Life's a Drag: Pomona Recap
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Term
drag
“Drag” means drag racing—cars race side-by-side in a straight line. The goal is to get off the line fast and reach the finish first.
Topic
rain delay
Sometimes races get stopped because the track is too wet. When that happens, drivers can’t safely go as fast, so officials pause the event until it’s safer.
Concept
in and out people were packing up
It sounds like the event was running long, but people thought it was ending soon. So they started leaving, which makes the whole experience feel rushed and stressful.
Topic
regular end time
They were scheduled to finish at a certain time, but the rain delay likely pushed things later. That’s why it felt like the weekend ran past what everyone expected.
Term
curfew
A curfew is a strict deadline for when the track has to stop running. If the curfew is coming up, the event has to hurry to get the remaining cars through.
Term
went down the track
“Went down the track” is drag-racing shorthand for making a pass from the start line to the finish line. It’s a way to describe which cars actually completed their run before the schedule deadline.
Term
KB Titan guy
They’re talking about a group of racers tied to a sponsor (KB and Titan). It’s basically “the team guys” on that flight.
Concept
gauntlet
“Gauntlet” here means a really tough stretch of racing where you have to get through a lot of difficult rounds. It’s not just one pass—it’s the whole grind to reach the finish.
Concept
driver switch in the middle of the race
Sometimes drag-racing teams change who’s driving during the event. That can matter because the driver controls the launch and shifting/handling, so a different driver can make the car behave differently.
Term
thrown out
In racing, “thrown out” usually means you’re disqualified and don’t advance. It happens when officials decide you broke a safety or rules requirement.
Term
centerline
The centerline is the line that separates the left and right lanes. If a car crosses it, it can interfere with the other lane and officials may disqualify the run.
Term
helmet
A helmet is protective gear that helps keep your head safe. Racing events usually require helmets so drivers are protected if something goes wrong.
Term
fire suit
A fire suit is flame-resistant racing clothing designed to protect the driver during fires or high heat exposure. In drag racing, it’s part of a broader safety system that can include gloves, shoes, and a helmet to reduce burn risk.
Brand
Buddy Holley
This sounds like a sponsor name on the driver’s racing suit. The important part is that the suit has branding from companies that support racing.
Brand
Moon Eyes
Moon Eyes is an automotive brand that shows up in car culture and racing sponsorships. Here it’s probably just the logo on the racing outfit.
Concept
funny car
Funny Car is a type of drag racing car. It’s built for quick, hard launches down the strip, and because it’s so specialized, problems like leaks can be dangerous and cause the race to stop.
Concept
point standings
Point standings are the season-long ranking based on how drivers finish at events. In drag racing, a single DQ, penalty, or mechanical failure can swing points quickly, which is why hosts track who’s “tied” and how incidents affect the championship race.
Concept
instant replay
Instant replay is used in motorsports to review critical moments—like mechanical failures or rule-violating events—immediately after they happen. It helps teams, officials, and fans understand what caused an issue and whether penalties or safety actions were warranted.
Term
oil just spewing
“Oil spewing” describes a severe oil leak where oil is expelled rapidly, often from a failed seal, line, or engine component. In drag racing, that can quickly create fire risk, traction issues, and track cleanup delays, which is why officials may stop the event.
Concept
two hour stop
A “two hour stop” refers to a long delay in the event schedule, usually caused by safety cleanup, repairs, or track issues after an incident. In drag racing, oil spills or leaks can require extensive cleanup to protect crews, prevent fires, and restore safe traction.
Concept
analog vs digital
They’re talking about two different ways of handling information: analog is more “continuous,” while digital is more “computer-like” and broken into steps. Cars can use either approach depending on how modern the electronics are.
Term
oiled downs
They mention “oiled downs,” which sounds like a quick maintenance step they do to keep things running smoothly. It likely involves applying lubricant or doing a cleanup so the car is ready for the next run.
Concept
staging
In drag racing, staging is when the car lines up at the start and waits for the race to actually start. It’s important because you want to be ready to launch the instant the race begins.
Concept
E.T.
E.T. means “elapsed time,” basically how many seconds it takes to go from the start to the finish in a drag race. Faster E.T. usually means the car ran quicker.
Topic
FNCAR
FNCAR is the name of a racing series or event. When they say someone is a champion and won a big race in FNCAR, they’re basically saying that driver is really accomplished.
Topic
75th race
They mention a “75th race,” which sounds like a special anniversary event. It’s the kind of big occasion where drivers and teams often get invited or recognized.
Concept
IHRA
IHRA is another organization that puts on drag races. The conversation is basically about which racing series someone is associated with.
Term
diesel particulate filter
A diesel particulate filter is like a trap for the smoky soot in a diesel exhaust. If it gets too full, the car can feel sluggish and start warning you, so it has to clean itself out periodically.
Term
diesel oxidation catalyst
A diesel oxidation catalyst is an emissions device that helps clean up exhaust gases. It works with other parts like the DPF to reduce pollution and help the system stay functional.
Company
DPFXfit
DPFXfit is a company that sells replacement emissions parts for diesel trucks. They’re advertising that their parts are made to match factory fitment and that you can look up the right part for your vehicle.
Concept
OEM replacement vs aftermarket emissions parts
They’re talking about replacing factory emissions parts with aftermarket ones. For parts like DPFs and catalysts, you want the replacement to fit and work correctly with your truck’s exhaust system, not just “bolt on” loosely.
Concept
friction in your engine
Engines lose some power to friction—basically parts rubbing against each other. More friction usually makes the engine run hotter, wear out faster, and can make less power over time.
Part
piston rings
Piston rings are small metal bands on the piston that help seal the combustion area. They also scrape/control oil on the cylinder wall, and because they move against the wall, their design can affect how much friction and wear you get.
Company
Total Seal
Total Seal makes piston rings for performance engines. The pitch here is that their ring design reduces rubbing and wear, which can help the engine last longer and make better power.
Company
Red line oil
Red Line is an engine-oil brand marketed for performance use. The transcript claims their oil is “formulated to win” and “proven,” tying oil choice to racing outcomes like reduced wear and consistent performance under heat.
Car
Matt Hagan
Matt Hagan is a famous drag racer who competes in the funny car category. The hosts are talking about how successful he’s been.
Term
bench presses
Bench pressing is a gym exercise where you push weight up from your chest. Here it’s mentioned as a joke about how strong the driver is.
Concept
shoulder work
They’re talking about doing workouts to get stronger in the shoulders. It’s basically training your body so you can handle heavy stuff without hurting yourself.
Concept
championship trophies
They’re talking about trophies from championships and how they’re set up for display. It’s the kind of thing people do to show off big accomplishments.
Term
beer
“Beer” is mentioned as part of the event vibe, but it’s not an automotive term or technical concept. It mainly signals a casual, celebratory moment rather than anything car-related.
Topic
Indy
“Indy” here refers to Indianapolis, which is commonly shorthand for racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In drag racing context, it signals a specific event location where qualifying and competition happen.
Concept
out qualify
Drag races often have a qualifying session before the main bracket. “Out qualify” means you went faster or did better in qualifying than the other driver.
Company
Paul Smith
They mention Paul Smith because he was helping tune the race car. In drag racing, tuning is how you adjust the car so it runs its best for that track and day.
Concept
hot, greasy weekends
“Hot, greasy” means the track conditions were tough—either too hot and/or not very grippy. That makes it harder to get good launches, so teams may adjust the car to stay consistent.
Concept
pit
The pit is where the racing team hangs out and works on the car between runs. If someone “rolls through my pit,” they’re stopping by the team area during the event.
Concept
shell your junk
It’s slang for “bring your car/gear and drive it.” The point is that someone is offering the speaker a chance to drive because another driver is quitting.
Concept
double stepped the car
It sounds like the driver briefly “tapped” the car’s pedals twice instead of just one smooth move. In drag racing, that can help the car launch at the right moment and avoid spinning tires.
Term
break
They’re talking about the brake pedal. If you’re still on the brake when you try to launch, the car won’t accelerate the way it should.
Concept
150 light
In drag racing, the timing lights show how fast you react when the start happens. A “150” usually means your reaction was around 0.150 seconds, which is often too slow.
Concept
reaction time
Reaction time is how quickly you get moving after the start signal. In drag racing, being even a little late can make you lose even if your car is strong.
Term
smoke the tires
It means the tires spin and make smoke. That usually happens when the car tries to launch with more power than the tires can grip.
Concept
whole shot
A “whole shot” is a great start in a drag race. If you lose it, you fall behind right away and have to catch up later.
Concept
fumbled it up
“Fumbled it up” describes a mistake during launch—often meaning poor timing, imperfect throttle control, or a traction/gear-selection issue. In drag racing, launch errors can cause wheelspin or a slower start even if the car is capable of running fast.
Concept
starting line
The starting line is where the race begins and the car has to launch hard. If you mess up the launch, you can lose time before the rest of the run even starts.
Topic
How's it working with Tony Stewart?
They’re asking about Tony Stewart—basically what it’s like to work with him. It’s more about the people and racing life than car mechanics.
