Matt Hagan set a national record and was among Antron Brown, Kurt Johnson and Eddie Krawiec as winners Sunday at the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals at zMAX Dragway.
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It was the first of six races in the NHRA Full Throttle Countdown to the Championship, the six-race playoffs to world champions.
Hagan produced Funny Car’s first three-second run and after taking the No. 1 qualifying position he topped points leader Mike Neff in the finals with a run of 301.07 mph.
“It’s something else to sit in a race car when it has that kind of potential,” said Hagan.
“This is the third national record we’ve set with this car and that’s phenomenal to me. To have a group of guys around you like (crew chief) Tommy DeLago, (assistant crew chief) Glen Huszar, and all the guys who beat this thing up and put it back together is phenomenal. It’s truly a fairy tale deal to go out there, set the record and win the race.” AHN | All Headline News
Don Schumacher Racing teammate Jack Beckman also set the new Funny Car record at 318.99 mph, but lost to Hagan in the semifinals.
Brown got his third straight win and fifth of the season in Top Fuel, holding off teammate Spencer Massey in the finals with a time of 3.784 seconds at 325.14 mph. Brown also moved atop the points standings for the first time this season.
Brown’s other Don Schumacher Racing teammate Tony Schumacher set the Top Fuel record at 327.90 mph, while Massey took over the second spot in the points standings — 16 points behind Brown. The Associated Press
“The radar is on us now, so we have to dig harder with all these guys gunning for us,” said Brown. “When we raced Tony Schumacher [in the semifinals], we had nothing to lose. He was running on a whole ’nother level. Our Aaron’s/Matco Tools guys threw the kitchen sink at it and threw the whole tractor trailer with it. We threw our other tractor trailer at it again for the final.”
In Pro Stock, after more than three years since his last race win, Johnson held off Jason Line to get the win. Johnson powered his Johnson Racing Chevy Cobalt to a 6.545 at 210.97 mph past points leader Line to get his 40th career win.
“It’s been a real battle, and we finally figured out that maybe we needed a new car,” said Johnson. “I brought this car out in Bristol and didn’t qualify, but we’ve been adapting, and it really started to thunder in Brainerd. It’s totally different than anything we’ve had since about 2003, but I think we know what to do with it now, and it’s proved itself today.”
Krawiec kept his Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson at the top of the pack all weekend when he picked up the No. 1 qualifier Saturday and raced to his third win of the season Sunday. Krawiec rode to a 6.870 at 196.42 mph past runner-up Karen Stoffer and strengthen his points lead over the competition.
“I came into the Countdown as the points leader, and my attitude changed,” said Krawiec. “I struggled a lot on the Tree this year and gave up a couple of race wins in my mind. I feel like I’ve been riding well but not racing well. When you have low e.t. and set national records but lose rounds because of bad riding, it wears on you. I shook it off coming into the Countdown and told myself, ‘You’re leading the points. You’re obviously a good rider and a good racer.’ ” NHRA
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