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Not only will these fans be spending money on race tickets, but, they’ll be paying to sleep in Gainesville hotels, eat at local restaurants and fill up their cars at nearby gas stations. With all due respect to them boys, it’s time Hagan put a Gainesville trophy on the shelf.ĭavid Whitley is The Gainesville Sun's sports columnist.Don Robertson, the facility’s executive general manager, expects Gainesville Raceway’s 250 acres of parking to be filled with fans’ and competitors’ vehicles alike, with more people being shuttled in by bus. That’s why he doesn’t mind sounding a little cocky. But this year, Hagan thinks all that’s ahead of schedule. Since the Gatornationals is an early-season event, Hagan said his crew is usually still tinkering with all those things. Then there are things you can control, like air-to-fuel ratios, nose weights, flap adjustments and other things only a gearhead can appreciate. Some racetracks, you can’t do anything wrong,” he said.

So why hasn’t Hagan won the Gatornationals? He says, ‘Winning is the name of the game.’”

That’s what this sport’s needed for a long time,” Hagan said. “Tony brings charisma, energy and notoriety. Stewart has re-energized Hagan’s team, which is officially known as the “Dodge Power Brokers Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car.” One of NHRA’s charms is it takes longer to say the team’s name than it does to run a race. “Right now, he doesn’t know enough to be mad at anybody,” Hagan said. Stewart’s catching on to all the intricacies. It’s not easy making a vehicle go from zero to 300-plus mph in three seconds without dropping a cylinder. When it comes to engineering, dragsters are closer to NASA than NASCAR.

Matt Hagan takes part in Funny Car qualifying at the Dodge//SRT Mile-High NHRA Nationals drag races July 16, 2021, at Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, Colo.

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“But that’s why we do what we do… that challenge of trying to figure out how to do it better.” “It doesn’t matter if it’s quarter-midgets, go-karts, all the way up to NHRA drag racing, Indy, Formula One, NASCAR - the competition keeps getting closer and closer and tighter and tighter,” Stewart said last fall at his introductory NHRA press conference. (In case you’re also a racing dunce, those are the long, needle-nosed dragsters).Īnother reason was Stewart’s seemingly insatiable desire to be the King of the Racing World. Leah Pruett is one of NHRA’s leading Top Fuel drivers. He started SRX, an all-star circuit, and last fall was drawn into drag racing.

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Stewart retired as a driver in 2016 but has hardly slowed down as a racing entrepreneur. He’s also co-owner of NASCAR’s Stewart-Haas Racing team. The stock car icon started a racing company in 2001 and has had teams compete in the Sprint Car Series, Midget cars. Now Speaking of which, you won’t have to be a complete gearhead to recognize one sports figure who'll be hanging around Hagan’s garage this weekend. I’m still not sure what that means, but it sure sounds exciting. The NHRA glossary defined it as when a spark plug doesn’t ignite and is “distinguishable by raw fuel spewing from the exhaust header.” I didn’t want to come off as a complete drag racing dunce, so I didn’t ask him exactly what that meant. But in the championship race at Arizona, “we dropped a cylinder,” Hagan said. It was 3.823 seconds, which translates to 331.41 mph., which further translates to 306.41 mph faster than you can legally drive on University Avenue. He had the fastest Funny Car run in four years two weeks ago in a semifinal run at the Arizona Nationals. I don’t know if there’s such a thing as bulletin board material in drag racing, but Hagan isn’t just blowing smoke at them boys. “I’d sure like to put that one on the shelf,” he said. So you can see why Hagan has a space reserved for a Gainesville trophy. No sports figure wants to be compared to Vandy football, of course.Īnd the Gatornationals is one of the more hallowed stops on the NHRA circuit. Vanderbilt’s football team went 68 years without a win in Alachua County. And he should know that when it comes to sports droughts around here, things could be worse. Since his first NHRA race in 2008, fans at the Gatornationals have cheered as loudly for Hagan as just about any other driver.

On behalf of the Chamber of Commerce and everyone who’s ever broken the speed limit on University Avenue, I’d like to assure Hagan that Gainesville has nothing against him. “I guess Gainesville doesn’t like me,” he laughed. There’s just one spot where Hagan can’t seem to get his car out the ditch. Photos from 2021: NHRA Gatornationals Are Back No luck in Gainesville Look back at last year: Ocala resident Hart wins Top Fuel debut at Gatornationals 53rd Gatornationals: Inaugural All-Star Callout race to highlight Gainesville NHRA event