Hagan holds Midwest Funny Car pole with Gateway records; DSR teammate Schumacher is No. 2 in Top Fuel with speed mark
MADISON, IL – Matt Hagan with crew chief Dickie Venables continues to roll – and roll quickly and fast – with their nitro machine.
Their Mopar/Rocky Boots Dodge Charger R/T earned the provisional pole Friday evening when Hagan completed his run in 4.001 seconds at 320.20 mph that set Gateway Motorsports Park NHRA Funny Car records for elapsed time and speed on the opening day of the AAA Insurance Midwest Nationals near St. Louis.
“Dickie and (assistant crew chief Michael Knudsen) they were like ‘Let’s go put a 3 on the board’ and you get in the car and your eyes get as big as saucers,” Hagan said. “It’s still a phenomenal feeling; just having the opportunity to go out there and try to run a 3 is pretty cool, especially here in St. Louis. They have a great track and we had great conditions.
“It was just on an amazing run. The car, I wish I could tell you I was in there driving the wheels off of it, but it was as smooth as silk. It’s a great feeling and a great deal to come out here and put this car in the No. 1 spot. We just have to keep doing this, that’s six points that we picked up here in qualifying today and we need to try to do that tomorrow.”
Hagan was quickest in Friday’s first session to earn three bonus points and then earned another three with his later run that enabled him to extend his championship lead to 57 over Cruz Pedregon.
If Hagan’s time holds through Saturday’s final two sessions, it would be his career-best fifth No. 1 qualifying position with three events remaining in the six-race NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoff.
DSR teammates Jack Beckman (qualified 11th), Ron Capps (13th) and Johnny Gray (15th) were unable to master the ideal conditions created when the session was delayed for track clean-up by about two hours to around 7:30 p.m.
In Top Fuel, seven-time world champion Tony Schumacher nearly joined Hagan atop the qualifying ladders but points leader Shawn Langdon of Al-Anabi Racing knocked him off the pole on the last run of the night with a time of 3.761 (326.40).
Schumacher posted a time of 3.782 at a track-record 327.74 mph to lead DSR’s three dragsters. Reigning world champion Antron Brown recorded a time of 3.796 to be one of six drivers to reach into the 3.7-second range in the night session and ranks sixth.
Langdon swept six bonus points and moved to a six-point lead over Massey and Kalitta, who fell from being tied with Langdon for the lead to being tied with Massey in second place. Schumacher is fifth, 91 behind Langdon.