Concept
NHRA
NHRA is the big organization that runs professional drag races in the U.S. They set up the events and rules, and the racers compete for points and championships.
Concept
hot rod
A hot rod is a car that’s been modified to be faster and more fun to drive. People often start with an older car and upgrade the parts so it can accelerate harder and handle better.
Brand
Dodge
Dodge is a car brand that’s especially known for performance cars. If they’re sponsoring something, it usually means they’re helping fund or support the racing/car community.
Company
American Rebel
American Rebel is being talked about like a sponsor for the event. That usually means they help pay for things or provide products for the cars and racers.
Company
GHG
GHG is mentioned as a sponsor, but the episode segment doesn’t explain what the name means. It likely refers to a company that helps fund or support the racing event.
Concept
time zones
Time zones matter for coordinating events, live streams, and communications across countries. In motorsports communities, fans and teams often interact internationally, so “what day/time is it there?” can affect planning.
Topic
Winter Nationals
“Winter Nationals” is the name of a drag-racing weekend/event. The hosts are talking about how big the crowd energy felt there.
Topic
Legends
“Legends” is likely the name of a race class that ran during the event. It’s mentioned as part of what made the weekend exciting.
Topic
Thousand Funding Car Race
This sounds like another race that happened during the same weekend. The hosts are grouping it with “Legends” as part of the action.
Topic
Pomona Recap
They’re talking about how special the Pomona race feels. It’s not just the track—it’s the history and the fact that big winners get celebrated there.
Concept
crowned champions
“Crowned champions” refers to the moment winners are officially recognized at the end of a season or event. In motorsports, this framing emphasizes that the competition isn’t just about individual races—it’s about earning a title through consistent performance.
Topic
Fairplex
Fairplex is the place name they’re using for the venue area around Pomona. It’s basically the “where the event happens” reference that drag-racing fans associate with.
Term
shift gears
In cars, “shift gears” means moving the gear lever to change how the car pulls. Here they’re not talking about the car—they’re saying they’re switching to a new part of the conversation.
Topic
Promod
Pro Mod is a drag racing category for cars that are built and modified for maximum speed. The cars are usually very different from normal street cars because the rules let teams change a lot of the powertrain.
Concept
Top-end interview
A “top-end interview” is basically an interview that happens around the most important part of the event. It’s often when the biggest names or the final-round competitors are getting spotlighted.
Topic
final round
The “final round” is the last race in the bracket. Whoever wins that matchup takes the event.
Concept
burn out
A burnout is when a drag racer spins the tires to heat them up and improve traction for the launch. Hotter tires can grip the track better, helping the car accelerate more effectively at the start.
Term
T-shirt cannon
A T-shirt cannon is a device that shoots shirts into the crowd. At racing events, it’s usually for fun during celebrations.
Topic
four wide
“Four wide” means four cars are driving next to each other at the same time. It’s exciting, but it’s also risky because there’s very little room for mistakes.
Topic
home race
A “home race” is basically the race that feels closest to the driver’s world—near their home or where they’re most connected. It can make the weekend easier and more exciting.
Term
four-time champion
A “four-time champion” means the driver has won the overall season title four times. It’s usually earned by doing well across many races, not just one.
Topic
Charlotte
Charlotte refers to a race location in the Charlotte area. The speaker is basically saying it’s closer to them than some other tracks.
Topic
Richmond
Richmond here is a race track location. The host is saying some people think it’s the “home” one, but it’s farther away than the others.
Topic
Bristol
Bristol is another place where races happen. The speaker is comparing travel distance to explain which track feels most local.
Concept
75th year
The “75th year” signals a milestone anniversary for the racing series or event being discussed. Milestone years often bring special guest drivers, legends, and extra fan activities like autograph sessions, which changes the vibe compared with a normal weekend.
Topic
race track
They’re talking about going to a place built for racing. Racing at a track is different from normal driving because the cars and drivers have to follow track rules.
Topic
Speedway Club
“Speedway Club” sounds like a group connected to a race venue. These kinds of clubs often help people go to races together and get access to special areas.
LIVE
This is WFO Radio.
Good morning, it's not even midday yet.
Buenos Dias, Seniors and Seniors. How are we doing today?
Good. Life's a drag, temporary early time.
Yeah, and again, it's because I got to work.
I got to work earlier, and we want to do this live,
and I didn't want to record it and then do it.
Yeah, so yeah, I apologize.
All right.
That's Jason Logan making excuses.
Yep, see, I've been driving this car in the water.
Wait, where is the thing?
Right there.
Oh, you got merch for your car boat.
Oh, yeah.
More fun to put in than to pull out.
I can't wear this at Disney Springs.
Yep.
This is a bad shirt from the boat house.
Oh, no.
Oh, that's Disney offensive.
It really is.
And by the way, make sure if you're talking about,
can you tell that my background has changed a little bit?
You get your merch, get our lives to drag merch,
and start sharing the show.
Yes.
Start sharing the show.
Start spreading the news.
Yep.
Look at Gary Carey, Go Team Hagan.
That's right, we're going to have Matt Hagan on today.
We are going to have Matt Hagan on here shortly,
but he did some fun stuff this past weekend in Pomona,
which was exciting.
Let's talk.
Can you tell my background has changed while I was out of town?
My wife rearranged my whole sports room.
We can't have that anymore.
So there's now my national championship glasses over here,
but you can see touchdown Jesus over my shoulder right beside
the Mike Vic chew toy that was only on the market briefly.
The Mike Vic chew toy.
I love it.
How do you feel about that?
Like my wife touches stuff of mind and I can't find it ever again.
I don't know.
It disappears.
The game that is played when I come home after being at a race
and the question of, can you tell what I did this weekend?
It's like the jaws of a bear trap just being wide open
and you just have to step into it.
And it's,
Yeah.
Like my wife run to the kitchen, which is fine.
Yeah.
She, you know, what we watch stuff on Instagram or Facebook or
whatever.
She's not on Facebook, but she sees stuff about, you know, purging
and, you know, making your life less cluttered.
And then it's a whole thing.
Eland, did you make it to the racetrack this morning for
your diet coke?
No, too early.
I'm having to go old school in the cans.
Yeah.
I'm old school in the can as well.
Well, you can't really see.
It'll be right after this.
And I'm glad that I'm so predictable that, you know,
by the way, I like your racetrack for the, their points.
I'm top tier.
So I get a, I get a free giant fountain drink every day.
If I just go in there.
They're like, Hey, you're late, Norman.
Yeah.
I'm like Norman.
Cheers.
I'm like that.
I'm like that at my Wawa because you go out the back
interests of my neighborhood and there's a Wawa at the
main intersection and I walk in there and people are like,
they already know what I'm getting.
They pull this stuff from shelves and like, okay, there we go.
Thank you.
But they know that I'm a hardcore diet coke.
I'll get gas.
Occasionally I'll get a, you know, case of Miller light.
Okay.
And then if I'm, you know, looking to, you know, cheat a
little, some powdered donuts, maybe one of those terrible
like cheese and cherry pastries things.
They're just see Wawa has the, uh, they have the hot items
right there at the, at the counter.
Like in the morning time they'll do sizzlies with a little
sausage croissants.
Those are good.
Um, before, before the, um, breakout of Bucky's and
Wawa's and race tracks that now have the massive
roller deals.
I had some buddies and we would have what we called
the, uh, the roller challenge.
And before you went into the store, one of the guys in
group could say, I'm doing the roller challenge.
All right.
And the roller challenge was you walked in and you had
to eat everything that was currently on the rollers.
All right.
And if you did, your buddies that were with you had
to pay for all of it for you and you got $100 on
top of it.
Okay.
You had to eat like, say there are 12 hot dogs.
You had to go before you went in the store.
Right.
So there's sometimes you went in and there were like
only seven items on there.
Okay.
Or, you know, like, there's only like, you know, because
there's hot dogs on the rollers, you know, or
corn dogs or, you know, egg rolls or whatever.
Right.
But other times you'd walk in there would be
20 things.
I love it.
But now it's two high stakes because you're rolling
there.
There's usually 40 things on the roller.
Especially the racetrack.
Racetrack's got multiple rollers.
They got multiple, they got a lot of stuff.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, there's three or four different kinds of
taquitos and sauces.
I mean, yeah, it's just two, two high stakes.
But for a while there, it was a very, very funny
deal.
So we would have all kinds of crazy.
That's I ruined a kid's birthday party one time
because they bet me that I wouldn't eat all the
balloons off the birthday cake.
And a guy offered me $20 for every big frosting
balloon that I ate.
And I was like, all right.
And I just took a fork and just scraped it, scraped
it.
And then we realized, oh, we haven't cut the
cake yet.
Yay.
I love that stuff.
I was, I was, I was your challenged guy.
For a long, long time.
I think we need to get race track as a sponsor on
this show.
What are we talking about?
Oh, yeah.
I know some people that do some stuff for race
track on the analytics side that like keep track
of stuff because they'll, they'll literally track
me.
