- Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) driver Matt Hagan and his Dodge Power Brokers Charger SRT Hellcat earned the No. 1 qualifier position after topping the Funny Car timing sheets in three of four qualifying sessions ahead of the Dodge Power Brokers National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Mile-High Nationals
- Hagan took the top spot for Sunday’s eliminations at Bandimere Speedway for the second year in a row and now looks to defend last year’s Funny Car event win
- Hagan’s No. 1 qualifier position was his fourth of the season and the 47th of his career
- Top Fuel pilot Leah Pruett, winner of the 2018 edition of the Denver area NHRA event, qualified her Dodge Power Brokers dragster No. 3 after joining her TSR Teammate Hagan as provisional polesitters in their respective categories Friday night under the lights
- Cruz Pedregon qualified his Snap-on Tools Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat ninth for Sunday’s Dodge Power Brokers Mile-High Nationals
July 16, 2022, Morrison, Colorado — The Dodge Power Brokers Charger SRT Hellcat of Tony Stewart Racing Funny Car driver Matt Hagan took the top spot on Thunder Mountain in three of four sessions and earned the No. 1 qualifier position at Bandimere Speedway ahead of the 42nd annual Dodge Power Brokers National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Mile-High Nationals.
The defending event winner, picked up where he left off last year by taking his 11,000 horsepower HEMI-powered machine to top of the qualifying sheets with a 3.968 second elapsed time first pass, then improved on it with a solid 3.927-second run to close out Friday qualifying as the provisional polesitter.
Hagan ran his quickest pass of the weekend on Saturday in Q3 at 3.908 mph at 323.12 mph, a time that kept him in the top spot through the fourth session when he had an issue with his burnout and lost traction at the hit of the throttle. That third run by the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat was strong enough to secure Hagan’s second consecutive No. 1 qualifier position at Bandimere Speedway. It is also his fourth pole position of the season and the 47th of his career.
His qualifying efforts also provided him with 12 valuable bonus points to close the gap on the Funny Car points leader and rival Robert Hight who took over the top spot from Hagan at the last event in Norwalk. Hagan will begin his event title defense with an opening round pairing with No. 16 seed Jack Wyatt.
Hagan’s TSR teammate Leah Pruett, winner of the 2018 edition of the Denver event, also powered her Dodge Power Brokers Top Fuel dragster to the provisional No. 1 qualifier position on Friday under the lights. She improved again on Saturday, recording her quickest pass of the weekend on her final lap with a 3.771-second elapsed time run to put her third on the eliminations ladder. She also collects seven bonus points for setting the quickest times in two sessions and placing third in the final one. Pruett will begin her Sunday drive to vy for her second Top Fuel Wally trophy from Bandimere Speedway against No. 14 seed Antron Brown.
Two-time Funny Car event winner Cruz Pedregon qualified his Snap-on Tools Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat ninth overall with a best pass of 4.038 seconds at 306.74 mph on Saturday after having qualified in the top half of the eliminations ladder through the first ten races of the season. Despite a more challenging start to the weekend than the Cruz Pedregon Racing has had in a while, the team is fifth in the category and ready to chase down their first Wally of the season by kicking off eliminations against No. 6 qualifier J.R. Todd
Sunday’s Dodge Power Brokers Mile-High Nationals elimination rounds will air on FOX’s broadcast network commencing at 4 p.m. ET and will include live coverage of the finals.
ADDITIONAL NOTES and QUOTES:
Leah Pruett, Dodge Power Brokers Top Fuel Dragster
(No. 3 Qualifier – 3.771 seconds at 322.50 mph)
Qualifying 1: 11.016 sec./ 77.75 mph
Qualifying 2: 3.788 sec./326.79 mph (3 bonus points for quickest run of session)
Qualifying 3: 3.784 sec./327.90 mph (3 bonus points for quickest run of session)
Qualifying 4: 3.771 sec./322.50 mph ( 1 bonus point for 3rd quickest run of session)
“I think the most valuable aspect of our qualifying is that we were able to develop a baseline here on the mountain because we really didn’t have one as this new team. All we could do was take what we’ve done so far this year. For us to find a really good quick spot on Friday was great, but I think most importantly was Saturday and running consistently and fast. That’s what’s going to prove to be effective on Sunday.”
“Of course it’s going to be different conditions, but I’m extremely impressed with the way that this team unified throughout these two days. Everybody scrapped their egos at the door and tuned [the racecar] by committee and had everyone’s back for whatever the car did whether it went back to number one, or if we made a complete pass. Having that positive surroundings is exactly what was allowing us to broker our power, the way that we would like to. Starting in third position going into Sunday is fantastic. We couldn’t ask for more than a better qualifying position at a Dodge race with our Dodge Power Brokers Top Fuel dragster.”
