Matt Hagan’s impressive resume added another line Sunday evening.
The four-time NHRA champion won the 1,000th Funny Car race in NHRA history at In-N-Out Burger Pomona (Calif.) Dragstrip, defeating three-time world champion Ron Capps in the final round to close out the 66th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals.
“History was made here with the 1,000th Funny Car deal, which was super special and I’m just very, very blessed to be a part of that. I mean, it hasn’t really set in yet,” Hagan said. “But I know when we bring the trophy back and you put it up on the wall and you get to look at it, and I tried to pick it up and I couldn’t pick it up. But to have our sponsors and to have Tony [Stewart] to have Leah [Pruett, Tony’s wife] to have this group that we have, it’s just incredible. And I think that there’s just going to be a lot more to come in the future.”
Hagan, driving the Tony Stewart Racing Dodge SRT Hellcat, clocked a 3.876-second elapsed time at 330.39 mph to edge Capps’ 3.893, 334.32.
“It was just like one of those things where I pulled up and we were getting strapped down to the race car, and it was just like your adrenaline is going and you’re trying to control your breathing and you’re not trying to do too much, and I was too pumped up and I almost double-stepped the car up there and everything else, so … it was just our day, though,” said Hagan, who shared his winner’s press conference with his boss Stewart. “Like I was telling Tony, sometimes you just wake up and you’re just like, ‘Alright, today’s good. Like I can tie my shoes today.’ … It was great. It’s one of those things where you’re just, like, it’s going to be a good day to win with boss man here Tony to double up, it was a great weekend.”
The history-making weekend was extra special for Hagan as he also won his fourth career Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge on Saturday over Paul Lee.
On Sunday, Hagan used that momentum to defeat Spencer Hyde, Jason Rupert, No. 1 qualifier J.R. Todd, and then Capps in what is NHRA’s 75th anniversary season.
“I’m trying to catch Ron on those [career] wins [Capps has 78], man. He’s got 20 years on me, I think, in the sport, but we’re working on it,” Hagan said, “And, you know, one thing about Ron is he’s just great, man. He took me under his wing when I was first out here, and he was like, ‘Let’s break bread together. Let’s park motorhomes together.’ We got into all kinds of trouble together, you know, so when we were racing each other, I was like, man, this is [like] back in the [Don Schumacher Racing] days when we were throwing it down because we always used to throw it down. It just kind of felt natural to come out here to Pomona. This race track has shown me so much love over the years, and this is where champions are crowned.”
The win was Hagan’s 56th in NHRA nitro Funny Car competition and 99th final. He and Capps are tied for the points lead after three races.
“I watched [Tony] win up there and I was like, ‘Damn, don’t mess this up. Boss is already in the winner’s circle,’” Hagan said. “And no different than when me and Leah have doubled up and different things like that. You just want to make it happen because it makes it that much more special when we’re able to do that. This is one of those days where you take it all in right now, but we will sit back one day when we’re not doing this anymore and you go like, ‘Man, we did that.’ We accomplished this and a slew of things that you were able to accomplish along the way and you just make these memories. It’s one of those things where no one can take that away from you.”
Hagan won NHRA nitro Funny Car world championships in 2011, 2014, 2020 and 2023. He has now won at Pomona – the Winternationals and NHRA Finals – eight times 2011, 2013-15, 2017-18, 2023, and 2026. His eight victories at Pomona are second only in nitro Funny Car to John Force’s 17 titles.
“This is such a magical place,” Hagan said of Pomona. “I was pulling up at the staging lanes, and I just couldn’t get my eyes off the mountains behind us, right? I should have been focused on what we were doing, but the sun was setting and the mountains were just amazing. And you just look at California, you’re just like, ‘Man, this place is just, it’s amazing.’
“Just to be in that moment, you know what I mean? And then just to pull up to the starting line and know that you’re going to fire up a 12,000-horsepower race car and you get to go down there at 330 mph. And it’s just … that’s magical in itself. There’s probably only 50 people in the world that get to, you know, as far as right now and in today’s world, that get to know what that feels like. And, you know, to top it off with winning and being successful and having good people around you, we’re blessed beyond means, man. I wake up every day, I tell this dude [Stewart] every time … when we win, I’m like, ‘Thank you for letting me drive your race car because there’s plenty of people that like to take my place.’”