They can go in and see my race track rewards.
All right.
You know, maybe we will trade in rewards for
sponsorship.
It's not a fruit pie if it has chocolate in it.
It's chocolate pie straight up.
Okay.
Yeah.
I like everybody type.
By the way, so this weekend, barring the, barring
the racing or whatever, we got, we got people
reviewing this show.
We found out that you guys like us talking
about food.
Yeah.
Along with the drag racing, you like, you
like the food talk.
So there you go.
Which we want to, well, before Hagen comes on
because then it's going to probably take a turn
for the racing.
We can talk about, we rave about Cocoa Palm.
Oh yeah.
We did not have a good Cocoa Palm experience on
Saturday at the Winter Nationals.
Well, the food was good.
The food was great.
Food was great.
But the service, it took a turn for the worse.
Yeah.
I'm so glad that was not our first experience
at Cocoa Palm.
We sat on the porch.
No, by the way, I had, I got two free drinks.
I don't know how that happened.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I went to pay for him.
He's like, oh, you're good.
You're good.
But he was pissed off that I, that I came back to pay
for my drinks.
I was like, what are you doing?
Okay.
Yeah.
Fine.
He'd probably had already, he'd probably already
written him off and given himself a big gratuity.
Yeah.
But yeah.
So Cocoa Palm, food was spectacular.
Yeah.
The service was so frustrating.
We were so tired.
Yeah.
We just were like, not great.
But so we gave them, we're going to give them
grace.
You know, we're not going to put them in the delivery box
for too long.
We'll probably try some other places.
But the great Abby Warner, she was like, you know,
this is what, this is what my dad does.
He always says, oh, you know, this place is great.
You know, they just had a bad day today.
Or, you know, you, you make excuses for things.
I go, well, it's true.
This place is usually great.
And they had a bad day today.
I don't know what happened.
So I would still recommend you go there,
but we're going to give some other places and,
you know, let them get there.
And I did.
I told them, I got the little deal,
the review deal from open table.
And I told them food was great.
Oh, yeah.
I love it.
I said, food was great.
Atmosphere, solid service, one star.
Yeah.
And then I was like, yeah, I didn't like the apps.
We ordered apps.
They came out two minutes before the entrees.
Yeah.
I hate that.
That is a soul crusher.
Yes.
So, but yeah, there was, but it was, you know,
we went to the Pomona mining company the night before.
Yeah.
And that, that place is, you know, it's okay.
It's, it sells its atmosphere.
Yes.
But that's one of those things that had not been
in a very long time.
And it was not as good as I remembered.
Yeah.
Obviously.
It's great.
Yeah.
We all had a good time together.
And Pomona mining company, I was like,
you get prime rib when you go there.
There's really nothing else to get.
Yeah.
And it was good.
The prime rib was really good.
Yeah.
And I'm like, okay.
Salad bar was great.
I love a good salad bar.
Salad bar.
Qualifier.
Salad bar was not great.
It was great for me because I got there
and got a cold plate.
But then it brought plates out from the back
that were steaming hot.
I got one of those.
That's terrible.
Yeah.
I got one of those.
And boy, that makes me sound like fancy pants.
It does.
I'd like to apologize about my plate wasn't chilled.
But we had, well, like the head like,
I just like, we're going to chill the plates.
Chill the plates.
Yeah.
It was, but our service there was good.
Yeah.
Our server was fantastic.
She was great.
How many horseshoe booth and we got Joe Costello.
Shout out WFO radio.
If you haven't watched the show yesterday,
the archives and watch it, but we put Joe,
we were in a horseshoe booth,
and Joe was in the middle of five people.
He was at the, you know,
and that's not a comfort zone for him.
He is a, he wants to have easy access to get out.
Yes.
So he was, it was great to have Joe back out.
Oh yes.
I mean, so good.
But Triumph have returned to Joe Costello.
But you could tell, like we went to dinner on Thursday night
and you could tell he was just,
he had his thoughts for other places.
I mean, he's still worried about his mom.
He's still doing that stuff.
And I looked at him, I go, you all right, man?
He's like, he's like, I'm just tired.
And yeah, I mean, it takes a couple races to get your,
you know, your race legs underneath you.
Right.
And you could tell Joe, Joe was like,
wow, did you see the new parking passes?
I go, yeah, I saw those like couples racing.
Yeah, everything was new.
It was the first day of school for Joe.
Yeah.
And it transferred into school.
Yes.
And you know, I love Joe.
He's the best.
But he was so funny.
Because he likes to critique what I knew.
And he does it in a loving way.
He's like, hey, man, you're good.
And I was like, he said something to me.
He's like, yeah, you were a little off on this one.
And I'm like, what are you talking about, man?
I go, are you kidding me right now?
He was like, well, no, you gotta do this.
And I'm like, Joe, stop it.
How dare you tell me what I'm doing wrong?
And I don't take offense to any of it,
but I like to make it.
I like to act like I'm offended by everything.
I like to make it a little uncomfortable just to see how
everything goes.
Yeah.
And, but it was, it was great,
but it was good to have it in back.
Excuse me.
Oh my God.
I drank an energy drink before we got on this thing.
Oh no.
Yeah.
I'm probably shaking right now, vibing.
But yeah, the, the whole weekend, how many,
how many in and out burgers did you have?
I only had one.
Great.
Abby Warner Woodward went out and got us one on Saturday.
And then Sunday when we had all the issues with the
rain delay and then the Tony Schumacher, you know,
pooping his rear end on the track for a second time.
We'll get into that.
By the time we thought, hey, let's go get some dinner.
We were so far behind that all the in and out people
were packing up.
And that's a soul crusher.
Like you could tell Abby that took whatever little
reserves she had in her battery pack to get through
the end of Sunday night,
went to just complete 1% when she went out there
and they were packing up and they were like, oh yeah,
we were only scheduled to be here until five o'clock,
which was the regular end time.
Right.
And at 530 or whatever,
we still had three hours of racing to go.
And they were like, yeah, we're out.
I will say this.
Thank God we got it all in.
Yes.
For sure.
We got it all in.
By the skin of our teeth.
Eight o'clock curfew.
And the last cars went down the track at like 755.
Yes.
And I was like, and I had a 1050 or 1026.
So you made your flight?
Yeah, I made my flight.
I got bumped the first class.
Thank God.
Oh, it was good.
But that so I was flying to Charlotte,
which means every KB Titan guy was on this flight.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Everybody except Greg Anderson.
Greg Anderson or Tamara would not make that flight.
They did not make that flight.
But all the crew guys did.
Everybody, Dave Conley.
We were all on the rental car bus back to the thing.
And yeah, they were fun.
They were having a good time.
That is how fun is it to fly back with a team after they
won a race?
Oh, yeah, they were, they were all are happy.
They all were super pumped.
Dave Richards was there.
And Dave Richards is he makes me laugh because he's just like,
hey, man, what's up?
I'm like, hey, what's up, Dave Richards?
He's trying to be incognito, but he's all like,
still had like track everywhere on your body.
Like, bro, you missed the shower before you got on this.
You might want to hit hit hit a wet wipe on your face there.
So, yeah.
Yeah.
But yeah, so I got it got bumped the first class got on
the plane.
Everybody's like, and there are loans was on my flight.
He's like, really?
How did you get that?
He goes, I know I fly more than you can't hide money.
As Courtney Ender says, you can't hide money.
Nope.
But yeah, that was it was a good flight back.
Everybody was everybody was in good spirits on the flight.
Let's put it like that.
I gotta be honest.
So you're on the flight with KB guys and Brian loans.
You would totally be at one of the and others when that
plane crashed.
Oh, 1000.
It would be Brian loans, blah, blah, blah and others
players in a plane crash.
Yeah.
Sadie Glenn gets on the plane.
She goes, Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Are you making your husband drive all the way across the
country?
And she's like, that's what he does.
She's so funny with her husband.
I love him.
Yeah.
I love those raining pro soccer champion and he's
eastbound and down in a KB Titan rig.
Yeah.
I love that guy.
He's so funny.
And then that whole group is so funny.
So they were all they were all in good spirits.
Everybody was having a good time.
Play was a little rowdy, but nothing crazy because
they're KB Titan.
They don't, they don't get crazy.
Yeah.
They're fine.
But so the race weekend, you know, I thought the
racing on Sunday, despite all the problems was pretty
spectacular.
Yeah.
Oh, 1000%.
I mean, yesterday, I mean, I would caught the
beginning of Joe's show and just talking Joe running
through the gauntlet that Tony Stewart had to go
through to win.
I was like, Oh my God, I didn't really pay attention
because everything, everything else was going on.
And I was like, Holy cow.
That did sound like a freaking, you know, murder's
row of people he had to beat to get to the finals
or to win the whole thing.
That was great.
You know, it seemed like Erica kind of started
figuring some stuff out until she lost.
And he had a great Cody Anderson, Eric Ender show
down a little bit of a mini burn down there and
Cody Anderson, I thought equipped himself pretty
easily there.
Shocker that Cruz Pedragan did not qualify.
