Hagan, Magneti Marelli by Mopar team keep momentum going
with No. 3 qualifying effort for Sunday's Gatornationals eliminations
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (March 16, 2013) - The good times keep rolling for Matt Hagan and his Magneti Marelli/Mopar/Rocky Boots Funny Car team in the NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville, Fla. The Don Schumacher Racing team will start from the third spot with plenty of confidence for Sunday's eliminations.
On Saturday afternoon under blue skies and a bright sun, Hagan's new yellow-and-blue, 10,000-horsepower Dodge Charger R/T unleashed a 4.084-second run during the third of four qualifying sessions to move them up to No. 3 in the 16-car field.
"I think that the car is going down the race track well," Hagan said. "We've had four laps and the car had improved every session until the final one where we were trying some things to see what the track would hold.
"Obviously it didn't hold but now we have the information in our books and I think we have a lot of momentum to build on going into race day tomorrow."
Hagan will race No. 14 qualifier Bob Tasca III during the opening round of eliminations Sunday at the Florida track.
"With our good qualifying effort in this Magneti Marelli offered by Mopar Dodge Charger, (crew chief Dickie Venables) has some great data heading into Sunday. We really struggled last year and Dickie doesn't have a whole lot of data to go off this early in the season so it's huge that we have so much just from this event."
Like many other cars in the final qualifying session Saturday, Hagan's Dodge suffered tire smoke but Hagan says it doesn't faze him for eliminations.
"The track can be tricky here and we found that out on that last pass, but other than that run and for whatever reason this car is responding well to what Dickie is doing," he said.
"The biggest thing for us is to keep that confidence and that momentum moving forward and we won't take our first-round opponent lightly. We just have to go up there and do what we've been doing all weekend long and that's go down the race track and not beat ourselves."
Hagan goes into Sunday's eliminations third in Mello Yello Drag Racing Series points standings and within one round of Courtney Force in second place.
"It's still early in the season but we're sitting in the top three in points and we want to stay there, so tomorrow is a big day for this team."
Matt Hagan's qualifying results and other NHRA Gatornationals event information is below.
FUNNY CAR
No. 1 qualifier: Cruz Pedregon (Cruz Pedregon Racing) 4.047 sec., 296.05 mph
Matt Hagan, Magneti Marelli by Mopar/Rocky Boots Dodge Charger R/T
Qualifying position: No. 3
First-round opponent: Bob Tasca III
FRIDAY
Session 1: 4.140 sec., 296.24 mph
Session 2: 4.114, 302.89
SATURDAY
Session 3: 4.084, 308.99
Session 4: 6.457, 99.44
GOING FOR 200
This weekend at the Gatornationals, Don Schumacher Racing can reach the milestone of getting its 200th NHRA national event title.
DSR drivers Ron Capps and Tony Schumacher won respective Top Fuel and Funny Car titles at the last race near Phoenix to push the total to 198.
Two of the seven DSR teams in the Gatornationals would need to repeat the double-up to reach 200. That isn't farfetched considering DSR has won at least two titles at the same event 35 times since the organization based near Indianapolis began fielding more than one team in 2001.
DSR also is the only organization in NHRA history to have won event titles in each of the series' four pro categories.
GATORNATIONALS NITRO SCHEDULE (All times EDT)
Sunday: 11 a.m., championship eliminations
NHRA ON ESPN2 (All times EDT)
Sunday: 1:30 a.m., 8 a.m. (re-air) qualifying; 7 p.m. eliminations
More...
with No. 3 qualifying effort for Sunday's Gatornationals eliminations
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (March 16, 2013) - The good times keep rolling for Matt Hagan and his Magneti Marelli/Mopar/Rocky Boots Funny Car team in the NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville, Fla. The Don Schumacher Racing team will start from the third spot with plenty of confidence for Sunday's eliminations.
On Saturday afternoon under blue skies and a bright sun, Hagan's new yellow-and-blue, 10,000-horsepower Dodge Charger R/T unleashed a 4.084-second run during the third of four qualifying sessions to move them up to No. 3 in the 16-car field.
"I think that the car is going down the race track well," Hagan said. "We've had four laps and the car had improved every session until the final one where we were trying some things to see what the track would hold.
"Obviously it didn't hold but now we have the information in our books and I think we have a lot of momentum to build on going into race day tomorrow."
Hagan will race No. 14 qualifier Bob Tasca III during the opening round of eliminations Sunday at the Florida track.
"With our good qualifying effort in this Magneti Marelli offered by Mopar Dodge Charger, (crew chief Dickie Venables) has some great data heading into Sunday. We really struggled last year and Dickie doesn't have a whole lot of data to go off this early in the season so it's huge that we have so much just from this event."
Like many other cars in the final qualifying session Saturday, Hagan's Dodge suffered tire smoke but Hagan says it doesn't faze him for eliminations.
"The track can be tricky here and we found that out on that last pass, but other than that run and for whatever reason this car is responding well to what Dickie is doing," he said.
"The biggest thing for us is to keep that confidence and that momentum moving forward and we won't take our first-round opponent lightly. We just have to go up there and do what we've been doing all weekend long and that's go down the race track and not beat ourselves."
Hagan goes into Sunday's eliminations third in Mello Yello Drag Racing Series points standings and within one round of Courtney Force in second place.
"It's still early in the season but we're sitting in the top three in points and we want to stay there, so tomorrow is a big day for this team."
Matt Hagan's qualifying results and other NHRA Gatornationals event information is below.
FUNNY CAR
No. 1 qualifier: Cruz Pedregon (Cruz Pedregon Racing) 4.047 sec., 296.05 mph
Matt Hagan, Magneti Marelli by Mopar/Rocky Boots Dodge Charger R/T
Qualifying position: No. 3
First-round opponent: Bob Tasca III
FRIDAY
Session 1: 4.140 sec., 296.24 mph
Session 2: 4.114, 302.89
SATURDAY
Session 3: 4.084, 308.99
Session 4: 6.457, 99.44
GOING FOR 200
This weekend at the Gatornationals, Don Schumacher Racing can reach the milestone of getting its 200th NHRA national event title.
DSR drivers Ron Capps and Tony Schumacher won respective Top Fuel and Funny Car titles at the last race near Phoenix to push the total to 198.
Two of the seven DSR teams in the Gatornationals would need to repeat the double-up to reach 200. That isn't farfetched considering DSR has won at least two titles at the same event 35 times since the organization based near Indianapolis began fielding more than one team in 2001.
DSR also is the only organization in NHRA history to have won event titles in each of the series' four pro categories.
GATORNATIONALS NITRO SCHEDULE (All times EDT)
Sunday: 11 a.m., championship eliminations
NHRA ON ESPN2 (All times EDT)
Sunday: 1:30 a.m., 8 a.m. (re-air) qualifying; 7 p.m. eliminations
More...
