CRA: Team Eagle Creek Racing 2002 preview

Brownsburg, IN (March 19, 2002) -- Matt Hagans, owner and driver of Team Eagle Creek Racing, has released his plans for a very busy 2002 race season. Hagans has plans to compete in a minimum of 30 different races in 2002 with five different racing series. Hagans will compete in all 19 events on the 2002 CRA Sunoco Super Series schedule. Hagans will also compete in a minimum of five races at Salem Speedway in their newly formed Late Model Division. Hagans will make four starts in the ARCA RE/Max Series, along with at least one start in the Hills Brothers NASCAR All Pro Series. The biggest challenge for Hagans this race season will be on Saturday, August 3rd at Indianapolis Raceway Park, when he will attempt to make his first ever start in a NASCAR Busch Series car.

"With me being forty five years old, and my business growing every year, I know I just don't have a lot of years left to race competitively," commented Hagans. "Several things have fallen in place to give Team Eagle Creek Racing the opportunity to compete in several races with several different series, and I just decided, let's go for it!"

The Sunoco Super Series cars and the Hills Brothers NASCAR All-Pro car will be prepared out of the new Team Eagle Creek Racing shop located in Brownsburg, Indiana by Jimmy Garner and Kenny Warner. Gary Hostetler, at his shop in Memphis, Indiana, will prepare the car for Salem Speedway, which was formerly owned by Don Jackson and driven by Roland Isaacs. Hostetler will also work with Team Eagle Creek Racing at the Sunoco Super Series events. Hagans plans to race in the Hills Brothers NASCAR All Pro event at Bristol Motor Speedway on August 21st.

Both the ARCA RE/Max Series car and the NASCAR Busch Series car will be prepared by Braun Racing, the team that fields cars for current ARCA RE/Max Series points leader Chad Blount. Hagans will compete with the ARCA RE/Max Series at Salem Speedway on April 28th and September 15th, at Winchester Speedway on August 31st, and his first ever Super Speedway race at Michigan International Speedway on June 15th.

Hagans began his racing career in legend cars in 1992 and achieved instant success by capturing the National Legends Championship. Hagans moved up to a late model in 1997 competing with the Sunoco Super Series in its inaugural season. Hagans has competed mainly with the Sunoco Super Series since 1997, he has four victories and eight pole positions in 60 starts. Hagans has two victories at Salem Speedway, one at Winchester Speedway, and one this past season at Anderson Speedway. Hagans has also made a handful of starts with ASA.

"The last couple of years I have not been able to race a complete season because of my business," remarked Hagans. "Hopefully I have everything in place this season to race all 30 races I have planned." Hagans is the owner of Eagle Creek Aviation Services located in Eagle Creek Airpark in Indianapolis, Indiana. Eagle Creek Aviation Services is an internationally recognized Major Service Center specializing in maintaining and upgrading Commander aircraft.

The first event of the season for Team Eagle Creek Racing will be the Salem Speedway season opener on Sunday, April 7th, the first race for the newly formed Salem Speedway Late Model Division. Team Eagle Creek Racing will have a new look at Anderson Speedway on April 20th for the Sunoco Super Series season opener. The familiar white color on Hagans Sunoco Super Series car will be replaced with black for the 2002 season.

-cra/tecr-