I think that that scene was just still figuring
some stuff out.
The crazy driver switch in the middle of the race
for Jim Dunn racing.
I mean, I get why, I mean, I think I know why
he got thrown out, but do you know the real reason?
I think it's just the guy across the centerline
twice and nearly hit Jack Beckman.
And they're like, yeah, let's, we got some other
options here.
And Jeff, Jeff, we're in, we should just start
calling the drag racing's 12th man just gets
the call.
He's at his house up on the hill.
Like he can see the racetrack.
Yeah.
Like from his backyard and just apparently got
the call of like, Hey man, can you show up
Saturday and do a little racing?
Well, and he didn't have all his stuff with anything.
Jeff didn't, Jeff didn't even need to travel
with a helmet.
Can walk to the street.
And he was, he was wearing a buddy holes
moon eyes fire suit.
So.
Oh, that's okay.
Very good.
That's why it looked kind of, it kind of looked
kind of like one of those photo fire suits
because it just wasn't super tight on him.
Did Tony Schumacher get any points taken?
Yes.
Oh yeah.
Oh yeah.
I think probably 30 points.
Yeah.
Poor toddler Cinco toddler Cinco came into the race
with 20 points.
Got 10 for showing up and then got 30 points
all down for a centerline violation.
So he says zero.
Right.
I'm tied.
I'm tied with toddler Cinco and the funny car
point standings right now.
Can we just talk about Tony Schumacher?
Yes.
So the second one, the instant replay that
they got from Fox that you could see
that oil just.
Spewing.
I mean, it was out of control.
I was like, Oh my God.
I mean, and how does that happen twice?
In two times.
I think those were ends.
I don't know.
We had that problem two years ago, whatever.
But I don't.
It's just bad.
And like the one on Saturday.
Was like a two hour stop down.
Yes.
It was bad.
Well, and thank God, you know,
not that safety Safari.
Let's give it up for safety Safari.
Because they cleaned all of that up.
Yeah.
And Gracie went on without a hitch.
Like Sunday, they cleaned it all up.
And I think right after that, Doug Coletta went
like 340 miles per hour.
Yeah.
They did a tremendous job.
And not that they even care or want to know
how to do that job better.
But they, they, they, the guys in the
Towerley, if we get this done in two
an hour and 20, that'd be great.
I'm like an hour and 20.
That means I have to go work.
Right.
What are you talking about?
I mean, I did, I did more stuff this past
weekend than I've done all season.
So, like all of my stuff worked.
Great.
Thank you very much.
We went totally, we went from digitaled all
the way down to analog.
So everything was great.
Wow.
Yeah.
It was, it was.
Those two oiled.
Downs.
Oh my God.
It's like, like back in the day, and we were
talking this whole season like, hey, you know,
it's 75th.
Let's get back to doing, you know, Jason back
out there doing all this stuff and everything
is awesome.
Let's have some fun.
And I'm like, yeah, but we've gotten to
clean it up.
Oiled downs.
It used to be 45 minutes every single time.
Now it's 10 minutes and we clean
everything up.
But those, that rear.
That rear and stuff.
That rear and stuff is.
Those solo screen for one second.
I have to check something.
I don't want to be done on screen.
Okay.
Please hold.
Vant, Vant for five minutes.
Okay.
So yeah, I had to do a ton of stuff.
And then we had this whole conversation
about making balloon animals.
I make balloon animals.
I don't know if you guys know this or
not, but that somebody showed up with
balloons and they're like, maybe it made
me a bicycle clown.
I'm like, what are you doing?
I'm like, what are we talking about here?
So, um, you know, I had a bunch of stuff
to do this past weekend and it was crazy
just because of oil downs and things of
that nature.
He lives back.
Yeah, there he is.
I was actually, I didn't bring my phone
in here inside baseball.
So we're, I'm texting with Sarah
Slaughter to get a, she's getting
Hagen for us.
Okay.
Perfect.
So I love that.
Because we had, you get that, you
get that reference to the call wedding
crashes.
Yeah.
Uh, if I, if I had balloons here, I
would do a balloon animal live.
I would do it.
Yeah, sure.
I'm excellent at balloon animals.
They all, they all look like snakes.
Yeah, that's a good one.
Um, no, I mean, I can make all this
up.
I used to run around minor league ball
parks.
By the way, um, my company
yesterday, we had to, I sent
people out to shoot t-shirts at
people and, um, and
we do these corporate gigs.
They don't really tell you who
shows up and they don't do.
It was a general session, uh, for
some company.
We just, you're here doing this
and all of a sudden here comes a
drumline that we normally book.
I'm like, why did you not get
that through us?
Yeah.
There's a DJ that we normally
book and they didn't do that.
But the guy, the guy who owns
the Savannah bananas was the
keynote speaker.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
I was like, oh, I don't know
that I would have gone to
that event.
I love that guy.
Yeah.
He was there.
They were, we shot out.
And he was in his yellow tuxedo?
Yeah.
He was, we shot out Savannah
banana t-shirts.
I'm like, this is the way, the
way this works.
What is this?
You had celebs, you had celebs
on the t-shirt cannon.
Oh my God.
Yes.
I like to wake Alvin, pass it
over to Logan during the delay.
So yeah, we had, uh, the one,
the only Maddie Gordon shooting
t-shirt.
Yeah.
Excuse me.
And she was excited about it.
Oh my.
Also, go ahead.
She's been talking to me since
Seattle.
I don't know if you remember, we
were in that little bar area.
She's like, I want to do the
wave.
I want to get everybody up doing
the wave at like Maddie.
And we had a downtime.
I go, Maddie, you want to,
you want to shoot shirts?
And she goes, can I do the
wave?
And I go, of course you can
do the wave.
Sure.
Listen, and there's been,
and, uh, Joe and Galvin and
everybody kind of talked about
this.
Maddie Gordon, the people out
there on the internet think
we're shoving Maddie Gordon down
their throats.
And, um, you guys need to shut
the hell up because she's,
she's a national treasure
already.
And, um, she is so
absolutely 100% authentic
and she's perfect.
And you, like, I'm walking
down the return road to get to
the cannon and Maddie's
probably 10 yards behind me.
And as we're walking,
and I haven't seen this since
John Force.
When John Force comes right down
the scooter down the track,
it is fire soon.
You just hear the roar of
people.
Yeah.
Oh my God.
John Force.
That's Maddie Gordon right
now.
Maddie Gordon, she's walking
down the track and people are
cheering.
There are people holding
signs up.
Maddie.
Maddie media.
And she got on that
microphone and she got that
crowd.
Fired up.
And I was like, oh my God.
And people are trying to walk
out because there was an oil
down, but she kept them
engaged.
Yeah.
And she shot that t-shirt
cannon.
She had the best freaking time.
And then when I,
she got the wave going and
then I did the slow motion
wave where I go,
she looked at me.
She goes, what is happening
right now?
I go, Maddie,
that's the, that's the
slow motion wave.
And you can take that and
you can steal it all day
long.
You can steal that.
So she's going to make me
a Doug Gordon alcohol funny
car fan.
Because he won the race.
Congratulations.
Shout out Doug Gordon and
alcohol funny car.
But watching Maddie and
Macy Gordon behind that car
when it just when it's like
staging and they're jumping up
and down,
getting all fired up and
that car takes off.
And they are just throwing.
It's got to be worth at
least 2000.
Of, you know,
E.T.
Because they're jumping up
and down and they are just
so fired up.
And then when he wins and
then when he gets on that
car,
you know,
you know,
you know,
you know,
you know,
you know,
combinations and then they
jump even higher.
Right.
Like you have hops.
The Gordon girls have hops.
They're so good.
They're at me,
listen.
She.
And again,
the Joe and I,
we were going through
Joe's pick at his bracket
bonanza
as we're waiting for the rain
to stop.
And on Sunday
and Joe and I had
the we were half way
through him.
We were talked just talking
about his picks
and halfway through he
jumped at the top
And halfway through, you guys, I go, dude, this is the show.
I mean, we were unabated.
We were just freaking, I said some inappropriate things.
And it starts laughing.
He goes, this is definitely the show.
This is definitely the show.
And but I got to Maddie, when we were talking about Maddie,
I'm like, you can't pick with your heart with this stuff
because you're going to lose every single time.
And sure enough, I picked with my heart
and I picked Maddie to make it to the semifinals.
And it just didn't happen.
But she's still a rookie.
She's still got so much going on.
But you get caught up in it.
I'm caught up in it.
I have absolutely 1,000% caught up in it.
Like last season, Daniel Wilkerson was always around.
And I was like, hey, Daniel, I want to come shoot shirts.
He's like, let's go.
And he's shot shirts a ton of times.
And everyone loves it when a driver comes out and shoots
shirts.
They just love it.
Every time I see Maddie Gordon up there, here we go.
Let's not waste any time with the man, the myth, the legend.
Let's have a four-time FNCAR champion.
Can you pull him up?
Let him get set up.
He's trying to set his whole thing.
Oh, is he trying to set him stuff up?
OK, there.
