FUNNY CAR CRUNCH TIME ARRIVES
But it's not all positive.
Granted, Hagan is a National Hot Rod Association rookie. Just the same, he joins Pedregon, the reigning champion and Hight, a two-time series runner-up and 2005 rookie of the year, in a year-long struggle. Each has shown flashes of strength, but none has been consistent. None has coaxed the full potential from his car.
And all three are fighting to be one of the top 10 drivers who will vie for the championship in the Countdown's third edition.
They have a lot in common at the moment, Funny Car drivers Matt Hagan, Robert Hight, and Cruz Pedregon.
But it's not all positive.
Granted, Hagan is a National Hot Rod Association rookie. Just the same, he joins Pedregon, the reigning champion and Hight, a two-time series runner-up and 2005 rookie of the year, in a year-long struggle. Each has shown flashes of strength, but none has been consistent. None has coaxed the full potential from his car.
And all three are fighting to be one of the top 10 drivers who will vie for the championship in the Countdown's third edition.
Pedregon, in his Advance Auto Parts Toyota Solara, holds onto the 10th and final spot, with races at Brainerd (Minn.), Reading (Pa.), and Indianapolis remaining before the Funny Car field is set. Hagan is six points behind him in 11th place, and No. 12 Hight is 15 shy of the cut.
So the three are separated by only 15 points, a scenario that a single round of racing could scramble. While competitors enjoy the thrill of a tight battle, they enjoy it only when they're at the top of the order. It's nothing short of aggravating, maybe even embarrassing, to be clawing to make the Countdown field to avoid being forced to start a long stretch of planning for 2010.
"We pretty much have done a pretty good job of shooting ourselves in the foot," Pedregon said in a teleconference Tuesday, "and I'm sure, you know, Robert can probably say the same thing. And Matt's car's probably been as good as any of (ours). But we all lack consistency, which is why we are sitting here talking about the bump spot today."
Hight said he agreed.
"Consistency, that's the biggest reason, like Cruz said, why we are all here. We have not been consistent," the Auto Club Ford Mustang driver from John Force Racing said. "Going up the racetrack four times in qualifying and being up near the top four cars every run down the track helps. That's how you get momentum. The crew chief gets confidence; the driver gets confidence. That's something that we have not had much this year."
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
 |
Click to visit our sponsor's website
Hagan, who excelled in the IHRA with a class-best three Funny Car victories last year and finished third in the standings after stepping up to the nitro ranks, has nothing to which he can compare this season's experience.
"I'd say it's been a tough battle this year," Hagan said of his debut in the Don Schumacher-owned shelor.com Dodge Charger. "We started off strong, and we've had some bumps along the way. But I know in my heart, and I know our crew feels the same way, we have a front running car. We've qualified well, but we have to make it happen on race day."
Hagan was No. 1 qualifier at the most recent race, at Sonoma, Calif.'s Infineon Raceway. However, he lost in the first round to Pedregon and fell from the top 10.
Hight's starting-line snafu in the Sonoma semifinal cost him, yet he has an unwavering faith in crew chief Jimmy Prock and his team.
"John Force came up to me before (the first) round (at Sonoma) and told me, 'You have to believe in your team and you have to believe in your car.' Trust me, I told him I have never stopped believing in the Auto Club Mustang and my team. They are the best," Hight said. "We can go out and win any round we race in. We can qualify No. 1. We just haven't been doing it. We are going to get on a roll here."
He said the key for his team is reverting to the set-up that brought out the car's best.
"We probably changed way too much stuff over the winter, and you know, normally, our teams go out and test a lot, so (the testing limitation has) hurt us," he said. "The best car we've got on our team is Ashley (Force Hood's), and you know, (crew chiefs) Dean Antonelli and Ron Douglas did a great job in not (changing) anything on that car. They haven't even used up a test session.
"At Chicago," Hight said, "we started kind of backtracking and putting this car back like it was last year. Since then, it's shown some promise."
Pedregon, too, said his car is improving.
"I know in racing terms that everybody has the hot ticket of the week or 'Oh we just found our problem.' But maybe it took getting to this point and really (having) a lackluster season we've had so far and being in this position . . . maybe we are scared straight," Pedregon said.
"Maybe we are just looking to get back where we were towards the end of last year. We have all that data right in our fingertips, so we are just trying to figure out why didn't we find out about this earlier. But we didn't -- and we are here now," he said. "So we are just going to make the best of the last three."
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
 |
Click to visit our sponsor's website
Hagan has crew chief Tommy Delago to help him navigate these next three races. Delago has a fair bit of experience already, but as Ron Capps crew chief Ace McCulloch said, "He is really good, and he is going to get nothing but better."
Despite that, Hagan said "there's definitely going to be a lot of pressure for me to perform as a driver for me to keep up with these seasoned veterans. They have been out here doing it forever. And to watch Robert and Cruz drive, they probably are looking over in the stands if they wanted to, but they are just good drivers and well-rounded, just have the total package and have good crew chiefs, also."
He said his mission is to "really focus on what we need to do with our race car and our team to make sure that we secure our spot in the Countdown. Anybody can win. You've just got to be there."
Pedregon and Hight said they respect Hagan, in spite of his rookie status.
"I used to look online and I was wondering who the heck Matt Hagan was," Pedregon said. "He was running some pretty good runs and going to finals and cutting his teeth there (in the IHRA).
"He's a heck of a nice guy, seems like a very polished guy," Pedregon said. "Actually I bought one of his Toyota bodies that they ran last year. Got to know his Dad a little bit, a very class act. Formidable driver. He's in a good car and not taking that rookie business too far. He's been around and he's seemed like he's handling it just fine. It's going to be interesting down the stretch."
Hight, who was Hagan's teammate at a charity bowling event at Las Vegas earlier this year, said of the young Virginian, "He's just a good guy. I think he actually got his first round-win against me at Gainesville. I remember my first round win and how excited I was, and he was just a good guy about it all.
"He's my vote for Rookie of the Year," Hight said. "These Funny Cars are tough to drive, not that the dragsters aren't. He's on a good team over there with Schumacher. They wouldn't have hired him unless he was a class act and definitely had the talent to do what he's doing."
If only the three of them didn't have to try to succeed at the other's expense.
| {loadposition feedback} |
