Mopar was back in the winner’s circle with Don Schumacher Racing’s Matt Hagan as he drove his Dodge Charger R/T to the Funny Car title win at the rescheduled National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Carolina Nationals elimination rounds at Texas Motorplex. It was Hagan’s second victory of the season, but more importantly, the win was earned in the first race of the six-event playoff series called the NHRA “Countdown to the Championship” to propel him from seventh to third place in the points standings.

Hagan defeated rival John Force for his second victory of the season and 12th of his career. Force fouled at the start in his Ford Mustang, giving the automatic victory to Hagan, who posted a 4.200 at 297.17 in his Rocky Boots/Mopar Dodge Charger.

“Congratulations to Matt Hagan from everyone at Mopar on his Carolina Nationals title and a first win in this year’s Countdown to the Championship for the Dodge Charger R/T,” said Pietro Gorlier, President and CEO of Mopar, Chrysler Group LLC’s service, parts and customer-care brand. “It is a great way for Matt and the Don Schumacher Racing team to kick off the playoffs and make Mopar a serious contender for this year’s championship once again. It is also a wonderful way to show everyone that the legacy of the 426 Race HEMI engine continues to live on as we celebrate its 50th anniversary this season.”

The completion of last weekend’s eliminations rounds at the NHRA Carolina Nationals near Charlotte was rescheduled to run concurrently to Saturday’s qualifying sessions at Texas Motorplex. Hagan’s two qualifying laps also gave him round wins over Tim Wilkerson and Robert Hight, setting up a final showdown against veteran John Force. It was their seventh meeting in eliminations this season with a 1-5 win-loss record for the Mopar driver, but this time Hagan benefited from a premature red-light start by Force to earn his 12th career Wally trophy.

Hagan won the NHRA Funny Car World Championship for Mopar in 2011 and then came close to winning a second last season, finishing runner-up to Force. The Mopar driver posted a win in last year’s playoffs as well, but it came in the season finale against Force. This time, starting off the Countdown with a victory has Hagan energized.

“It really does excite me that the car is coming around, we’re qualifying well, and that’s the biggest thing with the Countdown,” said Hagan who qualified third for the Carolina Nationals and is now just 52 points behind points leader Force heading into Sunday’s regularly scheduled FallNationals eliminations. “You have to set yourself up for the first round match-up and have a good opportunity to go down the racetrack and win. These first round losses will eat you up out here. You have those only six races to make something happen so our game plan is to pull down a couple of wins, a couple of semifinals and minimize first round losses, and I think things can really swing our way.”

Event Essentials:  NHRA Pep Boys Carolina Nationals (Sept. 12-13 & 20th) Concord NC & Dallas TX 

Posted with files from  Pat Caporali & Bruce Biegler