He looks pretty good.
Hey, let's add him to the stage.
Four-time.
Hey, by the way, winner of the 1,000 FNCAR race.
Oh, here we go.
There he is.
Look at this guy.
Matt, do you have us?
What's up, guys?
How are y'all?
Hey, hold on.
Hang on tight, because we're going
to try and put you in the middle of the screen.
Hey, there we go.
We're going to put you in the middle.
We're going to make it.
Let's see.
He's going.
All right, here we go.
Not going to work.
Can you hear me?
Yeah, we can hear you.
You look good.
Hold on.
I can hear you now.
There you go.
Can you hear us now?
Can you hear us now?
I lost you guys on the sound.
Damn it, Jason.
Go back out and come back in.
All right, sorry.
That's unasked.
Hello?
I can't hear you.
I can see you.
You can see us, which can hear us.
There we go.
Tell them to go back out.
Tell Sarah to tell them.
Go back out here.
Let's.
This is a fun part about technology.
Can you hear us now?
No, no sound.
All right.
OK, well, we'll get them back in here in a second.
Hang on.
Hang on, Matt.
Yeah, they can hear us.
I'm texting them right now.
All right, so we'll see if he goes.
Stop and go back out.
Let's see what this guy is trying to say.
The people of Montana, Cardi, think
Alan needs to be invited to the 75th race.
Who thinks his time at IHRA is a conflict for NHRA?
The people want Alan.
Well, the people can go to IHRA and find Alan.
How about that?
How about it, Adels?
Thanks, Montana, Cardi.
Gary, Kerry, you're the best.
We're just going to deal with some facts.
Oh, I think he's left.
You know what?
Let's pay some bills real quick, and let's go.
Yeah, let's do that.
Let's do that.
Fix everything, and we'll get back down to this thing.
Here we go.
Let me pay some bills.
Pay them a telephone bill.
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All right, we're playing back, I got you.
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Ok, you're a fan.
Okay, there's the number one funny car driver of all time, Matt Hagan.
I don't know about that.
What's up, guys?
Hey, Matt, thanks for joining us.
Sorry about being a little late.
You guys have done a great job stalling so far.
You're good, man.
We're good.
Wait, we love to have guests, but they're really gratuitous for us.
Jason and I could just talk for hours.
Good stuff.
I want to jump off real quick.
You have four championships.
You've won so many big races.
How cool is it to know you're the 1,000th funny car race winner
and how many bench presses have you done with that trophy?
Well, I'm about ready to fill a full beer and drink American Rebel.
Hell, yeah.
That's what I did not do.
And I missed out on that opportunity, but I couldn't lift the damn thing.
You know what I mean?
Like, it was so heavy.
Like, I tried to hold both those trophies over top of my head,
and I was like, we can't do it.
I need to do some more shoulder work, man.
Like, it was definitely like, he's got some weight to it.
So it's definitely going to have to have beer.
I got some of my championship trophies over here,
and they're supported on like these little glass bases and stuff like that.
Don't think it's going to happen with this one, man.
You know what I mean?
But what is so cool is that, you know,
Leah sent me a stat the other day, and it was like,
Jim Dunn was the first one.
Then you had Snake at the 100th,
and then you had, I guess, Force at 500, and we were 1,000.
So how cool is that, man?
Like, that's just unreal, you know?
And to put your name in there with those type of drivers
and, you know, just awesome.
No different than kind of like having four championships.
You know, you're there with Bernstein, Snake, Force, and ourselves.
You know what I mean?
So it's like, that's just, you're starting to get into a small category
of folks that are really done some pretty cool stuff in the sport, man.
And it's just, I just can't, like, sometimes, can't believe it's real.
You know, you pinch yourself and you're just like, how did we get here?
How did this happen?
And it all circles back to just having great people, man.
And literally just being so lucky to be surrounded by such a great group
of folks that worked so hard.
I mean, you know, and, you know, Tom and DeLago, Dickey, Venables, Mike and it's
and like all these folks, you got Phil Shuler, you know, Alex Conway, all the,
and so many different personalities and crew guys along the way, right?
Like, I've kept my core group for, you know, close to 15 years now,
you know, and Dickey, he's over there with JR right now.
But you can't discount what we've done together and how good a group we had there.
And I just, I'm just so blessed, man.
Like, I just, I can't believe, like, I never set out to do this, you know what I'm saying?
Like, it's just something that happened and involved, you know, in the right place
in the right time.
And I mean, you go back into my story and you go, well, how did you even get here?
And, you know, honestly, you know, it came down to Evan Null
and bezzling some money from the government, you know what I mean?
Like, and, and you tell people that and you're like, what?
And like, I like, I had the FBI call me and they were just kind of like trying to figure out how
where this money came from and where it went to and all this other stuff.
And you're going like, no, that ain't right.
That's not real, you know what I mean?
And it's like, but still Evan, like he hits me up on Instagram now.
And he's like, root me on.
And he's, I sent him t-shirts.
And I mean, he did his time and is, is, is what it is, you know what I mean?
And, and, you know, it's just, but what a crazy story, man.
Like, you know, and then to have, to come over to, to NHRA and, and, you know,
at Indy and out qualify for Selze and Tommy Johnson Jr.
to make the show.
And, you know, you had Paul Smith tuning a race car and, you know,
it was one of those hot, greasy weekends and you just needed to go down
and, and those guys didn't, which, you know, there's massive heavy hitters
in the sport.
And, and we, we did and we qualified and then, you know,
Schumacher, Don comes rolling through my pit and he goes, who are you?
And I was like, well, I don't know, who are you?
Cause I'm still trying to figure all this out too, you know?
And, and, and he's like, Selze's, you know, he's quitting and,
and he's going to go be back with his family and why don't you shell your junk
and come drive my junk.
And I was like, that's not pretty good to me.
You know, so just like stuff like that is just like no way, man.
Like, you know what I mean?
Those days you should have like bought a lottery ticket.
And then here we are, man.
You know what I mean?
And just been, you know, blessed that it's just lined up and been,
or so, you know, such a round, such great people with great work ethic
and, you know, drive and dedication.
And it's just like, it's like, what?
You know what I mean?
It's like, okay, well, don't mess this up now.
You know, no different than the final man.
Like truly, I mean, I know I could talk about this cause I'm not
trying to prove myself as a driver.
And most drivers would never even mention it,
but I damn near double stepped the car.
You know what I mean?
Like I went and you can see it.
Like you can see it on the, on the graph, man.
I'm holding the break.
And I leave and the, the pedal goes and the break goes together.
And then I snatched it all back up in the break and the pedal together.
And then I leave.
And then I was like, oh man, I had a 150 light.
You know what I mean?
I just, I just knew I was dead late.
And I kept, I didn't even look running down the racetrack.
I kept looking out of the corner of my eye to see where his nose was.
And it never showed up.
And I was like, I don't know, maybe smoke the tires, you know,
but like the whole run, it wasn't even about the run.
It was just like, I just, I just lost on a whole shot.
You know what I mean?
And so talk about having a little luck too, man.
You know what I mean?
But I was just so amped up and, you know, you get in the car
and you're thinking about this is the one trophy
and the one time that you get to do this
and it'll never happen again.
And, you know, there you are, you know,
trying to make something happen or pushing too hard
and you almost mess it up, you know?
And, you know, God, we didn't or we, you know,
we ran fast enough to where even though I fumbled it up
there a little bit on the starting line, you know,
we got it done, you know?
So just, just sometimes you got to be a little lucky.
Sometimes you got to be real good.
And sometimes you got to have the right people around you, man.
So sorry, it's such a long answer, but I missed 20 minutes
of your, of your show.
So I figured to give you a really long answer to start with.
No, you're good.
How's it, how's it working with Tony Stewart?
That guy, I mean, he won obviously this weekend.
What's the vibe like with him as the team owner?
Does he just, is he just the coolest guy out there
and just let you do your thing?
Or does he give me, I mean, you obviously have way more
experience drag racing than he does, but being a team owner.
Yeah, I'm the big fish in a pond, Tony.
Not you and me.
Yeah, it's me.
Not you, man.
Everybody wants to talk to me.
Get out of the way.
Get out of the way.
How's that vibe working with him?
Oh man, that is the coolest cat that there is, man.
Like, you know, God bless John Force and what he's done
for our sport, but I truly, I think that Tony is the new
John Force of our sport that NHRA needs to attach
to that guy and just ride that wave as long as Tony
wants to do it or can do it.
Just good people, man.
Like he just, I always tell people, I was like, you know,
he's one of them good rich dudes, you know what I mean?
Like he just, and when I say that, because you get a lot
of people that have money and have power and they have
opportunities and they don't care about a lot of people
and Tony cares, man.
He's just a good dude, man.
He's one of those guys when he runs me off one day, you
know, he's going to have a hard time wearing me off
personally because we're just, we're going to be friends
for a long time and we're just, you know, he's created
something here that it's just awesome.
I mean, I was telling Leah and Tony, we were riding back
on the golf cart and I truly have an environment right now
where I am so excited to come to work, man.
