MATT HAGAN

• DATE OF BIRTH: November 18, 1982
• HOMETOWN: Christiansburg, Va.
• SPONSOR/CAR: Aaron’s/Mopar Dodge Charger
• CREW CHIEF: Tommy DeLago
• CAREER WINS: 5
  FC: 5
• CAREER FINAL ROUNDS: 11
  FC: 11
• CAREER BEST E.T.: 3.995
• CAREER BEST SPEED: 322.27

PERSONAL

• Wife: Rachel
• Son: Colby Matthew (10/27/06)
• Daughter: Penny Louise (9/28/09)
• Height/weight: 6'1" / 210
• Hobby: Farming, Hunting, Fishing, Family Time

In just his third full season competing in the National Hot Rod Association Funny Car class Christiansburg, Virginia native Matt Hagan captured the 2011 NHRA Full Throttle Funny Car Championship for Don Schumacher Racing. En route to the championship, Hagan held the number one qualifier position three times, earned two wins – Charlotte and Pomona – and set a national elapsed time record at 3.995-seconds, which was the first sub-four second run in series history.

Hagan credits his remarkable second season of driving for the determination to rebound and take the 2011 title. The 29-year-old came within a couple of rounds of the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Funny Car championship, finishing runner-up to John Force, culminating a season featuring setting the elapsed-time record – twice – and the top-speed record; three national-event wins in six final rounds and four top qualifiers. Wins in Houston – his first in an NHRA Funny Car, Joliet, Ill., and Dallas were supplemented by three other final-round appearances.

The story-book sophomore season followed a rookie campaign during which Hagan went to two finals and earned two number-one qualifiers, earning a 16-24 round record and 11^th place in the Funny Car championship.

Hagan has been racing for almost half his life. Starting on his family’s quads as a teenager in Virginia, he developed a passion for speed and the thrill of competition, and moved quickly into circle-track stock cars before he started bracket racing. He made a huge splash in Pro Mod, earning the 2006 Rookie-of-the-Year honors in the NHRA AMS Pro Mod Challenge.

In 2008, he jumped behind the wheel of a nitro Funny Car sponsored independently by Shelor.com, his family’s business. As an independent team owner and driver, he had great success, and placed third in IHRA competition points, amassing a class-best three event wins.

Hagan tested the waters at four 2008 NHRA events – Reading, Indianapolis, Charlotte and Memphis – and qualified once, at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. His beginner’s success caught the eye of team-owner Don Schumacher, who called to congratulate Matt after making the cut at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, a call which helped lead to Hagan’s present position behind the wheel of the DSR DieHard Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car.

Matt and his wife, Rachel, have one son, Colby, and one daughter, Penny Louise. Hagan manages the family 500-acre Angus Cattle farm in Christiansburg, Va., when he is not competing in the NHRA Funny Car class.