Matt Hagan and His Dodge Charger Claim a Historic 50th Win

This past weekend, the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series headed to zMAX Dragway for the Four-Wide Nationals, where reigning champion Matt Hagan drove his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car to his first win of the season. Matt Hagan’s 2024 season hasnt been anywhere near as great as his 2023, where he won 3 of the first 4 races, but with the win in North Carolina, Hagan has broken the seal on this season.

Matt Hagan hit the track hard in qualifying, laying down a 3.914 at 321.81 in Q1, putting his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat funny car in the 3^rd spot right away. That number would stand through rounds 2 and 3, moving him down to the 5^th and then 8^th spots, but with a 3.88 at 331.04, Hagan climbed into the 6^th spot headed into eliminations. In front of him was John Force in 1^st, Bob Tasca III in 2^nd, Austin Prock in 3^rd, Alexis Dejoria in 4^th and Ron Capps in 5^th. Fellow Dodge racers Paul Lee and Crux Pedregon started in the 7^th and 9^th spots on the ladder.

In the first round of eliminations, Matt Hagan took on Blake Alexander, Austin Prock and Dave Richards. Prock pulled the best reaction time of the group, but when he ran into issues around mid-track, Hagan roared to the win with a 3.918 at 331.61, beating Dave Richards (4.014). Also in the first round, Cruz Pedregon won his first race of four, beating John Force, Chad Green and John Smith. Unfortunately Paul Lee lost his first round match which saw Daniel Wilkerson and Bob Tasca III advance to the next round.

In the second round, Hagan and his Dodge Charger took on Wilkerson, Tasca and Richards and this time, Matt Hagan made sure to be the first racer to leave the line with a 0.059 reaction time. From there, he cruised to the win with a 3.879 at 334.24, beating Wilkerson, Tasca and Richards (in that order). Unfortunately, the other four-wide second-round race saw Pedregon’s day come to an end when he was bested by John Force and JR Todd.

The final round of the funny car class Four-Wide Nationals included one car from each of the manufacturers involved in the class, with Matt Hagan in his Dodge Charger, Daniel Wilkerson in his Ford Mustang, John Force in his Chevrolet Camaro and JR Todd in his Toyota Supra. Hagan laid down a wicked 0.029 reaction time, giving him a pretty healthy lead at the start, and he would need it, as Wilkerson ran a 3.923 to Hagan’s 3.946, but thanks to the starting line advantage – Hagan and his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat got the win. Wilkerson crossed the line second in his Ford, Todd’s Toyota was third and Force’s Chevy finished fourth – but all four racers ran in the 3.9-second range, so it was a thrilling drag race. You can watch that final round run in the video below.

The win at the 2024 NHRA Four-Wide Nationals was the 50^th career event win for Matt Hagan, making him just the fourth driver in NHRA Top Fuel Funny Car history to reach the 50-win plateau. With his first win on the season, the reigning class champ now sits 4^th in the championship standings, trailing Austin Prock in 1^st, JR Todd in 2^nd and Bob Tasca in 3^rd. Dodge driver Paul Lee is currently 9^th in the standings and Cruz Pedregon is 12^th.

The next stop for the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series is the Gerber Collision & Glass NHRA Route 66 Nationals presented by PEAK Performance, May 17-19 at Route 66 Raceway in Illinois.