And he's created that, you know, we've had some things
where we've changed over with some PR people and some,
you know, crew chiefs and different things and some guys
that have had to have some opportunities to come up
and grow and feel like they're having a shot
and different things like that.
But we have a group right now that is just really
clicking and really vibing and I've never had that
and I've been very, very successful along the way
but I've never had what we have right now.
So that's what's exciting to me is that we have a group
that just truly gets along, you know, and, you know,
Leah's back on the scene and she's number one qualifier
and he's over there, they're building this deal there
and, you know, and there's still so much going on
and everybody still like feels like they're kind of
like drinking from a fire hose, I think, you know,
and just with new stuff and different things
but the vibe, man, the energy, it's just,
I can't explain it, it's just something that I've hoped
and dreamed that we could get there
and I was thinking like, well, maybe one day
if I owned my own stuff and made my own calls
and did my own thing that I would have that
but I have that now because Tony and Leah,
they've done a great job of listening to the guys,
they've done a great job of listening to me,
they've done a great job of just, you know,
listening all the way around and making the best decisions
and what it was, I feel like, was for the team
and for making our situation and our group better to grow
and I was like, man, this is just all you can hope for, you know,
and there's truly a lot of communication.
Tony is just, it's great, he's never once been like,
nope, can't get that, nope, you know,
obviously we have this guy named Jared,
which is, he's kind of like...
No!
We lost him.
Cliffhanger.
We have this guy named Jared.
Jared!
Just to be a mention of Jared, this is what happened.
When he comes back...
Let's just leave him up.
Oh, he went away.
He's going to come back.
All right, so he comes back.
We want to hear about Jared for sure.
Yeah.
And...
We're going to talk about his drip, the whole thing.
We want to talk about his drip
and we want to talk about the guy that...
Here he comes.
Can you hear me?
Yeah, we got to get a phone call.
I did get a phone call.
I don't know how to turn that off, man.
As much as I've done this, I don't know how to turn those off,
you know, and we're talking about Money Guy
was my CPA calling me, so I was like,
no, Cliff, I don't want to talk to you
and talk taxes, you know.
But we have this guy, Jared, that basically, you know,
he kind of oversees everything
and you know, it's funny that
it's funny, but it's for good reasons, right?
Tony's like me.
He's like, let's get this hot rod and let's do this
and that car and everything.
So sometimes I think we all have to have people
that says, hey, man, this is what you financially
need to do, but all in all,
Tony provides everything we need, man.
You know, we have great sponsors, obviously,
with Dodge and American Rebel
and GHG with Jason Johnson
and all those guys, and they really do
help put the bill, but it's still,
you know, a lot of times
some of that stuff comes out of Tony's own pocket, man,
and his own funding and his own deal.
I mean, I know for the first two years,
we never even broke even, you know what I mean?
So there's a lot there, man.
So you know, for what was cool,
my dad buys two races as well, you know what I mean?
So we do some stuff there
and different things like that, but it's just,
it takes everybody, man,
and then when everybody's on the same page
like that and you're able to
put something together like this, it just,
again, it's just exciting, man.
Tony's awesome, brother. I mean,
there's nothing bad that,
I think that you read some of this stuff on the internet
and you're just like, these people
have no idea, man.
They don't even, if they took
five minutes
or five seconds to get to know Tony,
it just, they would have
a total different opinion of him.
So you read some of that stuff and it's really hard for me,
sometimes it's like, not time and be like,
you're stupid, you know what I mean?
You know, just come right to his defense
you know what I mean? But you can't.
I think if you went out there and tried to fight
everybody's battle with everything, you'd be doing it all day long.
And sometimes you just got to allow
people to do what and say whatever they're going to.
And they've said that about me, too, man.
I mean, no different than when I was running
in force for championships and stuff
and I would have people come up and they're like, hey,
and I'm like, yeah, and they're like, you suck.
You know what I mean? You're awesome.
I'm like, what do you say to that as a fan?
How do you tell a fan like, you know,
you suck, you know what I mean?
You can't do that. You just got to be like, hey,
God bless you, man. You know what I mean?
Like it's just one of those things, you know?
So you're better than me.
You're better than me because people in Norwalk
tell me I suck all the time right to my face.
And I go, go blow it out of your ass, guy.
I wish that's good, man.
But I don't think I'd have as many as these little badges on.
You know what I mean?
I don't have a sponsor.
So you definitely sometimes have to bite your tongue.
But what's really cool with Tony, too,
is like, you know, he is the team owner.
So we'll do some, some autograph session
and somebody ask him a dumb question and be like,
hey man, think about that for a second.
That's a pretty dumb question, right?
You know, just like, I'm like, whoa, you can't,
you can't do that. And he's like, I'm doing it.
You know what I mean?
It's still pretty cool, too. You know what I mean?
Oh, that's awesome.
Speaking of, speaking of your fans, Matt,
you know, thanks very much for signing in.
You do so much for Drag Race Brack of Ananza.
The guy that won the funny car plaque
that you signed 1,000 funny car wins
is actually in New Zealand.
No way.
He had, he had a perfect funny car bracket.
So his bracket for funny car,
he had you and Caps going all the way to the final
and he was so excited because he's a huge hate fan.
That's cool, man.
He made him through Facebook messaging
and I was like, hey man, I don't understand
how time zones work.
But, you know, it was another day right now.
It's three o'clock in the morning tomorrow
in New Zealand.
Are we going to have him on the show?
It's got him Chris Fletcher,
but I was blown away that you have fans
in New Zealand.
That's wild, man.
Well, send me his address too.
We'll send him some parts and pieces or something.
He would love that.
I don't know, Matt.
Yeah, I don't know.
Normally it costs $15.
Normally it costs me $15 to send a plaque to somebody.
Oh, man.
To get a plaque to New Zealand was $85.
Wow.
Now you have that international deal, man.
Yeah, but it was easy to do.
I'll send you his address.
Yeah, we'll get him some stuff.
Just the fan excitement.
Could you feel it this past weekend
at the Winter Nationals?
Yeah, man.
I feel like the Legends and the Thousand Funding Car Race,
even with all the mayhem,
that race just felt special.
Can you get that vibe as a driver
that's in that race?
That race, that place
is so magical, right?
I think that's more than the race itself.
I mean, there's champions crowned there.
There's so much history.
We used to start there. We finished there.
And it all comes down to that deal, man.
And so there's just,
when you're able to crown champions
at a place and
it has so much history,
I don't think that you can roll in there
and not feel good and have good vibes
about a place.
It's treated me so well.
It was at the fifth time we won there,
something like that.
But I think we're there
with force, you know, as far as,
you know, it's us and him.
I mean, nobody's going to touch force with this.
How many wins? I think it's just unbelievable.
But anyway, long story short,
the fans that place,
I mean, and Drag Race originated out there, right?
Like, you know, you have
so much, you know,
just salt of the earth
and just good people
who are out and are part of, you know,
Pomona and that whole
Fairplex and everything there.
So I get goosebumps, man,
every time I roll into that place,
you get off the plane and, you know,
you take a deep breath and you're like,
hey, let's go do this, you know.
So it's pretty cool, man.
Like, I think that that's one place
that I hope we continue to keep
finishing there and continue
to race there twice a year.
I mean, I was bombed, honestly,
but on the flip side, you know,
we're going to have a whole new crowd
on a new group of people come to something new races.
So that's going to be great, man,
because we've got to keep growing this sport.
I mean, we have so many new sponsors
come out every year and, you know,
it's like once they get there, they're just like,
oh my gosh, you know what I mean?
So that's pretty cool
because, you know, it's just getting
those guys, you know, you pitch
these big corporations in a board room
on Tuesday or Wednesday
whenever their meetings work out.
And they're just like, please take a Saturday,
just one Saturday out of your life
and just come check out what we do.
And some do and some don't,
but the ones that do, this deal
sells itself. And it's one of the most
extreme things that I think that,
you know, people ever seen and been around
and sensory overload and it's just
if you can usually get that one
Saturday ticket book, man, you know,
you usually can get a sponsor to come back again
and start being engaging in the sport
in some way, shape or form most of the time, you know.
And so that's been pretty cool
like that how do you have,
you know, a platform
to where, you know, it doesn't
translate great on TV, but you
get them there and they're like, let's do this,
you know what I mean? So, you know,
I don't know how we're going to get our TVs to shake
and fall on the floor, but we got to do that too,
you know what I mean?
But yeah, just the fans, the place,
the tracks, you know,
we just, we have something really special here.
Joe Lee,
Aaron Stanfield's wife has a question
that Jason, I also want to get into.
Yeah, I hear she says
we're going to shift gears.
Yeah, so how much fun are you having right now?
Because I remember back in the day
you set the track record
in Charlie
and the
the tower said, hey, go get Matt.
We need to interview him and I came back
and got you and I said, hey, Matt,
they want to interview on the starting line
because you, you know, you went 399,
you broke track record, blah, blah, blah, blah,
and you're like, man, I just want to go fast.
