Matt Hagan has raced for two individuals during his 13-year career with the National Hot Rod Association. Don Schumacher and Tony Stewart.

That is not a bad group of guys to have had as your boss.

Both are motorsport legends, though in different arenas within the sport. Schumacher is an NHRA national event-winning driver and was previously owner of the largest and most dominating multi-car racing team within the NHRA. Stewart, on the other hand, is a three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and a member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Earlier this year, their two worlds collided when Stewart announced that he was trying his hand in the straight-line game by becoming a multi-car team owner himself, tagging Leah Pruett in Top Fuel and Hagan in Funny Car as his drivers.

While it is not lost on Hagan that he has now had an opportunity to compete for two iconic team owners, the differences between the two teams to this point is night and day and one that completely took Hagan by surprise.

“Tony is so hands-on and the energy that he brings to the table is tremendous. It is not so serious. You would think Tony would be super serious about everything, but he is kind of turning it into a fun thing more than anything,” Hagan said. “You can see it in your crew chief and you see it in your crew guys. There is no bad blood with Schumacher and I am not knocking anything that I accomplished over there, I enjoyed driving his race car. We won three championships and got more trophies than I can put on the wall. But at the end of the day, it was about keeping my core guys together and being able to bring them over here with TSR. They wanted to make a move so we made a move along with our sponsors. And the results have spoken for themselves.”

When Hagan says that the atmosphere is loose within the pit area of his Dodge Power Brokers team, he is not exaggerating. One stop by the trailer and you will find team members cutting up, having fun and even playing a few games. It is in stark contrast to the business-first approach that Hagan was previously accustomed to.

“Tony is up in the trailer and they have a power ranking for who whips towels the hardest,” Hagan said with a laugh. “He comes out and his arms are black and blue. You don’t expect that from a guy that has accomplished so much. I think that he sees how team camaraderie is a big part of what we do. Making these guys feel good and secure about what we are doing is important. And then we go out and we have one common goal together, and that is to win races.”

While Hagan will admit that things are certainly less intense than they were at Don Schumacher Racing, that doesn’t mean that the drive for perfection is any less prevalent. In fact, he says that the drive to win may be even stronger. That is evident in the success the team has already enjoyed, visiting six final rounds in nine races with three trophies at Gainesville, Houston and Epping.

“You come into work bouncing around and goofing off a little bit, but when you pull down the straps in the race car you know what is at stake and how serious it is. Just look at how much money it costs to be out here. At any one race these sponsors are spending from $130,000 to $150,000 and you realize that is someone’s home around these parts, so you do take it very seriously. As much fun as it is to goof off and cut it up, at the end of the day when you put your mouthpiece in you have a job to do and I think that is what is expected of us.

“Tony knows what we are capable of, he has seen it,” Hagan explained. “I think that is why he wanted to bring this team over. We have a real opportunity to run for a championship this year. I think we can win eight or more races this year. We have already won three and I think we can win another three and maybe two or three in the Countdown. That is our mentality and that is what we are trying to do.”

Of course Hagan would not be in the position he is in today without an incredible team around him, a realization that was not lost on the three-time world champion when he did everything in his power to keep the band together during a tough past two years. As the Covid-19 pandemic ravished the country financially, Hagan made a promise to his team during the shortened 2020 season that helped keep them together. Now, they are in the best position imaginable as the newest and hottest team on the NHRA tour.

“I felt like we did a good job keeping our four guys together - Mike (Knudsen), Dickie (Venables), Alex Conway and myself. People don’t know this because I don’t talk about it much, but back when we won the championship during Covid, my guys were taking pay cuts and things were tough and I gave my bonus to keep my guys here, that is how much they mean to me,” Hagan said. “I told my guys, ‘don’t quit on me, stay with me and if we win this thing I’ll give you whatever I win as far as bonus money’ and I did. I was never going to make a move if my guys didn’t want to make a move too. It was a group effort to decide to come over this way.”

While Hagan’s three wins and championship lead in the Funny Car class is a testament to that team-first attitude, Hagan still has a hard time believing that he was hand-selected by Stewart to drive one of his cars in the team’s inaugural season. Though having a NASCAR hall-of-famer has certainly taken some of the pressure off when it comes to signing autographs.

“Everybody wants to get his autograph, so that does take some of the pressure off of me,” Hagan said. “I feel very honored to be here. Tony could have picked a bunch of different drivers to drive for him and here I am. It says a lot about his thoughts toward me as a wheelman and our team we have built here together.”