After Matt Hagan defeated Ron Capps in the finals of the Lucas Oil Winternationals on April 2, many topics were addressed by Hagan in his post-race press conference.

One element brought up was Hagan’s respect for Capps.

“We parked motorhomes together back in the day, and I guess I was just a good church boy, and Capps is a great guy who took me under his wing,” Hagan said. “He was the first guy that ever invited me out to eat dinner with his family to have a beer with them and break me in and say, ‘Hey man, you’re new on the scene,’ and that’s why I have so much love for Capps.

“Out of all my teammates, when I came on the scene at DSR, he was the only one to pick up the phone and do that, and we parked motorhomes together and drank beer together and all that kind of stuff. I have love in my heart for Capps, no doubt, except when he keeps goofing all these championships.”

Hagan’s first full season at Don Schumacher Racing was in 2009.

“(Crew chief) Tommy DeLago has been one of my close friends for a long time,” Capps said. “Tommy came to work at DSR, and that was pretty cool because of how close of friends we were. I was told Hagan was coming over, and all I knew was that he was a Pro Mod guy, and his dad had a track in Virginia. There’s a lot else I knew about him other than he was going to be Tommy’s driver and my teammate.”

That’s when Capps became proactive.

“I remember asking for his phone number from someone at DSR because I wanted to call him beforehand. I can imagine somebody coming on from Pro Mod to DSR, which at one point was eight or nine teams. It would be like moving to a new city and coming into a huge brand-new school as a kid. It would be overwhelming. So, I reached out to him, and I kind of forgot I did that until you brought it up.

“From then on, we spent a lot of time together going over things. Obviously, we have had some great races, and we have battled for championships, but he didn’t know a whole lot about Funny Cars back then. I like to think I helped accelerate his learning curve. There were a lot of times he was just going to quit and go back home and race Pro Mods because Funny Cars are hard. I just took a liking to him, and we hit it off so well, and anything he wanted or needed, I would help him with. I would always offer him advice that would get him better and quicker in the car. It's something I would have loved for somebody to have done for me.”

Capps did acknowledge he welcomed Hagan into his inner circle off the track as well.

“Back then, I had my motorhome, and his dad would come to the races, and he had his motorhome, so that was happening the first couple of years he was driving,” Capps said. “We would invite them over to my motorhome and of course, Tommy DeLago and Del Worsham and some guys like that. We would always hang out and have dinner together and play video games and maybe go somewhere and grab something to eat or drink nearby.

“I invited him into that little group, and he was a great guy and fit right in. We had some good moments. You could certainly write a book on some of the stuff that happened those first few years in the motorhome lodge. A lot of good memories, and I’m glad he (Hagan) brought that up because it made me smile because I forgot about it.”

Capps recalled spending a day on Hagan’s ranch in September of 2010.

“It was like the city boy goes to the farm,” Capps said. “It was a lot of fun. Matt is a great guy.”

Also, Hagan (2011, 2014, 2020) and Capps (2016, 2021-22) have won three NHRA nitro Funny Car world championships each.

​