Matt Hagan and the Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage Dodge // SRT Hellcat Funny Car team raced to their second win of the season, 57th of his career Sunday at the Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway.
The four-time world champion secured the victory at his home track with a 4.125-second pass at 310.91 mph to defeat second generation racer Daniel Wilkerson who ran 6.317 pass at 128.89 mph. Hagan’s win comes two days after teammate Leah Pruett picked up her first win of the season from the postponed NHRA New England Nationals. Both also entered race day as the No. 1 qualifiers.
“I always call myself an old plow horse. Hook me up to the plow and I’ll just go out there and get the job done,” Hagan said. “I’m not pretty like Leah or famous like Tony, but at the end of the day, the field’s plowed.
“For Leah (Pruett) to finish off the New England win here on Friday and for us to come back and to just beat the rain dealing with the weather in and out, it was a special weekend for TSR. The Safety Safari did a great job putting a good race track underneath us.
“Bristol is a special place for me. I’ve got a lot of home tracks—between Bristol, Charlotte, Rockingham, and Richmond—but this one has always felt like home. We are blessed to be here. The last time I won here was Father’s Day weekend, and I was crying like a kid—freaking sobbing like a kid. That one was emotional, and this one means a lot, too.
En route to his 100th final round, Hagan took down Jon Capps, had a bye run and sent two-time and reigning world champion Austin Prock packing.
“This weekend was challenging. My guys did a great job, because I don’t know that we ran on eight cylinders any run. It was a driving job out there as far as keeping it in the groove. Daniel Wilkerson was driving his butt off, though. He’s a good kid from an amazing family. His dad, Tim, is just salt-of-the-earth. I was rooting for the kid, but I had to tell myself, ‘Don’t root for him too hard, his day is coming.’
“That’s the atmosphere out here in NHRA. We have good, salt-of-the-earth people, and it feels like family. I think that’s why I’ve been doing it for 20 years. Anywhere else, I probably would have packed it up and tried to make more money than what Tony’s paying me, but I just love doing it.
“The biggest thing I can put in perspective is that people aren’t replaceable. I’ve had some of my guys for 15 years. When you have a good group that digs deep and works hard for you, it’s something you can’t buy. You can have all the money in the world and buy all the parts, but it still has to come together, and the people make that happen. That’s why we have over 55 wins now and four championships. I’d love to get our fifth before we step away from the sport. It was a lot of fun here at Bristol, and we’re really glad to get a win for JHG. We gotta keep guys like Jason in our sport.”
The Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series continues June 26-28 with the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio. The event marks the halfway point of the Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series season.
