JOLIET, Ill. – As 2010's breakthrough Funny Car driver of the year takes inventory of his 2011 season, he's been spending a bit of time looking at an empty column on the left side of his stats sheet.
Matt Hagan, driver of the national record-holding DieHard Dodge Charger R/T and the runner-up in last season's dramatic down-to-the-wire points chase with John Force, is puzzled by the zero he sees there and is determined to start adding a few digits to the empty win column.
The way Hagan sees it, there isn't a better place to start a winning streak than at the O'Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA Nationals, July 7-10 at ultra-fast Route 66 Raceway, located just south of Chicago. Hagan is the defending Funny Car winner there and last season logged one of the best performances of the season at the Illinois facility. Larry Dixon (Top Fuel), Mike Edwards (Pro Stock) and LE Tonglet (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also are defending winners of the NHRA Full Throttle Series event which will be televised on ESPN2 HD.
With only six races remaining in the 16-race regular season, NHRA teams don't have much time left before the top 10 drivers will be locked into the Full Throttle Countdown to the Championship, NHRA's six-race playoffs.
Hagan, who got off to a fast start with a runner-up finish at the season-opening Winternationals in Pomona and followed that with a No. 1 qualifying performance and semifinal effort at the Gatornationals in Florida, has been in a mini-slump for the last eight races, advancing past the quarterfinals only once.
"We want to win some races and get on a roll going into the Countdown," Hagan said. "We did that last year, winning in Chicago, and then made a good run for the championship. We want to put the DieHard car back into that position as this season moves into its later stages."
He is currently sitting in fifth place in the standings, but knows that his team, which is led by crew chief Tommy DeLago, is hungry to unleash the beast and get back to the winner's circle as quickly as possible.
"It's great to see the guys continue to work hard, with their chins up, but we are all ready to begin winning," Hagan said. "We've got to get our 'mojo' working for Chicago, where we had a great win last season. That win is coming soon, and Joliet sounds like the right place for it to happen."
Others to watch in the highly competitive Funny Car category include series points leader Mike Neff, who has won three races while serving as both driver and crew chief for the Castrol GTX Ford Mustang. His teammate, Robert Hight, is a four-time winner this season in the Auto Club Mustang, while former drag racing instructor Jack Beckman has scored two victories in his Aaron's/Valvoline Dodge Charger. Veteran drivers Cruz Pedregon and Ron Capps have been to final rounds this season but are still looking for their first wins.
In Top Fuel, veteran Funny Car driver turned dragster pilot Del Worsham leads the point standings with four victories aboard his Al-Anabi Racing dragster. Worsham is a three-time Funny Car winner at Route 66 and if he wins this weekend in Top Fuel he would join Gary Scelzi as the only winners at this track in both nitro categories. Several talented drivers will be trying to keep that from happening, including Worsham's teammate, defending world champ and race winner Dixon, hometown favorite Tony Schumacher, who has won here three times in his U.S. Army dragster, along with Antron Brown, red-hot Spencer Massey, Doug Kalitta, Brandon Bernstein and Morgan Lucas.
Jason Line is atop the series standings in Pro Stock with three victories in his Summit Racing Pontiac GXP. Defending event winner Edwards is always a threat at Route 66 in his Penhall/Interstate Batteries GXP. Erica Enders, who posted a runner-up finish here in 2005, has been knocking on the door to winner's circle in her ZaZa Energy Chevy Cobalt in her quest to become the first female Pro Stock winner in NHRA history. National record holder Rodger Brogdon, talented rookie Vincent Nobile, who won at Norwalk, Ohio two weeks ago, four-time world champ Greg Anderson, who has never won at Chicago, and Team Mopar's Allen Johnson, are all among the leaders in the 200-mph factory hot rod category.
In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Eddie Krawiec's two victories aboard his Screamin' Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson lead the two-wheel category. A host of talented riders are among the pre-race favorites, including defending race winner Tonglet, Karen Stoffer, Andrew Hines, Matt Smith, Hector Arana Sr., Jerry Savoie, Michael Phillips, Jim Underdahl, Hector Arana Jr. and Steve Johnson.
* SCHEDULE: Full Throttle Drag Racing Series qualifying sessions are scheduled for 4 and 7 p.m. on Friday, July 8 and Saturday, July 9. Final eliminations begin at 11 a.m. on Sunday, July 10.
* TICKETS: Tickets are available for the O'Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA Nationals. Please call Route 66 Raceway at (815) 727-RACE or visit www.route66raceway.com.
* ON TV: ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will televise two hours of qualifying coverage at 9:30 p.m. (ET) on Saturday, July 9. ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will televise three hours of eliminations coverage beginning at 9 p.m. (ET) on Sunday, July 10.
* LUCAS OIL SERIES: The O'Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA Nationals also will feature competition in eight categories in the NHRA Lucas Oil Series, where the future stars of the NHRA Full Throttle Series are born. Lucas Oil Series qualifying begins at 9 a.m. on July 7. Lucas Oil Series eliminations begin at 9 a.m. on July 8 and continue through July 10.
* ON THE WEB: Get live timing, scoring, multimedia and the latest news updates from every NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event on the Internet at www.nhra.com. Visit the official NHRA pages on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
