whole
program out here. 

"I owe it all to (crew chief) Tommy DeLago. He gets smarter every day. I
donıt know how he puts it all together up there, but he does. Heıs got some
really cool ideas and weıve been working on some stuff. We came out here and
tested a couple days before the race and I definitely think itıs paying
dividends back to us.

"The track is great. We owe a lot to the track being great and being able to
run those kinds of numbers out here. Last year it was a little different
race track and the weather just kind of worked out in our favor this
weekend. Itıs cool to hang on to that caliber of a machine; itıs really an
honor.²

Hagan will face off against Tony Pedregon in the opening round of
eliminations on Monday. ³Tony is never an easy draw," he said, "because he
can leave on you. You never know what youıre going to get with that guy. He
had our number last year. Every time I lined up against Tony I couldnıt get
around him. This year weıve had a little better luck (3-0), but you never
know. 

"Iım going to put my game face on tomorrow and go in there and pull my belts
down tight because I know Tommy is coming to play. Weıre just going to come
up there and do what we do and thatıs go rounds.

³Itıs definitely warmer today and thatıs going to play into tomorrow. Itıs
going to be a little bit warmer tomorrow, if the weatherman is right. But,
with Tommy, heıs got a pretty good baseline. When we were testing here it
was warmer so he was kind of just playing around a bit today trying some new
stuff. He wanted to go up there and try to get a baseline but he kind of
already had one so it just really built on his confidence and my confidence
to be able to go down the race track and not smoke the tires or do anything
crazy."

As for the importance of earning bonus qualifying points, ³Theyıre huge," he
said. "I was adding them up. We got four last night and three today so
theyıre definitely going to add up and I think theyıre going to count. I
think theyıre going to make a big difference when these bonus points come in
to play in the last couple of races. Weıre trying to get as many as we can
and I know Tommy DeLago swings for the fences a lot of times. A lot of times
weıre either heroes or zeros and here lately Tommy has been on top of things
and heıs been the man. Weıve been racking up those points."

***