Records fall during Kansas Nationals qualifying at Heartland Park Topeka
Records fell seemingly by the race Friday in the first day of qualifying at the NHRA Kansas Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka.
Matt Hagan set the Funny Car class national records for top speed and elapsed time, finishing a race in 3.862 seconds and at one point reaching a speed of 335.57 mph. His speed record marks the third-fastest ever in all of NHRA and is faster than the Top Fuel class record.
“To be able to run that kind of miles per hour is phenomenal,” said Hagan, who drives a 2016 Dodge Charger. “The track was good and to be honest I didn’t know if that time would hold. There were a couple of cars that ran close to what we ran. I thought the (speed record) would stand because 335 is getting it done.”
The national elapsed time record also fell in the Top Fuel class when Brittany Force recorded a time of 3.676 seconds.
“That was just an incredible run for our entire team. It definitely felt good,” Force said. “I knew with the conditions and how the Funny Cars were getting down the race track and putting numbers in the book, that my team was going to throw down, and they did just that.”
Hagan actually broke the Funny Car national speed record twice on the day. He did so the first time in the opening session, but Jack Beckman broke that record five heats later.
“I’ve been very, very fortunate to have some great people around me,” Hagan said. “I was the first one to run in the 3s, the first one ever in the 3.8s and now we can put the speed record in the biography. I’ve been in a fast race car my entire career and been very fortunate.”
Overall in the Funny Car class, the five quickest times and nine of the top 10 speeds in NHRA history happened Friday. There were 21 runs that finished faster than the track record set previous to Friday.
“Run after run they kept lowering the bar,” Hagan said. “The fans definitely got what they paid for.”
Doug Kalitta set the Top Fuel class track record for top speed when he reached 330.88 mph.
In a change of pace, no records fell in the Pro Stock class, with the best performance coming in the last heat of the day. Jason Line recorded a time of 6.578 seconds and hit the fastest speed of the day at 210.37 mph driving a 2015 Chevrolet Camaro.
“I’ve never, ever done anything good at this track, so to have two good runs feels really good,” Line said. “I’m going to sleep well tonight.”
The second session of qualifying starts Saturday afternoon at 1:30.
This story was originally published May 20, 2016 at 11:47 PM with the headline "Records fall during Kansas Nationals qualifying at Heartland Park Topeka."