With one final qualifying blast, Matt Hagan rocketed to the top of the nitro Funny Car qualifying ladder Saturday evening at the K&N Filters Route 66 NHRA Nationals.

In the Q4 session, Hagan clocked a track-record elapsed time of 3.882-seconds at 331.12 mph in his Don Schumacher Racing Dodge to take the No. 1 qualifying spot at Route 66 Raceway.

“Obviously, Q4 is not usually the time you do it,” said Hagan. “It’s always late Friday night, cool out and the track is great. Dickie Venables (Hagan’s crew chief) came over the radio and said let’s push the primary and see what we can do.”

Hagan’s record run came after he had a forgettable effort in the third qualifying session earlier Saturday when he had a brake failure after his burnout.

“Q3 kind of messed everything up,” Hagan said. “Obviously we would like to have that run back. When you go out there and do a burnout and you pull brake pressure, and you can’t get the car stopped, my first instinct is not to back up and run over my crew and you still have Tim (Wilkerson) over there and you are trying to get off the race track and be respectful for his run. It’s my boss’ car and my crew chief’s car. But when they put the body down, it’s my car and it’s my decision out there and I’m glad we got off the track and didn’t attempt the run. I don’t want to try and stop something at 300 mph with no brakes.”

Despite the team’s failed attempt in Q3, Hagan had confidence in what Venables could do in the final qualifying session.

“He’s just so very, very consistent and I’m just glad he’s my crew chief,” Hagan said. “He’s steady and efficient and driven and that’s why we are No. 1 today.”

The 16-car field at Chicago is the quickest in NHRA history, and these countless 3-second laps still do surprise Hagan.

“It’s crazy and honestly it all comes down to these headers,” Hagan said. “As you can see, they are melting the paint and stickers and everything else on the bodies of these cars. It’s just a lot of little things here and there and some guy’s combinations work a little better with those headers and some don’t. That was really the game-changer going from Sonoma (Calif.) and on last year. It’s nothing new, Dickie Venables was showing me pictures of guys back in the day who had laid-back headers. It’s not like it’s a new invention, we’re just coming back around to it. That’s why these Funny Cars are so competitive right now. It’s craziness, but it all comes down to the parts and pieces we have in front of us and just tweaking them here and there.”

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