Matt Hagan has fastest Funny Car pass in NHRA history on Saturday in Topeka
Funny Car driver Matt Hagan had a record-breaking run on the 2nd day of the NHRA Menards Heartland Nationals on Saturday in Topeka. Hagan broke both the world record in elapsed time and speed with a pass of Trio.802 at 338.85 mph. (Submitted photo and photo by Chris Neal/The Capital-Journal)
Funny Car driver Matt Hagan flies down the track during a record violating run on the 2nd day of the NHRA Menards Heartland Nationals on Saturday. Hagan broke both the world records in elapsed time and speed with a pass of Three.802 at 338.85 mph. (Chris Neal/The Capital-Journal)
Funny Car driver Matt Hagan waits to make his run the track during the 2nd day of the NHRA Menards Heartland Nationals on Saturday. Hagan broke both the national records in elapsed time and speed with a pass of Trio.802 at 338.85 mph. (Chris Neal/The Capital-Journal)
Technically, the national Funny Car speed record that Robert Hight set Friday night in the Menards NHRA Heartland Nationals qualifying wasn`t official unless it made it through the weekend intact.
But Hight`s three hundred thirty seven mph run was enough to get Matt Hagan`s attention, and his response, Saturday at Heartland Park Topeka.
Hagan had set the previous national record of 335.57 mph in the two thousand sixteen Nationals at HPT, a record that held up for a total year, until Hight`s big run.
And Hagan, the two-time Mello Yello Series champ and last year`s Topeka winner, wasn`t glad to be taken out of the record book, even temporarily.
«I was sick, I didn`t want to see that,» Hagan said about Hight`s Friday night pass. «I was like, ‘Damn, we`ve got to get that back.` Obviously it`s sickening to see someone steal your record, your gusto like that. We`ve carried that for over a year.»
The reaction by Hagan and the Mopar Express Lane team was a run of Three.802 seconds at 338.85 mph, the quickest and fastest run in NHRA history, in Saturday`s very first of two qualifying sessions.
«We had an amazing hot rod,» said Hagan, a 34-year-old Virginia cattle farmer. «Obviously that`s Mopar power speaking out noisy right there. It`s something Dickie Venables (squad chief) and those guys I knew they could do.
«Don Schumacher (team holder) provides with us with all the parts and chunks to go out there and do something like that, but you have to have a race track and a race surface like this out here and obviously the conditions to roll in here and do that. It was pretty cool tho’ when you get in the car and strapped in and Dickie`s like, ‘Hold on, you`re going to go for a rail.`
«Everybody talks about extreme sports. This is as extreme as it gets – three hundred thirty eight miles an hour and you`ve got a steering wheel inbetween your lap. That is craziness and it`s not even that it`s three hundred thirty miles an hour, it`s that we`re doing it in 1,000 feet. There you go for your extreme sports. This is about as extreme as it gets.»
Obviously, setting both finishes of national records in his last two Heartland Park appearances has made the track one of Hagan`s favorites.
«You`ve got cloud cover, it`s cool, and I guess the air`s good, but there`s no bumps or dips or stuff,» Hagan said. «We go to some tracks where you`re like, «Why are even racing here?` This is just one of those better tracks as far as conditions on the racetrack.
«This is just a excellent racetrack and the conditions are good and the fans are fine. I actually stand out at the ropes talking more about cattle farming here than I do anywhere.»
Courtney Force also had a big run Saturday, clocking an elapsed time of Trio.815 seconds at 335.23 mph to budge into the No. Two spot. Hight, Force`s John Force Racing teammate, qualified third (Three.826, 337.66), while Hagan`s DSR teammates, Jack Beckman (Three.844, 331.77) and Tommy Johnson Jr. (Three.847, 331.61), rounded out the top five.
John Force, the 16-time world champ and nine-time winner at Heartland Park, qualified sixth and defending Mello Yello Series champ Ron Capps ended up No. 7.