"We still have a lot of racing to do.”
Qualified: No. 11 (3.943 E.T. at 325.85 MPH)
The Results:
E1: Foul, Red Light; defeated by Bob Tasca III 3.957 E.T. at 324.59 MPH
Race Recap:
The defending Norwalk Funny Car event champ entered the weekend hoping to close out the June four-race swing with a long Sunday of going rounds. Behind the wheel of the Sandvik Coromant Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, Matt Hagan faced Bob Tasca III in the opening round of eliminations. In an uncharacteristic move for one of the best ‘leavers’ in the class, Hagan stood on the gas early and activated the red light, allowing his opponent the automatic round win.
Quotable:
“I messed up bad today. Red lit, double-stepped it. I was up there ready to go, and it seemed like a long light to me. My foot said ‘go,’ and the tree hadn’t fallen yet. I was a little too amped up, I guess. We have a little break (in the schedule) coming up. We’ll get back into the groove of things and have a fresh start in Epping. I’ve got some time to let the dust settle. We didn’t have such a great four-race swing, but we still have a lot of racing to do.”
We are going to have turn things around and start making things happen.”
Qualified: No. 9 (4.012 E.T. at 317.27 MPH)
The Results:
E1: 4.376 E.T. at 223.50 MPH defeated by Tommy Johnson Jr. 3.964 E.T. at 311.92 MPH
Race Recap:
Two-time world champion Matt Hagan continued his recent trend of running into fellow DSR Hellcat Funny Car racers during the early rounds of eliminations. After qualifying the MOPAR Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat ninth with his second round qualifying run of 4.012 seconds, Hagan was paired against Tommy Johnson Jr. to open eliminations. Both left the starting line with identical .080-reaction times, but Hagan dropped a cylinder early into the run and had to click it off when his machine made a hard move toward the centerline.
Quotable:
“This was a really tough weekend, and it all comes down to qualifying. We just have to have the results on Friday and Saturday to put us in a better position on Sunday. Top-half would have been huge today. We struggled with that left lane and kind of fell victim to it. We are going to test tomorrow and hoping we can make some runs to get ourselves squared away. That’s all we can really do is keep digging. We have a big responsibility to our sponsors in MOPAR, Pennzoil and Sandvik and all the people that make this happen. We are going to have turn things around and start making things happen.”
Next NHRA Event
FC Mello Yello Points
Unofficial NHRA Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship Standings:
| 1 | Robert Hight | 1022 |
| 2 | John Force | 869 |
| 3 | Tommy Johnson Jr | 856 |
| 4 | Jack Beckman | 819 |
| 5 | Ron Capps | 809 |
| 6 | J.R. Todd | 764 |
| 7 | Bob Tasca III | 689 |
| 8 | Matt Hagan | 656 |
| 9 | Tim Wilkerson | 619 |
| 10 | Shawn Langdon | 580 |
