HAGAN BESTS BECKMAN TO GIVE DON SCHUMACHER WIN NO. 350 IN WEATHER-DELAYED FINAL

Written by Larry Crum, photos by Roger Richards, NHRA    Sun, 2020-09-06 05:00

 

At the 1970 NHRA U.S. Nationals, DSR team owner Don Schumacher raced to his very first NHRA win.

On Saturday, he celebrated his 350th victory as a team owner on the 50th anniversary of his Indianapolis triumph.

Matt Hagan handed the legendary car owner that win, besting Jack Beckman on Saturday in the makeup race from the weather-delayed Lucas Oil NHRA Summernationals at Lucas Oil Raceway, putting he and his team into the history books by giving Schumacher an unprecedented 350 nitro victories in the sport.

“It is such a huge milestone in the legacy that he has made. I just can’t say thank you enough to be a part of it,” Hagan said. “To be able to seal that 350th win for him and know that, in the history books, I am a part of that and what he has built over the years, is something special. All of the drivers, all of the crew chiefs, all of the sponsors, it all adds up.

“And that is not the end of it. There is more to come and I am really excited to be a part of that. All of the hard work and the infrastructer it takes to get here. It all comes down to my guys. They have been doing a great job putting a great racecar underneath me. And when you surround yourself with good people, good things happen.”

Hagan bested his DSR teammate during Q3 on Friday of the DENSO Spark Plugs U.S. Nationals, making up a race that was held 48 days ago at this same track. On that afternoon back in July Hagan defeated Ron Capps, J.R. Todd and Bob Tasca to reach the final, while Beckman bested Chad Green, Tim Wilkerson and Tommy Johnson Jr. before weather moved in and pushed the conclusion of the race to this weekend.

With a Wally - and qualifying positioning for Sunday’s race - on the line, Hagan powered his Mopar Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye to a 3.919-second pass at 328.54 mph, his quickest pass of the weekend, to best Beckman’s 3.940 at 325.53 mph in the Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge.

“I really felt like that is how it was supposed to end,” Hagan said. “We had such a good raceccar when we went into the finals (in July) with Beckman. We had the entire field covered. Thankfully we kept lane choice, which is important here, and I knew Dickie (Venables) had something up his sleeve. When we rolled in there, right before we started to fire up, he pulled the number three stop off and I was thinking, ‘this is really going to run now.’

“Dickie had the confidence that the track would hold it and it did. We had seconds before we buttoned it up and fired and to watch my guys get to work like that showed me what type of team I have around me. Even though it was qualifying, I had a great light and the car ran well and never looked back.

“To come out here and qualify well, get our second win here this year, it has just been a dream come true. They did a fantastic job and the car stepped up and ran the numbers it needed to.”

Seeing as how it was qualifying and Saturday’s race-winning pass counted toward those numbers, Hagan placed himself fifth on the ladder going into race day. And after winning two of the three races held at Lucas Oil Raceway this year already, Hagan has a chance to do something on Sunday that has never - and may never again - happen in the history of the NHRA - winning three trophies in a nitro class at Indy in the same year.

“There is always that chance for three. I won Indy here a few years ago and I was sick and didn’t get to enjoy it. I’m not sick now and am feeling great and I want to make up for that weekend,” Hagan said. “To have a trophy already here on Saturday night and to roll in here tomorrow and have an opportunity to win another one is huge. It can only go up from here.”

 

 

 

 
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