I ain't got time for all this mess
and you were just, I mean,
you were so locked in and you were like,
I don't want to go, no, I'm just here to drive a car.
But now your social media,
I mean, am I right?
I mean, social media feed.
The matter baby thing you did this week.
Yes, so great.
The drivers are great with that, man.
They really do play along and they,
you know, they show up with that little mic
and I'm like, don't make fun of my little mic, you know.
Yeah, right.
And it just kind of one of those things where,
you know, Chloe does a great job
with all my social media.
She's doing Tony's as well.
So we're really labeled since kind of like,
you know, you know, co-mingle that a lot,
you know, and Tony is a great
sport too, man. Like, you know,
there's some stuff like he just gets bombarded
with a lot of things. So we kind of
get around of like, hey, but Tony always
makes time to engage and to be a part
and, you know, whether it's the beginning of the day
or the end of the day, we make it happen.
But those outfits, man, they're
definitely out there, you know what I mean?
Like it just, but you know, I look at it like,
dude, I'm 43 years old
and I've won four championships and there's
56 races now and I had nothing to prove to nobody
and I don't really care, you know what I mean?
Like it's like, you know, I used to be like,
oh, I need to, you know, look a certain way
and have a certain swagger and, you know,
of course, he's still got like a swagger that he carries himself
with, you know what I mean? And
maybe it's because he broke a leg or something, I don't know,
but his swagger is definitely there, you know,
but it's one of them
things, man, where it's just like, have fun,
you know what I mean? I'm like, so what if
I'm in some tight leopard pants or something
like I used to would care, but now I don't,
you know, but I think that's the whole point
is to step outside of
what your comfort zone is and just
like, just have fun with it.
Who cares what hat you got on or what color
glasses are? How does that come together?
Like how, like you do?
Well, you know, I think like she
really tries hard to like, you know,
do something with the environment
that they're like, you know,
like if we're in Carolinas
would be some type of panther theme or something
or, you know, you know what I mean?
So something that's got like
that relates to, you know,
that area we're racing in, but
some of it's just off the wall, wild
stuff, you know what I mean? And I'm just like,
you know, you can only be so creative,
but then there's just always new ideas
popping up and it's like, where do you get this from?
You know, so, and, you know, and then
it's like, you know, there's this
rack that comes out and I have to try
everything on before, before we get there.
And so it's like, you know, it's like
one of those things that's kind of funny
because, you know, the step-brothers movie
it's like, this house is a prison and I don't want to do that.
You know what I mean? It's like, you know,
she's like, try it on, you know what I mean?
So that's what's funny.
I mean, is it like, hey, here's three options
and do you get to pick one or is it just that one?
Yeah, I mean, my Amazon account is
out of control, man.
Unbelievable.
You know, but, but it's fun, you know, it costs
money, but I think that's why it's
original for us because, you know, no one
wants to put in the time and the money
and the effort it takes because, I mean, it's
thousands of dollars to, to buy all this
stuff, you know what I mean? And then
on top of it, you know, you got to try it on,
you got to plan it out, you got to bring it,
you got to, you know, some of the stuff
don't you send stuff back? Like, there's
a lot of effort that goes into it.
I can tell. I have no idea, you know, to be
like, the comment on like, hey, you look gay,
you know what I mean? Like, who cares, man?
Like, you know what I mean? Get over it, you know?
So we're having fun doing it and it's
really cool that the media and TV has
picked it up and they've ran with it
and we've got, I mean, I sometimes
get more off of, off of my race
day fit than I do winning the race,
you know what I mean? And they're like,
everyone engages in it, you know, everybody's
got to comment whether it's good or bad.
They're commenting, you know what I mean?
And that's, that's really cool, you know?
Yeah, you, but you're, it's so
again, like, you know,
just watching you throughout
your career, you're like, this guy,
why is he wearing that? Like, but
you pull it off and you
I don't know about pulling it off, but we're wearing it.
I mean, you embrace it and it's like,
can you imagine J.R. Todd wearing
half of the clothes you wear it? No, J.R. Todd's
doing that. He's too great about those things.
Yeah. But that's fine. But that's why
I say you're having so much fun right now
and, you know, yes,
you have all the success behind you and everything
like that. But now I feel like you're embracing
the whole. Oh, right.
If I wore what I wore every day, it would be just,
I cycle out like three T-shirts and
cowboy boots and jeans, man. Like, you get pretty
old pretty quick, you know what I mean? But
just to be able to do that and to engage
our fans and to have fun with it, like,
you know, some of the stuff I'm like, man,
this is a one and done. But other stuff is like,
man, I might keep some of this, you know what I mean?
I'm going to rock some of this stuff out, you know.
The shirts and jacket combos, I mean,
you can tear off a bunch of legs with those.
Yeah, man. I mean, yeah.
You roll in your baller status, some of that stuff,
man. But it's, but
dude, that's what's so fun about it, you know what I
mean? It's just like, no one would ever,
you know, believe that some old
Po-Dunk Country farmer would be in some of this
kind of stuff, you know, with some, it looks like
sprayed on pants and different things like
that, you know, but here we are, man.
And that's what's really cool.
Yeah, that's what's really cool.
Yeah, we were talking about Maddie
Gordon, how excited everybody is for her.
I think you, you know,
you're not going to be, oh my God, I love
Maddie, but your clothes are screaming
and it's awesome, but I love it.
You know what, though? I mentioned it in
a top-end interview is like, you know,
before we had the final round with Caps,
I was just like, hey, you know, Mike
Ashley, not Mike Ashley, but Justin
because I raced with Mike, his dad a long time
ago in Promod, so I got a lot of love for
that family over there. They're just good people,
but Justin is top tier,
man. Like that kid, unbelievable.
I mean, he really needs to run for
like, you know, governor or something like that.
Like he's just well-composed,
put together. Like it's like, I was
listening to him do just a, just an interview
when we were qualifying and it's just like,
bro, is he reading off of a script?
No, it's on point. It's crazy.
On point, right? Like, I'm like, how does
he, like, IQ must be like,
out here, you know what I mean? But like,
and I think, I think Jesus
whispers in his ear when he leaves the starting
line. It's just like, go.
Time to go, Justin.
You know what I mean? Like unbelievable,
man. Like unmatched, you know what I mean?
And just, just, um,
good kid though, man. Good, good kid.
But, but I was just like, hey, be
like him, you know, be composed, be calm
and just real thorough and do my
drilling gets to taking over and I get
screaming and hugging and everybody. I'm like, no,
no, just, no, Justin, actually this weekend,
you know what I mean? But, but maybe one day,
maybe one day we'll get there. You know what I mean?
What a great kid. Yeah. How sick were his
lights? 25, 25,
25. And the finals, it was,
I mean, I don't even know what the finals were.
It was 36 in the finals, but it was
I mean, what are you? Yeah.
He's like, you said Jesus is whispering
in his ear. I mean,
yeah, yeah, Justin, it's your time.
Let's go. You know what I mean? Like,
it's just unbelievable, man. And at Crew
Chiefs Dream does a great job, you know,
driving the race car, handling the clutch
backing up, taking care of the car,
all those things that you could hope for.
I mean, and that will be a championship
car one day. I mean, that just, there's
no way around it with a, with a kid
that can drive like that. I wish I was
that good when I was that early in my career.
You know what I mean? So,
you're going to see big things out of
him and his family. His dad
got
another call. Text, text, man, calling him
again. Yeah, by the way, it's tax day.
Here we go. It's tax day. Make sure you get
all your taxes filed today.
Yeah.
All right. No, we can hear you, but we can't see you.
Oh, I'm coming right back in this year. No worries.
Man, he's back.
He'll come back. All right. I want to get,
I want to get into his meat. I want to get into his
meat business. Oh, he's got a
jerky now. Yes.
Everybody's got jerky. Tommy DeLago's
got her head. I don't know if he still
has. There we go. All right.
We want to, before
we let you go, we want to try
to fire up
the jerky wars. Oh, okay.
Yeah. You got your Matt Hagan.
You got your steak company,
which unbelievable
steaks and ground beef.
I've eaten it. It's tremendous.
Now you have
the beef sticks.
Yeah. Which is a little different than
like Tommy DeLago's
jerky. Yeah. You know,
actually we,
me and Tommy, we've been, we've worked together
in the past on some stuff and
you know, he's doing the jerky. I'm kind of doing
the beef stick and he was like, hey,
I'll order some beef sticks
if you order some jerky, man. So I think
there's some opportunity to do some
co-branding and stuff like that. And
Tommy, dude, that guy looks great, man.
He's like, I'm just doing all beef
and no carbs. Yeah, he's just eating jerky.
I'm going to get on the Tommy DeLago jerky program.
And I saw him on the start line the other day.
That guy was all banging out and like he was like
solid. And I was like, bro, I got to get on
your program. Like what in the world are you
doing? He's like, dude, I just, I just eat meat. That's it.
He's like, got away from carbohydrates and
he's like, I don't, I don't do any carbs
and just, just, well, I guess
having a meat company will help you
do it. But it hasn't for me. I'm still
roly-poly, bro. Like I still love carbohydrates.
