- Reigning NHRA Mission Foods World Funny Car champion Matt Hagan kicked off the 2024 drag racing season Saturday with a runner-up finish in the inaugural PRO Superstar Shootout
- Driving the TSR Johnson Horsepowered Garage Dodge//SRT Hellcat, Hagan advanced to the final round with victories over J.R. Todd in the first round and Bob Tasca in the semi-finals
- Hagan had a quicker reaction time off the starting line over Austin Prock in the final round and recorded his weekend-best 3.872 at 329.75 miles per hour, but lost to Prock’s 3.845
- Leah Pruett, Hagan’s teammate at Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) made her only 2024 Top Fuel appearance and advanced to the semi-finals after defeating Mike Salinas in the quarter-finals
- n a rematch of the NHRA finals last November against Doug Kalitta, Pruett clocked a 3.741 to Kalitta’s 3.709 as Kalitta went on to win the PRO Superstar Shootout event
- Driving the TSR Johnson Horsepowered Garage Dodge//SRT dragster, it was Pruett’s lone 2024 Top Fuel appearance as she and husband Tony Stewart will start a family this year
- Stewart, a NASCAR Hall of Famer, will take over the driving chores of the TSR Dodge//SRT Direct Connection Top Fuel dragster at the NHRA Gatornationals set for March 8-10
- Stewart, second in last year’s national NHRA Alcohol Dragster points, will be a rookie in the 2024 Top Fuel division as he seeks another title in a fourth different motorsports discipline
- Follow Dodge in NHRA action at DodgeGarage.com
February 12, 2024, Auburn Hills, Mich. – Reigning and defending NHRA Mission Foods World Funny Car champion Matt Hagan drove his Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) Johnson Horsepowered Garage Dodge//SRT® Hellcat machine to the runner-up spot Saturday in the inaugural SCAG Equipment PRO Superstar Shootout at Bradenton Motorsports Park.
Hagan, the four-time NHRA World Funny Car champion, kicked off his 2024 drag racing campaign by winning two rounds of action under sunny Florida skies and advancing to the final round against rookie Funny Car racer Austin Prock, who replaced Hagan’s arch-rival Robert Hight in the John Force Racing car.
Hagan, who scored six NHRA national event wins in 2024, defeated J.R. Todd in the first round and Bob Tasca III in the semi-finals to go against Prock in the final round. Unfortunately, Hagan, who had a quicker reaction time, ran a 3.872 to Prock’s 3.845 and lost by a close margin.
Despite the final round defeat, Hagan was upbeat after the event as his TSR Dodge/SRT Funny Car team had some solid testing runs as they prepared for the Amalie NHRA Gatornationals set for March 8-10 in Gainesville, Fla., in the opening 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series event.
“It’s been a busy week with all of the testing before the race weekend started,” said Hagan. “All in all, we really couldn’t have asked for much more getting to the final round. I’m so thankful for my crew and how hard they all work. We had a good testing session. I think the PRO Superstar Shootout was a great event and a super way to kick off the 2024 season. We would have liked to beat Austin, but it was good preparation for the upcoming Gatornationals.”
Pruett, third in the 2023 NHRA Top Fuel point standings, made the decision in December to step out of the TSR Dodge//SRT dragster in 2024 to concentrate on starting a family this year with husband Tony Stewart and the PRO Superstar Shootout was her only 2024 Top Fuel appearance, driving the Johnson Horsepowered Garage Dodge//SRT car.
In the opening round Saturday, Pruett defeated Mike Salinas with a 3.972 to Salinas’ 4.412 and advanced to take on Doug Kalitta, who defeated Pruett in the final race of 2023 at Pomona, Calif., for the prestigious NHRA World Top Fuel crown. In another close race, Kalitta ran 3.709 to Pruett’s 3.741 and the Michigan driver went on to capture the PRO Superstar Shootout title.
