Matt Hagan didn’t get much sleep on the Saturday night before eliminations for Sunday’s In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals at In-N-Out Burger Drag Strip in Pomona, Calif., but it’s not for the reason one might think.
He simply couldn’t see straight.
The Funny Car title contender had a piece of metal scratch his eye during an incident in qualifying on Saturday night and the injury was giving him a bucket-load of problems.
Finding the remedy took all night and, among other things, involved a trip to a 24-hour convenience store to find eye drops and a 5:30 a.m. call to the doctor. All with his fourth Funny Car championship on the line the next day.
“I was like, ‘Well, I’m gonna have to squint at these boys to take them out today,’” Hagan recalled. “It was one of those things, you just freak out a little bit.”
The Tony Stewart Racing driver was entering eliminations with a slight points advantage over his rivals — Bob Tasca III and Robert Hight — but the gap wasn’t significant enough where he could set cruise control.
While Hagan’s vision was clear, the day went slightly haywire when he lost to Blake Alexander in the second round.
“I felt it kind of smoke a little bit. I caught it, and then I was running him (Alexander) down,” Hagan said. “It felt like we were close, but we didn’t get him. Maybe if we had a little bit more real estate, we could’ve done it, but it wasn’t in the cards today.”
The loss relegated Hagan to the sidelines to join Tasca III, who was also been defeated in his quarterfinal matchup.
Hagan watched anxiously as Robert Hight staged next to Chad Green on the starting line. If the John Force Racing driver won, that would end of Hagan’s title hopes. If Hight lost, Hagan was champion again.
“You just hate that you’ve got to stand there and watch someone go out to win the championship. That’s just not my style of racing — that’s not how I want to win one,” Hagan said. “But it’s really about the body of work we did all year.”
Without the six victories, two runner-up finishes and 40-14 round win record Hagan compiled throughout the season, the championship wouldn’t have been possible — a comforting thought for the man who once said, “I want it all or I don’t want any of it.”
The 40-year-old credited crew chief Dickie Venables for the incredible year and confirmed that Venables will tune his Dodge Funny Car next season. Hagan also recognized that, in conjunction with his pairing with Venables, it took something special to become champion this year.
“Some people, they spend millions and millions for years and never get a championship,” Hagan said. “It puts you in such a caliber of drivers where you look up and you go, ‘How is that possible? I’m not that good.’
“Look at what it comes down to in Funny Car. The last day, the last race and a couple rounds. It makes you feel like you’re 85 years old after going through the ups and downs, the adrenaline and the emotion.
“But this is why we do it.”
The title was the first NHRA championship for Tony Stewart Racing.