NHRA

Matt Hagan Atlanta preview

Atlanta Dragway

Published: May 11, 2011, 9:31 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

MATT HAGAN LOOKS TO REGAIN WINNING WAYS BEGINNING THIS WEEKEND

COMMERCE, Ga., May 10, 2011 – A combination of new things – a new body, a new sponsor and a new approach – being rolled out this weekend for the 31st annual NHRA Southern Nationals here at Atlanta Dragway provides Matt Hagan with optimism for both the race and the remainder of the season.

Hagan will drive a unique black-and-orange Autolite/DieHard Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car for the Atlanta race. In addition, DirtRoadNation.com, one of the largest Oakley distributors/retailers in the South, comes on board as an associate sponsor for the remainder of the season.

Matt Hagan, Sears DieHard Dodge Charger Funny Car Driver

Photo by: Ted Rossino

According to the 28-year-old Don Schumacher Racing driver, his team is returning to the methods and approach which brought him to within a couple of rounds of winning the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Funny Car championship.

“I’m excited to get to this race,” said the working cattle farmer from Christiansburg, Va. “Tommy DeLago (crew chief) has us getting back to what we know, what worked for us last year.

“We’ve been in sort of test mode most of this season, trying new things and we might have sacrificed some races along the way. It’s now time to get down to business, down to racing.

“And I’m excited doing it in a new body, with some great new sponsors, as well as our primary one, DieHard, which has been just a terrific supporter for us.”

Hagan opened the 2011 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season with a final-round appearance, then a semifinal one, followed by two first-round ousters before reaching the quarterfinals in the last race. He comes to Atlanta Dragway holding sixth place in the Funny Car championship standings.

“It’s now time to go rounds, get deeper into each race and I believe we will,” he said. “Tommy’s been working really hard and I know he can knock one out of the park; he’s proven it!”

-source: dsr

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Larry Morgan Atlanta preview

Next article Greg Anderson Atlanta preview

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Spy shots of 2027 NASCAR Ford Mustang testing at Charlotte, but what's different?

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Charlotte II

37 min

Spy shots of 2027 NASCAR Ford Mustang testing at Charlotte, but what's different?

Five key takeaways from F1's big African Grand Prix reveal in Rwanda

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1 1 h

Five key takeaways from F1's big African Grand Prix reveal in Rwanda

Niels Koolen makes switch to Abel Motorsports ahead of 2027 Indy NXT campaign

Indy NXT

IndL Indy NXT 2 h

Niels Koolen makes switch to Abel Motorsports ahead of 2027 Indy NXT campaign

GT World Challenge Portimao: All you need to know about season finale featuring Max Verstappen

GT World Challenge Europe Endurance

WCEE GT World Challenge Europe Endurance 3 h

GT World Challenge Portimao: All you need to know about season finale featuring Max Verstappen

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts