(Photo courtesy of ASCS)
Inside Line Promotions – ELDON, Mo. (Sept. 6, 2022) – Derek Hagar captured the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour portion of the Fall Sprint and Midget Nationals at Lake Ozark Speedway on Sunday evening.
It marked his third ASCS National Tour triumph of the season – the most in a year for Hagar and second most of any driver in the nation this season.
“It makes you feel good you can compete with those guys,” he said. “I wish we could do it on a regular basis because I feel we could be a contender for a championship. I don’t have the time or money to travel everywhere, but when we do show up I’d like to think they hate seeing us come through the gates.”
Hagar qualified second quickest and placed third in a heat race to garner the ninth starting position in the A Main.
“The race track wasn’t ideal,” he said. “They couldn’t stay off the track and were dragging the show out so it made for late nights and a tough track. It had a big curb. I told Kenny I wasn’t going up there to the top. We set up for the middle to the bottom. It worked out for us because everybody kept messing up on the cushion. You had to be so precise and slow up there that I was able to drive the car much harder and hit the bottom coming off the corners.”
Hagar took the lead on Lap 19 and led the final seven laps for his eighth career ASCS National Tour triumph and 11th trip to Victory Lane this season.
That was one of four features he competed in all weekend as he did double duty during the doubleheader, also racing with the POWRi Outlaw 410 Sprint League.
“We qualified ninth quickest and started on the outside of the front row in a heat race,” he said of Sunday’s 410 action. “We took off in the lead and then the rear axle broke. We got it all fixed and started in the back of the feature. We made it up through there toward the top 10 about four or five laps in. I was going to the outside of someone when his car broke and came up the track. It hit me in the left front and folded the front end. I hit the wall head on.”
The DNF was the lone blemish on the weekend for Hagar, who also raced both classes at Lake Ozark Speedway on Saturday.
Hagar timed in 22nd quickest before advancing from eighth to fourth in a heat race and from 11th to fourth in the A Main during POWRi Outlaw 410 Sprint League competition.
“We missed the setup big time in qualifying and I was way too free,” he said. “We didn’t get a good time and started in the back of the heat race. We got up to fourth, which put us starting 11th in the feature. It took me a minute to figure out where I needed to go. The car came alive and started moving forward. We got up to fourth and ran out of time.”
In ASCS action, Hagar timed in second quickest and maneuvered from third to second place in a heat race before gaining two spots in the feature to finish fourth.
“We qualified decent and got up to second fairly quick in the heat race,” he said. “We missed the setup a little with gearing in the feature. With a couple of cars crashing in front of us we got to third before Joe B. Miller got by us there at the end.”
Hagar will venture to I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, Ark., for the Ralph Henson Memorial with the ASCS Mid-South Region this Saturday. He enters the event leading the I-30 Speedway and ASCS Mid-South Region championship standings.
QUICK RESULTS –
Sept. 3 – Lake Ozark Speedway in Eldon, Mo. (410 sprint car) – Qualifying: 22; Heat race: 4 (8); Feature: 4 (11).
Sept. 3 – Lake Ozark Speedway in Eldon, Mo. (360 sprint car) – Qualifying: 2; Heat race: 2 (3); Feature: 4 (6).
Sept. 4 – Lake Ozark Speedway in Eldon, Mo. (410 sprint car) – Qualifying: 9; Heat race: 8 (2); Feature: 23 (19).
Sept. 4 – Lake Ozark Speedway in Eldon, Mo. (360 sprint car) – Qualifying: 2; Heat race: 3 (3); Feature: 1 (9).
SEASON STATS –
30 races, 11 wins, 18 top fives, 22 top 10s, 22 top 15s, 24 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Saturday at I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, Ark., for the Ralph Henson Memorial with the ASCS Mid-South Region
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 Ameri-Panel, KO Motorsports, J&J Auto Racing, B & D Towing and Recovery, FK Rod Ends, Dynotech Performance, A.M.P., 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.
