(Photo by Shannon Dyce Photography)
Inside Line Promotions – PARK CITY, Kan. (March 29, 2016) – Derek Hagar found a great moment to make his first couple of notches in the 2016 victory column.
Hagar swept the 6th annual Park City Cup/Air Capital Shootout, which was the inaugural GoMuddy.com National Sprint League 360 Sprint Car Series event, last weekend during his debut at 81 Speedway to net the biggest pay day of his career.
“It resembles a couple of race tracks we’ve won at,” he said. “It just suited my driving style. We went out there and did what we normally do, which is drive the car hard. The crew prepped the car phenomenal both nights.”
Hagar kicked off the weekend on Friday by rallying from ninth to third place in a heat race and from sixth to win a qualifier. That ranked him second in overall points out of the 45 competitors and earned the outside front row starting position for the 25-lap main event.
“The race track started taking rubber pretty hard in the B Mains,” he said. “You could tell how much faster the cars were getting. I went back and told the crew. I knew I needed to get to turn one before (the polesitter) did on the start. We had a heck of a drag race into turn one. I had the momentum and advantage to take the lead and hold onto it.”
Hagar drove into the lead in turn one on the first lap and he never looked back, despite a close call at the end of the race.
“I was in tire conservation mode,” he said. “After taking the white flag I eased it into turn one and going down the backstretch I heard a motor tune I hadn’t heard the whole race. I saw a red car dart to the outside of me. I don’t know if he would have been able to stick it, but luckily the caution came out. I drove the car a little harder on the green-white-checkered finish.”
A fellow competitor had pulled side by side with Hagar in turn three on the last lap before a caution forced a late-race restart. Hagar took advantage of the clear track and sailed to his first win of the season.
He returned to the 3/8-mile oval on Saturday with momentum, which continued as Hagar advanced from eighth to third place in a heat race and from sixth to third place in a qualifier to once again rank second in overall points. That put him on the outside of the front row for the $10,000-to-win main event.
“I had a heavy weight on my shoulders,” he said. “I’d have rather started on the second row because we had so much experience behind us. They don’t have anything to lose.
“Luckily, we took off with it and won the battle into turn one on the start. I never had a big challenge for the lead. I just had to drive my own race and not worry about who was behind me.”
Hagar led all 35 laps to sweep the weekend and score the big payout, which was more than twice what he’d ever earned in a single race during his career.
“It’s not very often you go to a race with that caliber of cars and sweep the weekend,” he said. “I was hoping I didn’t use up all my luck on Friday. Then we pulled off the biggest win of our career on Saturday.”
Hagar is slated to compete this Saturday at Riverside International Speedway in West Memphis, Ark., for the Eagle Motorsports Rock ‘N Roll 50 Presented by MyRacePass with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour.
QUICK RESULTS –
March 25 – 81 Speedway in Park City, Kan. – Heat race: 3 (9); Qualifier: 1 (6); Feature: 1 (2).
March 26 – 81 Speedway in Park City, Kan. – Heat race: 3 (8); Qualifier: 3 (6); Feature: 1 (2).
SEASON STATS –
7 races, 2 wins, 5 top fives, 5 top 10s, 5 top 15s, 5 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Saturday at Riverside International Speedway in West Memphis, Ark., for the Eagle Motorsports Rock ‘N Roll 50 Presented by MyRacePass with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.DerekHagarRacing.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HagarDerek
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – J&J Auto Racing
Located in McKenzie, Tenn., J&J Auto Racing has manufactured sprint car chassis and racing parts for more than 40 years. For more information, visit http://www.JandJAutoRacing.com.
“They’ve been in the family since J&J Auto Racing started building cars,” Hagar said. “My stepdad’s dad owned race cars back in the Riverside days. They are good, safe, dependable race cars and great people to deal with.”
Hagar would also like to thank B&D Towing, Dynotech Performance, DHR Suspension, Xtreme Race Graphics, Fragola Performance Systems, FSR Radiators, ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems, Hinchman Racewear, Wings Unlimited, FK Rod Ends and Ti64 for their continued support.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.
To meet the media relations needs of your program by joining Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or Shawn@InsideLinePromotions.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.
- Shawn Miller on Mar 29, 2016
- Article Date: 3/29/2016 by Inside Line Promotions