“It was a perfect race for me to hang my hat on and feel good about my decision to step out of the seat for a while,” said Pruett after the race. “I got to enjoy the intensity of racing that came with just trying to qualify for the race, as well as two tough elimination rounds. I wanted redemption bad against Doug in the semis, but it will just have to wait a couple years now.
“We leave Bradenton with some more questions in our setup. But that is okay because our program will be stronger for it, as we transition into Tony testing the car and driving it from here on out. The PRO Superstar Shootout was very successful, and I’m honored to be a part of that history.”
Both Hagan and Stewart will now test their respective TSR Direct Connection Dodge//SRT racecars in the coming weeks in preparation for the March 8-10 Amalie NHRA Gatornationals, the opening event in the 21-race 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series.
@DodgeMoparMotorsports on Instagram
The @DodgeMoparMotorsports Instagram channel continues to share content capturing Dodge//SRT Mopar® drivers on the track. Fans can see action from the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series
and NHRA Sportsman grassroots racers, competing in classes such as Factory Stock Showdown, Stock and Super Stock, as well as additional motorsports series.
Dodge//SRT
For more than 100 years, the Dodge brand has carried on the spirit of brothers John and Horace Dodge. Their influence continues today as Dodge shifts into high gear with a lineup that delivers
unrivaled performance in each of the segments where they compete.
Dodge drives forward as a pure performance brand, offering SRT Hellcat versions of the Dodge Challenger, Dodge Charger and Dodge Durango, as well as an R/T plug-in hybrid electric vehicle
(PHEV) version of the all-new 2023 Dodge Hornet, representing the brand’s first-ever electrified performance vehicle. Dodge delivers the drag-strip-dominating 807-horsepower Dodge Challenger SRT
Super Stock; the 797-horsepower Dodge Charger SRT Redeye, the most powerful and fastest mass-produced sedan in the world; and the 710-horsepower Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat, the most powerful
SUV ever; and best-in-class standard performance in the compact utility vehicle segment with the Dodge Hornet. Combined, these four muscle vehicles make Dodge the industry’s most powerful brand,
offering more horsepower than any other American brand across its entire lineup.
In 2022, the Dodge brand ranked No. 1 in the J.D. Power APEAL Study (mass market), making it the only domestic brand ever to do so three years in a row. In 2020, Dodge was named the “#1 Brand in Initial Quality,” making it the first domestic brand ever to rank No. 1 in the J.D. Power Initial Quality Study (IQS).
Fans can follow all the NHRA action this season at DodgeGarage, the one-stop portal for Dodge//SRT and Mopar drag racing news, including daily updates and access to an online racing HQ, news, events, galleries, available downloads and merchandise. Dodge is part of the portfolio of brands offered by leading global automaker and mobility provider Stellantis (NYSE: STLA).
Mopar
Mopar is the global name for Stellantis genuine parts and authentic accessories.
A simple combination of the words MOtor and PARts, Mopar offers exceptional service, parts and customer care. Born in 1937 as the name of a line of antifreeze products, Mopar has evolved over more
than 85 years to represent both complete vehicle care and authentic performance for owners and enthusiasts worldwide.
Mopar made its mark in the 1960s during the muscle car era with performance parts to enhance speed and handling for both on-road and racing use. Later, Mopar expanded to include technical service
and customer support, and today integrates service, parts and customer care operations in order to enhance customer and dealer support worldwide.
Complete information on Mopar is available at www.mopar.com and the newly redesigned Mopar blog at www.blog.mopar.com.
Follow Dodge, Mopar and Stellantis news and video on:
Company blog: blog.stellantisnorthamerica.com
Media website: media.stellantisnorthamerica.com
Dodge brand: www.dodge.com
DodgeGarage: www.dodgegarage.com
Mopar brand: www.mopar.com
Mopar blog: blog.mopar.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/dodge and www.facebook.com/mopar
Instagram: @DodgeMoparMotorsports, @DodgeOfficial and @OfficialMopar
Twitter: @Dodge, @OfficialMopar and @StellantisNA
YouTube: www.youtube.com/dodge, www.youtube.com/c/mopar and www.youtube.com/StellantisNA