Inside Line Promotions – GREENVILLE, Miss. (May 9, 2022) – Derek Hagar is off to the best start to a season since 2014.
Hagar captured his fifth feature triumph during his eighth winged sprint car race of 2022 last Saturday at Greenville Speedway, which hosted an ASCS Mid-South Region event.
“We have the team back and it’s starting to shape up like 2014 and 2016 when we won all of those races,” he said in reference to career-best seasons that each yielded 16 triumphs. “I don’t see why we can’t keep doing it.”
Hagar advanced from fourth to second place during a heat race on Saturday when he made his first appearance at the track since May 2019.
“We haven’t been there the last couple of years and we didn’t have the fastest race car,” he said. “We got to second and that put us in the top four in the feature redraw. We drew the No. 3 to start third in the 25-lap feature.
“The track was pretty gnarly. It was slick for the most part, but it was really flat on the bottom until it got to the top and then it was like Daytona banking. You had to get up there and man up and run against the fence. You had to try to stay out of the holes where it wouldn’t bounce you into the wall.”
Hagar quickly advanced into the runner-up position before taking the lead near the midpoint of the race.
“Tim Crawley was amazing,” he said. “He probably put half a track on me and really had a good car. He got caught up with a lapped car and it knocked the front end out of his car. We inherited the lead and held on for about the last 12 laps. It was treacherous to be up there. You had to burn the brakes off it to bound the car up so if it got to bouncing you could still control it.”
Hagar’s next race is this Saturday at Riverside International Speedway in West Memphis, Ark. A win would match the best start to a season in winged sprint cars with six triumphs in the first nine races, which he accomplished eight years ago.
QUICK RESULTS –
May 7 – Greenville Speedway in Greenville, Miss. – Heat race: 2 (4); Feature: 1 (3).
SEASON STATS –
9 races, 5 wins, 6 top fives, 7 top 10s, 7 top 15s, 8 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Saturday at Riverside International Speedway in West Memphis, Ark.
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 like to thank Pafford Medical Services, KO Motorsports, B & D Towing and Recovery, FK Rod Ends, Summit Truck Group, Dynotech Performance, Fragola Performance Systems, Administrative Consulting Services, Killer Coatings, Xtreme Race Graphics, Southern Collision Centre, Jeff’s Heating and Cooling, ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems, Weld Wheels, DHR Suspension, Hinchman Racewear, Wix Filters, Valvoline, Ti64 and Builtwiser Wings 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.
