In a candid discussion on the Dirty Mo Media podcast, four-time NHRA Funny Car world champion Matt Hagan opened up about safety concerns in the sport following a harrowing crash involving fellow racer John Force at the NHRA Virginia Nationals.
The crash occurred during Force’s first-round race at Virginia Motorsports Park. His car, crossing the finish line in 4.100 seconds at a speed of 302.62 miles per hour, suffered a catastrophic engine failure. The incident sent the car, engulfed in flames, careening across the track. It slammed into the concrete guardwall on the left side before ricocheting into the right guardrail, finally coming to rest in the middle of the track.
Reflecting on the incident, Hagan voiced his opinion that the current regulations tethering Funny Car bodies are potentially more dangerous than beneficial. He believes that allowing some of the fire to escape during an engine explosion could mitigate risks.
In his interview on Dirty Mo Media, Hagan stated, “I think we’ve all had conversations in the background of what can we do to make this sport safer for us as drivers, obviously for our fans, for everybody. Every time something happens, unfortunately you take and you pick apart that situation. There are some safety things that are going on that I feel like need to be changed on these cars.
Hagan acknowledged that the fans’ safety needs to be of upmost importance, just like the drivers’, but in this case, the drivers need to be put at the forefront.
“We’ve got to take care of our fans,” he added. “I understand that, but, you know, tying these bodies down is just the wrong way to go, I feel in my opinion, if those chutes come out and that body goes away, the fire goes away, the chutes are out, the car runs straight.
“[Force] had a couple things there that just didn’t go his way,” Hagan continued. “I feel that we really need to address that as a sport, as a sanctioning body to see what we can do to make this safer for our drivers. As far as the fire goes, as far as the parachutes, as far as just not tying these things down. That’s just so much energy down there at the finish line when you blow one up. I’ve done that several times and you can’t explain it to someone. It’s the same principle of if you put a firecracker in your hand and you open your hand up, you know it’ll burn you, but if you close your hand it’s going to knock your fingers off.
Hagan’s perspective comes from a place of experience and concern for both drivers and fans. He highlighted the immense energy involved in a Funny Car engine explosion and the need for the sport to continually reassess and improve safety measures. His call for reconsidering the tethering of car bodies underscores a broader conversation within the NHRA community about balancing performance and safety in one of motorsport’s most thrilling and high-stakes environments.
“That’s what we’re trying to do right now we’re trying to close our hand around this these Funny Car motors and when they go boom it’s just it’s a lot of energy down there for the driver to to take on. I’ve been a big voice of being against that rule for a long time, but sometimes it takes some things like this for us to go back and reevaluate things,” he confessed.
As Hagan continues to champion safety reforms, his voice adds to the critical dialogue aimed at ensuring that the sport evolves to protect its participants and spectators.
This story was originally published on July 12, 2024. 
