Matt Hagan made NHRA history Friday night at zMax Dragway, running the first sub four-second Funny Car pass.
Hagan's DieHard Dodge Charger went 3.995 seconds at 316.23 in near-ideal weather conditions late Friday in qualifying for the O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals at zMax Dragway.
"To be a part of a milestone in history – to be the first in the 3s – that's something they can never take away from you," Hagan said. "The DieHard guys, I'm sure they're jumping up and down in Chicago right now, just like we are. I can't say enough about (crew chief) Tommy Delago. What a mad scientist this guy is to put a race car like that underneath me. For me to be able to hang on to it is just really cool."
And Hagan was definitely hanging on.
"The thing leaves, and it got up on the tire in a heartbeat," Hagan said. "The next thing I know, it's out there and digging. It just keeps on digging. Then it tries to make a move, and I'm like, 'Oh, no.' You're trying not to bring it back to the groove too hard because it's like on a piece of glass and could come loose at any time. It moved around just a little bit – and it still sticks and still digging out there. Things are vibrating, and it's dark out there. It's one of those deals where you never know what's going to happen.
"The finish line comes up, and I was like, 'Dude, what did it run.' It was a fast lap because my vision was blurred a little bit. He comes over and (says), 'It's 3.99.' I thought he was playing a joke."
It was not a joke, even though Hagan's run is not yet the national record. He still has to run within one percent (or at least 4.034 seconds) of Friday night's pass sometime this weekend to cinch the record and the precious 20 bonus points.
Robert Hight holds the elapsed-time record of 4.005 seconds set at Richmond, Va. in 2008.
Other No. 1s Friday were Larry Dixon in Top Fuel, Jason Line in Pro Stock and Eddie Krawiec in Pro Stock Motorcycle.
Funny Car's Q2 had several quick runs, so Hagan knew there could be some speed out of his Dodge.
"You hear everybody go out there and lay down low numbers," Hagan said. "Melanie (Troxel) laid down an .04, (Jack) Beckman, everybody was really wicking it up down there. You know in your heart that Tommy Delago is going for it.
"Me and him are usually chatting it up … but he didn't even say anything up there. He just looked in the car and looked at me. I looked back at him, and he was like, 'Hang on to this thing.' Nothing was really needed to be said up there. We knew we had a fast hot rod."
Larry Dixon was going for the national record in his Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel dragster in Q2 as well. But though he didn't go as fast, his pass of 3.784 seconds at 324.83 mph in Q1 was good enough to take the provisional No. 1.
"Obviously, the first run was a great run," Dixon said. "You want to be able to get your car down the track, know that you're going to get qualified. The conditions were great first session and second session. … We do have a backup for a national record. That's there.
"With us already being low when we went up to run (Q2), there was kind of nothing to lose. We went up there and fired a shot. Conditions were good. We saw Matt Hagan run that great 3.99, and that was neat to watch that. For us, going up there, we had nothing to lose at that point. But it didn't work."
Dixon smoked the tires in the second round, one led by Antron Brown's pass of 3.802 seconds at 324.44 mph. That put Brown No. 2 overall, with Dixon teammate Del Worsham (3.803 at 322.27 mph) third.
Line approached the Pro Stock ET record of 6.495 seconds set by Rodger Brogdon at Gainesville in March. But he wants to do more that approach it after going 6.510 seconds at 212.56 mph in Q1 behind the wheel of the Summit Racing Pontiac GXP to hold the provisional No. 1.
"We felt like we could've gone .49 or ran close to or under the record," Line said. "Obviously, that's the goal, especially in my case. Gaining 20 points on Greg (Anderson) would a really good thing. But his car is obviously just as capable, and there are couple others that are capable of setting the record as well. We'll see what tomorrow brings."
If Line holds on Saturday, the pole would be his third consecutive on the season and third consecutive at zMax.
"It probably will not because there was a lot left in that run. If we get any kind of weather tomorrow, it's not going to hold."
Krawiec, the Pro Stock Motorcycle points leader, started off the Countdown on the right note with a track-record pass of 6.833 seconds at 196.70 mph in Q1 to take the provisional No. 1 aboard the Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson.
"Any time you come out here and make a good opening lap in the opening run of the weekend, it definitely sets the tone in your camp," Krawiec said. "Unfortunately, that second round, we sort of underestimated the track and second-guessed ourselves. We saw a bunch a people either spin the tire or getting a little out of shape. We really didn't know what was out there, so we turned some rpm down a few hundred, and the bike went out there and bogged.
"That's not the way you want to make your second lap, but we know we'll bounce right back tomorrow."
The top elapsed times were all run in Q1, with Matt Smith (6.871 at 191.84 mph) second and Karen Stoffer (6.873 at 195.59 mph) third. Stoffer was quickest in Q2 with a pass of 6.882 seconds at 194.44 mph on her GEICO Suzuki.
Qualifying continues on Saturday with two sessions starting at 11:15 a.m. EDT.
