{"id":1292,"date":"2014-11-20T17:36:53","date_gmt":"2014-11-20T17:36:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/?p=1292"},"modified":"2014-11-20T17:42:29","modified_gmt":"2014-11-20T17:42:29","slug":"hagan-wins-2nd-nhra-world-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/?p=1292","title":{"rendered":"Hagan Wins 2nd NHRA World Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"pomona-151x\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The 2014 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season finished just as it started for Matt Hagan, with the Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R\/T Funny Car driver meeting rival John Force in a final-round battle at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona \u2014 except this time the twist was a storybook ending for the Team Mopar star. Hagan exacted revenge for his NHRA Winternationals loss to Force back in February by claiming victory at the 50th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals and putting the cherry on top of a day in which he clinched the coveted 2014 NHRA Funny Car crown, the second of his career.<\/p>\n

Hagan\u2019s championship is the fifth in the last four years for the Mopar and Dodge brands, following his 2011 Funny Car title, teammate Jack Beckman\u2019s 2012 crown, and back-to-back NHRA Pro Stock championships by Allen Johnson (2012) and Jeg Coughlin Jr. (2013). The Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) driver\u2019s Pomona triumph marks his second consecutive at the season-ending NHRA Finals and the 14th overall Funny Car victory of his career in 30 final-round appearances. Hagan ends 2014 with four victories on the season; Mopar-powered Dodge Charger R\/T drivers combined to collect a total of seven wins.<\/p>\n

With the new 2015 Mopar Dodge Charger R\/T Funny Car set to make its debut at the NHRA Winternationals in February, the DSR team\u2019s current model Charger goes out on top with three NHRA Funny Car World Championships and a total of 69 NHRA Funny Car national event victories.<\/p>\n

\u201cCongratulations to Matt Hagan and Don Schumacher Racing from everyone at Mopar on the well-deserved NHRA Championship win,\u201d said Pietro Gorlier, President and CEO of Mopar, Chrysler Group LLC\u2019s service, parts and customer-care brand. \u201cTo win the Funny Car crown and the season finale is a wonderful way to finish off our year-long celebration of the 50-year legacy of the 426 HEMI engine. We are very proud of the team\u2019s accomplishments and appreciate their hard work to give Mopar a fifth NHRA championship in the last four seasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"HaganX\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Hagan, the No. 6 qualifier, watched from the cockpit as Force, in the pair ahead, won his own first-round match to pull closer in the title chase. Hagan answered the bell and advanced to the quarterfinals, posting the quickest pass of the round, 4.015\/320.05, to eliminate Chad Head (5.083\/167.63). Waiting in the second round was Hagan\u2019s DSR Dodge teammate, Ron Capps. After once again watching Force apply pressure by winning his match, Hagan held serve, knocking out Capps with a 4.081\/314.83 to a 6.801\/100.94.<\/p>\n

In the semifinals, faced with yet another all-Mopar Dodge DSR battle against Tommy Johnson Jr., Hagan clocked a winning 4.065\/315.86. With the 2014 title already clinched prior to his final-round battle against Force, Hagan added icing to the cake, racing the 16-time champ to the finish line first with a 4.076\/310.77 to Force\u2019s losing 4.086\/276.58. Hagan left first with a .049 reaction time, led until the 660-ft. mark, where Force edged ahead, then surged back near the stripe to claim the event win. The ending was fitting \u2014 for the fourth time in the last five years, Hagan and Forced duked it out for the NHRA Funny Car championship.\"mopar_logo1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not about how you start but how you finish,\u201d said Hagan, who began the six-race NHRA Countdown to the Championship back in the seventh spot but claimed three playoff wins on four final round appearances to end the season on top. \u201cI just can\u2019t believe that it all came together in such a fairytale way. It\u2019s just an awesome deal to win the championship and then also win the race. This Countdown format is crazy. You have to be strong in the Countdown and have some good races there, and the rest takes care of itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means a lot to be a two-time champion. Honestly, it\u2019s about our team and all the guys that have worked so hard. It may have come down to just one day, but really it\u2019s the last six races that led us to this point. Making the right decisions, digging deep and doing a gut-check out there \u2014 at the end of the day it comes down to my crew chief and my crew guys that have busted their butts day-in and day-out to make it happen, and I can\u2019t be prouder of them. It was one common goal and ten guys working together, and at the end of the day we got to hold both trophies up. I told myself this morning that this is what we worked hard for all year long. I don\u2019t need to sweat it. I don\u2019t need to be nervous. Just trust in your stuff and race your race car and enjoy the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe championship was really what we were after. The race win was the icing on the cake. But it solidified that we had a great race car. To be the best you have to beat the best and everyone says he (Force) is the best and we beat him. It was nice to finish it out strong. We beat him here this time last year (at the 2013 NHRA Finals) and we did it again, so hats off to him. They had a great car, but we had the better one today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"(John<\/a>

(John Force’s last ride for sponsor Castrol was a runner-up – top speed of the event effort)<\/p><\/div>\n

Event Essentials: \u00a0NHRA Auto Club Finals (Nov. 13-16th, 2014) Pomona CA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nNAME<\/strong><\/td>\nET<\/strong><\/td>\nMPH<\/strong><\/td>\nCAREER WIN<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Winner:<\/strong><\/td>\nMatt Hagan<\/td>\n\u00a04.076<\/td>\n\u00a0310.77<\/td>\n\u00a014th<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
R\/UP:<\/strong><\/td>\nJohn Force<\/td>\n\u00a04.086<\/td>\n\u00a0276.58<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Low ET:<\/strong><\/td>\nAlexis DeJoria<\/td>\n\u00a03.998<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Top Speed:<\/strong><\/td>\nJohn Force<\/td>\n<\/td>\n\u00a0320.58<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bump Spot:<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\n\u00a04.136<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Event Entries:<\/strong><\/td>\n\u00a022 cars<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\"(Alexis<\/a>

(Alexis DeJoria set low ET of the event at 3.998 secs)<\/p><\/div>\n

Posted by: \u00a0Pat Caporali<\/p>\n

Photos by: \u00a0Luke Nieuwhof<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2014 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season finished just as it started for Matt Hagan, with the Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R\/T Funny Car driver meeting rival John Force in a final-round battle at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona \u2014 except this time the twist was a storybook ending for the Team […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1292"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1292"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1296,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1292\/revisions\/1296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}