With all the momentum on his side, Matt Hagan plans to go with an old look to keep things rolling this weekend.
Hagan, who pilots a Tony Stewart Racing Dodge SRT Hellcat nitro Funny Car, has won two races in a row in Charlotte, N.C., and Chicago and he told CompetitionPlus.com he will be sporting his good luck mustache this Friday through Sunday at the New England Nationals in Epping, N.H.
“I better start drawing my handlebar mustache because every time I have run a handlebar mustache up there, I have won the race,” Hagan said. “It is kind of a funny thing I was joking (NHRA’s) Joe Castello in the winner’s circle (in Chicago), and he was asking me ‘What about the handlebar?’ I was like dude I’m going to have to send you daily pictures of how it is drawn.”
Hagan leads the nitro Funny Car all-time win list in Epping with four wins in 2017-19 and 2022. Tied for second on the list is Ron Capps (2014 and 2016) and John Force (2015 and 2021).
Hagan is a four-time NHRA nitro Funny Car world champ in 2011, 2014, 2020 and 2023. This season he has a 13-4 elimination-round record.
Since losing to Daniel Wilkerson in the first round in Phoenix on April 7, Hagan advanced to the Four-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas on April 14, losing in the finals to Bob Tasca III and Austin Prock. He has since strung together seven round wins in a row to move up from fourth to first in the points standings.
Hagan will arrive in Epping with 478 points on the season – four in front of Prock and 42 in front of the legendary Force.
“I really enjoy Epping,” Hagan said. “We have won that race so many times in a row it is kind of weird. I know it always isn’t going to happen like that, but it has just shown me a lot of love up there and we have a lot of data and we do really well up there. Last year we struggled because of the rain and stuff, and I think Tasca won it (Epping when they finished it) at Bristol (Tenn.). That was unfortunate for us, but we won it three times in a row (2017-19) and in then again 2022, so we are looking forward to coming back.”
