MATT HAGAN FINDS POSITIVES IN FUNNY CAR RUNNER-UP
Four-time and defending NHRA Funny Car world champion Matt Hagan and crew chief Dickie Venables thrive in high-pressure scenarios , and that ’ s exactly what they found on both Friday night and Saturday night .
Driving the Johnson ’ s Horsepowered Garage Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat out of the Tony Stewart Racing Nitro camp , Hagan went into Friday ’ s fourth and final qualifying session outside the eight-car field in the No . 10 spot . He threw down a 3.88 at 329.10 in the final session to move up to the No . 6 spot , allowing the JHG team to rest easy Friday night .
After drawing fellow past world champion J . R . Todd for Saturday ’ s first round of eliminations , Hagan got an easy first-round win when Todd had to shut off his DHL Toyota GR Supra after burnout . That allowed Hagan to lift to a 4.239 at 223.58 . He stepped up in the semifinals to a 3.912 at 329.50 to knock out Bob Tasca III , who slowed to a 4.137 at 243.50 . Venables gave Hagan his best performance of the weekend in the final round , a 3.872 at 329.75 , but it wasn ’ t enough to take down Funny Car rookie Austin Prock and his 3.845 at 332.43 .
Hagan might not have walked away with the big check and the trophy , but his team did prove that they will be title contenders yet again this season .
“ It was really neat making it to the final with all of the JHG guys here and having them on the car ,” Hagan said . “ It ’ s been a busy week with all of the testing before the race weekend started . I ’ m so thankful for my crew and how hard they all work . We had a good test session . We had a boomer earlier in the week that was unexpected . It was a parts failure , but we ’ re pushing these things to the limit .”
Hagan ’ s team owner , relatively new PRO member Tony Stewart , played a significant role in the planning and promotion of the PRO Superstar Shootout . Through that , Hagan had a behind-the-scenes look at the event as it was coming together , and he was impressed with what he saw at Bradenton .
“ I think the PRO Superstar Shootout was a great event ,” Hagan said . “ I was really proud of how smooth it went . All in all , we really couldn ’ t have asked for much more . The NHRA does a good job , but I think there ’ s always room for improvement . I ’ m sure we ’ ll get a participation t-shirt for coming in second , but at the end of the day , we ’ ll take what we can get .” DI
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