Matt Hagan has trained for the prize fight. He's crunched for the rock-hard abs. His biceps are monstrous and his fighting mindset has never been more focused on the battle which awaits him.

However, Hagan's upcoming battle is not in the octagon or the squared circle. His battle will be fought within the cockpit of his 10,000 horsepower nitro-burning Funny Car while racing in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.

“Every year is a fresh start, so it's like you get to hit a reset button,” said Hagan.

Despite a challenging pre-season test session, Hagan was never the less pleased because despite the hardships his team worked as a well-oiled machine. Just going into the season with continuity was a major achievement. Hagan tested during last year’s PRO Winter Warm-up without a clear vision of who his crew chief or crew would be.

This season the gang is back.

“It's cool that we stayed together as a team,” said Hagan. “We only lost one guy from our team this year. To have the success that we had this year with the group of guys that we've had really what excited me. These guys are going to be who put us over the top, and the team sticking together is what's going to make that difference at the end of the day. We just had one great season under our belt so we need to get another one and try to win a championship.”

This year he’s got the swagger like never before.

“We plan to take no prisoners,” said Hagan. “Last year we didn't know what was up and what was down. We couldn't make heads or tails of who was going to be the crew chief and what crew guys we were going to have and that kind of stuff. It's just a lot more comfortable feeling this year compared to the beginning of last year in testing. It's one of those things where when you become comfortable and you become more relaxed in the car everything goes better.”

This year Hagan said he and his team remained in contact throughout the downtime. He obviously hit the gym hard with a focus on better reactions for race day.

“I don't want to say I hit the practice tree every day but I did hit it a lot,” said Hagan. “I think you can over-do stuff some times, so when you get a free moment here and there you just run over there and get your cuts in. It's like anything, there aren't a whole lot of free moments in life but you just make the best use of your time when you get a chance.”

And the feeling of firing the car after a long off-season was incredible.

Bobby: What did it feel like when you first fired the motor up today?

“I've never been on drugs but it's got to be close,” said Hagan. “I woke up three times last night excited about being able to lay the hammer down on this thing this morning. It's just a fix you can't get anywhere else in the world. It's just an amazing feeling to have that horsepower behind you and smell that nitro again.”

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