Matt Hagan, Dodge Power Brokers Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car
(No. 1 Qualifier – 3.908 seconds at 323.12 mph)
Qualifying 1: 3.968 sec./324.67 mph (3 bonus points for quickest run of session)
Qualifying 2: 3.927 sec./319.07 mph (3 bonus points for quickest run of session)
Qualifying 3: 3.908 sec/323.12 mph (3 bonus points for quickest run of session)
Qualifying 4: 6.600 sec./103.68 mph
“I was impressed that we ran that 3.90 in the heat. The rain cooled everything off but there was still a lot of water grains in the air and the crew chiefs had to make some calls. Then tonight (Q4) was a bummer. I came through the water and the tires spun faster than normal and [the car] got sideways. I can’t hit the throttle with the front end looking at the wall and by then the water dried off the tires and the clutch got hotter. It was not going to be what we were looking for. I mean, we stayed in the No. 1 spot, but we should have run in the 3.85-3.87 second range. If you take the last run out of it, we’ve got a good car on Sunday. This is a Dodge car at the Dodge event. We’re expected to do well and have a shot as much as anyone.”
Cruz Pedregon, Pedregon Racing Snap-on® Tools Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat
(No. 9 Qualifier – 4.038 seconds at 306.74 mph)
Qualifying 1: 7.962 sec./92.75 mph
Qualifying 2: 4.081 sec./308.14 mph
Qualifying 3: 4.038 sec./306.74 mph
Qualifying 4: 4.459 sec./206.23 mph
“It’s been a challenging weekend for sure. It was just little things here and there. I kind of let (crew chiefs) John Collins and Rip Reynolds do their thing. I trust that they’re going to do the right thing and get the Snap on Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat car going fast. Tomorrow is another day because it’s a completely different setup than the cooler evening sessions we’ve had. While I’d like to get all caught up in all the 3.92s and 3.93s, which is what I think we could run, tomorrow’s going to be warmer and I think that’s going to play more into our hands. I’m still optimistic. I still feel like we have had so many great qualifying runs and then fizzled out like in the second round, so while qualifying is cool and important, it’s really about the race day. So that’s what I’m focused on.”
DodgeGarage: Digital Hub for Drag Racing News
Fans can follow all the NHRA action this season at DodgeGarage, the one-stop portal for Dodge//SRT and Mopar drag-racing news. The site includes daily updates and access to an online racing HQ, news, events, galleries, available downloads and merchandise. For more information, visit www.dodgegarage.com.
@DodgeMoparMotorsports on Instagram
The @DodgeMoparMotorsports Instagram channel continues to share content capturing Dodge//SRT Mopar drivers on the track. Fans can see action from the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series and NHRA Sportsman grassroots racers, competing in classes such as Factory Stock Showdown, Stock and Super Stock, as well as additional motorsports series.
Dodge//SRT
For more than 100 years, the Dodge brand has carried on the spirit of brothers John and Horace Dodge. Their influence continues today as Dodge shifts into high gear with muscle cars and SUVs that deliver unrivaled performance in each of the segments where they compete.
Dodge drives forward as a pure performance brand, offering SRT versions of every model across the lineup. For the 2022 model year, Dodge delivers the drag-strip dominating 807-horsepower Dodge Challenger SRT Super Stock, the 797-horsepower Dodge Charger SRT Redeye, the most powerful and fastest mass-produced sedan in the world, and the Dodge Durango SRT 392, America’s fastest, most powerful and most capable three-row SUV. Combined, these three muscle cars make Dodge the industry’s most powerful brand, offering more horsepower than any other American brand across its entire lineup.
In 2020, Dodge was named the “#1 Brand in Initial Quality,” making it the first domestic brand ever to rank No. 1 in the J.D. Power Initial Quality Study (IQS). In 2021, Dodge brand ranked No. 1 in the J.D. Power APEAL Study (mass market) — making it the only domestic brand ever to do so two years in a row.
Dodge is part of the portfolio of brands offered by leading global automaker and mobility provider Stellantis. For more information regarding Stellantis (NYSE: STLA), please visit www.stellantis.com.
Mopar
This year marks the 85th anniversary of Mopar.
A simple combination of the words MOtor and PARts, Mopar offers exceptional service, parts and customer-care. Born in 1937 as the name of a line of antifreeze products, Mopar has evolved over nearly 85 years to represent both complete vehicle care and authentic performance for owners and enthusiasts worldwide.
Mopar made its mark in the 1960s during the muscle-car era with performance parts to enhance speed and handling for both on-road and racing use. Later, Mopar expanded to include technical service and customer support, and today integrates service, parts and customer-care operations in order to enhance customer and dealer support worldwide.
Complete information on Mopar is available at www.mopar.com. For more information regarding Stellantis (NYSE: STLA), please visit www.stellantis.com.
Follow Dodge, Mopar and Stellantis news and video on:
Company blog: blog.stellantisnorthamerica.com
Media website: media.stellantisnorthamerica.com
Dodge brand: www.dodge.com
Mopar brand: www.mopar.com
DodgeGarage: www.dodgegarage.com
Mopar blog: blog.mopar.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/dodge and www.facebook.com/mopar
Instagram: @DodgeMoparMotorsports, @DodgeOfficial and @OfficialMopar
Twitter: @Dodge, @OfficialMopar and @StellantisNA
YouTube: www.youtube.com/dodge, https://www.youtube.com/c/mopar and www.youtube.com/StellantisNA
