Hagan sets NHRA speed mark in Funny Car
Matt Hagan set an NHRA speed mark for a Funny Car on Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, going 313.88 mph at qualifying for the Las Vegas NHRA Nationals.
It was one of five track records in pro categories set in near-perfect weather at the speedway.
Hagan, of Christiansburg, Va., also recorded the fastest Funny Car run since the NHRA shortened races by 320 feet to 1,000 feet last year for its top two categories. The Don Schumacher Racing rookie completed his run in 4.03 seconds, setting a track record.
"Sometimes you set it on kill and you miss," Hagan said of crew chief Tommy DeLago's tuneup. "But it just ran smooth all the way."
Mike Edwards of Coweta, Okla., inched closer to his first Pro Stock championship by posting track records of 6.623 seconds and 207.75 mph before an estimated crowd of 15,000. His elapsed time was 0.37 seconds quicker than the second-best finisher.
"Unbelievable. It's been quite a season," Edwards said of a possible 15th pole in 22 events. He virtually has clinched the championship.
In Top Fuel, Larry Dixon continued to cut into Tony Schumacher's points lead by being the fastest qualifier Friday.
Under a new bonus points system, the low qualifier in each session gets three points with two going to the second best and one to the third quickest.
Today's pro qualifying sessions are at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. heading to Sunday's championship eliminations.
• SCHEDULE CHANGE -- Racing extended about three hours past Friday's scheduled conclusion, and a track temperature of about 66 degrees forced the NHRA to stop racing at around 8 p.m.
Racing resumes at 8 a.m. today, and the final qualifying sessions for Top Alcohol Dragsters and Alcohol Funny Cars have been moved to 4:30 p.m., with the first round of eliminations shifted from today to Sunday.
• NHRA DROPS EVENT -- The NHRA announced it will reduce its 2010 schedule to 23 events in the Full Throttle Drag Racing Series after Dover Motorsports Inc. decided Friday to close its Memphis Motorsports Park in Tennessee.
A pair of NASCAR races next year will move to other tracks. The NASCAR Nationwide race goes to Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis, and the Camping World Truck event will be held at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway.
Contact reporter Jeff Wolf at jwolf@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0247.
