Rockingham Dragway lived up to its reputation as one of the best tracks on the IHRA circuit as several world and IHRA best speeds and ET’s were recorded at the annual IHRA spring race at that track located in the sand hill country of North Carolina -- an area famous for championship golf and race tracks.
Among the more amazing times recorded at the second stop on the IHRA circuit was the 4.79 pass turned in by Paul Lee at the wheel of veteran flopper owner/driver/tuner Paul Smith’s Monte Carlo Nitro Funny Car.
In the Pro Mod ranks, the nitrous cars broke several performance benchmarks for the class when Pat Stoken’s Camaro recorded the quickest pass ever for a nitrous car with a 6.06 and Mike Castellana’s ’68 Pontiac ran the fastest speed ever for a nitrous car with a 236.26-mph clocking. The 16-car field in Pro Modified took an ET quicker than 6.13 seconds to qualify, which was the second quickest in IHRA history.
FUEL FUNNY CAR
Matt Hagan spent two seasons in the professional Pro Modified ranks trying unsuccessfully to win a national event. Last year after getting his IHRA Funny Car license he was hooked on nitro and over the winter made the decision to move from the Pro Mod class to IHRA fuel coupe racing. In just his second career start he drove his way into the Rockingham Dragway winner's circle and picked up his Ironman for winning the nitro funny car class.
Hagan's win was no fluke as he defeated the Paul Smith-tuned flopper driven by Paul Lee. Smith's car was the odds-on favorite as in qualifying it had scorched the track with a 4.79 ET, which is a half-tenth under Bob Gilbertson's national record of 4.84.
The final round was a drag racing classic. Veteran driver Lee put a holeshot on the rookie and was ahead by two-tenths at the 660-foot mar, but then Lee's Monte Carlo nosed over and Hagen drove around him for the victory.
”I knew I had a bad light,” Hagan said, “and I said, ‘oh man, it’s over now.’ It went into (tire) shake. I pedaled real quick. When I went around him, I was shaking already. I’ve been after one of these (IHRA's Ironman) for a long time. My tuner, Jay Lewis, made it all happen for me today. I couldn’t have a better tuner.
“I was cheering in the car but I didn’t see the win light. When I got out and everybody was running over to us with the cameras, that’s when I knew.”