You know what I mean? And I'm drinking too much American
Rebel beer, you know, but that's a problem.
Yeah, that's it.
But, but man, it's, it's one of those
things where, yeah, Tommy does a great
job. He's got a good stuff. I've had it.
We've actually, you know, worked together.
And what was really cool is that when he reached
out, I was like, absolutely, man, let's do this
because we had such a great relationship,
you know, working together back in the day
when, when you win a championship with somebody
that's, you know, you're
ingrained in that person's life forever,
man. You know, so like if they need
something, whatever you need something, it's
just a phone call away, I think so.
Man, but yeah, this beef stick company is kind
of wild, man. I never set out to do
this, you know, and it's one of those things
where I was like, I just wanted to make some beef
sticks, you know, have my brand and I went
to this lady, she's 80 years old, Charlotte
Haynes is her name. She's the heiress
to Haynes underwear and she had this little
company down the road here and I was like,
hey, I need somebody to make me some beef
sticks, you know, because I'm just doing
the meat thing and, and, you know, so
she's like, you need to buy this company
and I was like, no, ma'am, I don't, you
know, I don't think so, you know, and I was
like, I just want, you know, three sticks,
you know, I mean, you know, three flavors,
you know, and so anyway, Long Story Short
made an offer and she took it and I was
like, oh my god, you know, we got, we got
to sell some beef sticks now, you know,
I mean, so, but what was really cool was
she, she already had a lot of the
formulations and stuff down and we
just kind of had to go in there, there's
25 people there that were keeping going
and it's just, it's been great,
but as everything else, it takes time.
It's like, it's like an onion, you have to
peel the layers back and you have to make sure
everything's done the right way and, and
man, you know, like had no idea what
it takes to really, truly market
a product on a national level and, you
know, pay for the stocking fees and the
people at the store and the, you know,
all the shipping and this and that and
it's just, you know, you got to put
half a million dollars around just, just
advertising and stuff like that. So it's
just, there's just so much to it and
you know, it's not going to be
great. We're slowly, you know, getting
into some stores and slowly
getting into some national chains and
different things like that, which is going
to be great, but, but at the end of the
day, all that stuff takes time and money
and, and we have to kind
of keep marketing that, you know what I
mean? But, but it's going to be great.
We got a great product. I love, like I
keep my stuff of my guys all stocked
up and, and they're all like, you
know, we'll send more beef sticks.
I was like, hey, bro, I got a buck
so fast. You know what I mean? So, but
that's, yeah, ever see
an opportunity where you put beef
sticks in your headers and you do a burn
out and you shoot beef sticks.
Oh, that'd be awesome. It'd be great. Yeah, like
Caps did with the brute back in
the day. Yeah, he just jumped
up. Man, that's tough.
And we could have a Matt Hagan beef
stick cannon. It looks like a
beef stick. We can make the whole
cannon. We label that whole thing up.
Let's do it, man. We'll send them and
wrap them in rubber band and shoot them out of the
T-shirt cannon. Yeah, let's do that.
Heck, yeah.
Well, Matt, thank you so much for
joining us. Congratulations on the
thousandth funny car win.
The drips, all the stuff you're doing
could not be more
excited for you to see you doing well.
We will definitely
look forward to seeing you and Charlotte at the
four wide. So, that's basically
your home race now, isn't it? Yeah, well, they're
doing like the champions thing there,
I don't know if I'm, I mean, they had our billboard
up there, the legend of the sport. Like, they got
me for the 399 and different things like that.
Like, whoa, I'm getting old, bro.
That's what's wrong.
You're a four-time champion,
you know, start stacking up.
I'm excited to see all of the stuff
they're doing and that they're showcasing
all that for Charlotte. So, yeah,
kind of a home race. Everybody thinks Richmond is, but
that's four hours away. Charlotte's two, Bristol's two.
So, yeah,
I'm ready to go racing again, man.
I'm very, very blessed to do what we did. Mike Knudson,
you know, obviously
Phil Shuler and Alex Conway. What
a race car they put under anything. And I'm
just blessed to have that group, man.
They just do an incredible job. So, just
try not to mess it up, you know what I mean? So,
we'll get into Charlotte and see what we can do.
All right. Appreciate it, man. Thanks so much. Hey, thank you
guys. Appreciate you. See you guys.
See it. Matt Hagen,
everyone. Matt Hagen.
Dude, he's having so much fun. We have a lot to go over.
He's having so much fun right now.
I love it. I love
that this sport has so many personalities,
which we're finding out
in the 75th year
with all the legends coming back and all the
autograph sessions and everything like that.
If you have not been to a race yet, you need to
come through a race. You have to go.
All the legends are out there. They're having
a great time. But then you got Matt Hagen,
who's still out there killing it.
He's a legend.
Let's be honest. He's one of the 75
greatest drivers. I mean, I think they're
probably going to honor him and Charlotte.
That's kind of what he was talking about. Listen,
man, that
when I had to go pick him up and Charlotte, he was just like,
man, I just want to go fast. Oh, yeah. He was not into that.
It's the beginning of his career. He just wanted to race.
Yes. And now
to see him leaning into it
and having fun and doing,
I mean,
Chloe has some Jedi mind trick over.
But now you can tell he's leaning into it.
Yes. Of having fun with it and the
response he gets.
I love everything about
like that's like a Sunday morning
ritual for me is
filling out my bracket
for Brack of Anans and then trying to track down
what is his race day fit look like.
Yep. It's so good.
Especially Vegas though. Vegas, he goes a little
above and beyond.
My favorite is, I can't remember
which race it was, but he was like in the throne
with like the fur
and just like a comb in the barbarian
kind of, I mean, and that
is not AI. That's the thing that's so great.
He's talking about that's
Rex and I would love to see their Amazon
account. I bet it's ridiculous.
Listen, my wife buys stuff
from Amazon for events that we do
and a couple of weeks ago
my entire front living room
was just filled with the Amazon
boxes and I'm like, what the heck? And all of a
sudden I start getting the emails
Hey, you're
you know, you return your
American Express card is back, you know,
back in good standings.
I was like, oh my God. Also,
I want to see what his suggestion for you
looks like. For me?
No, like for Hagan, like, you know, because
they'll do like after you buy all these things, you get the
Hey, here's some other items you might be interested
in. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I bet it's just
off the, you know, just crazy. Yeah.
You got those leopard pants. Here's
the here's the underwear that goes
well, you might be interested in some pink
tiger striped, you know,
t-shirts. Yeah, right.
Oh, yeah. Well, this week
it was great. It was
great racing.
It was it was filled with a lot of stuff
and what better place to do it
than Pomona. Right. It was good
to be back there.
We had a good time eating. Yes.
Which do we have a Charlotte
place we go to? I mean, not really.
Not really. I mean, everything's kind of close
there, but we'll
get into that. We'll find some places. Yeah.
In Charlotte. The one Italian
place. They kind of switched owners that we
like, but
because there's like those restaurants down by the
lake and stuff or where that
little community. Yeah. Yeah.
But Charlotte, you know,
they got cook out and they got some other
things, but nothing, nothing major about
cook out. But yeah, that's about it.
We did go to the race track
and we had a meal there one time.
Did you go to the race track last year?
Yeah, that was not with you guys, the
Speedway Club, but we may hit those guys
there. Yeah, Joe loves that place.
All right. Let's uh, let's wrap it up
and then next Wednesday we should be back
at noon Eastern. Yes, we should be.
And thank you everybody for listening.
We'll preview the four wide and get into our
hot sports opinions on the four wide.
Yes, we, yeah,
that'll be fun.
Yeah, so like share.
If you missed any part of the show, go back
and watch it on WFO on YouTube.
If you missed Joe's show yesterday, he had
Richard Freeman on talking about Tony
Stewart winning.
Big stuff, man.
This is when the season starts getting going.
First couple races, yeah, whatever, we're moving
forward. But now Pomona
has happened and we are getting
is the meat of everything.
Good stuff, Elon.
All right. Good stuff.
Until next week, man. Have a good day.
All right. Goodbye. See you later.
This is
WFO
Radio.
About this episode
Pomona Winter Nationals recap turns into a food-and-funny-car party, with the hosts trading stories about race-weekend snacks, roller-challenge chaos, and mixed dining experiences (great food, rough service at Cocoa Palm; solid prime rib at Pomona Mining Company). Sunday’s racing gets dramatic—rain delays, Tony Schumacher’s oil-down/points penalties, and a wild gauntlet for winners—followed by the team’s celebratory flight back to Charlotte. The highlight is a long, candid interview with four-time Funny Car champ Matt Hagan, celebrating his 1,000th Funny Car win and his fun, fashion-forward “drip,” plus his beef-stick business and working with Tony Stewart.
Original notes
Join the boys a little earlier, 10:30am, to get all the news about the race weekend that was the Winternationals in Pomona. Matt Hagan joins the program as the winner of the 1000th Funny Car race in NHRA history. Sure to be a great show. Like and share it on all social media platforms.
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