Racer Profile: Billy Hagan

March 6, 2008

By Allen Madding

Allen Madding

Billy Hagan was born March 22, 1932 in Lafayette, Louisiana. He began dabbling in the NASCAR Grand National Division (later renamed the Winston Cup Series) in 1969 when he qualified his No. 52 Mercury for the Talladega 500. Hagan qualified 29th but finished eighth and collected One thousand, seven hundred and fifty dollars.

Hagan did not return to the series until 1975, when he returned to the Talladega 500 driving his No. 92 Stratagraph Chevrolet finishing 19th. That year Hagan also fielded the car for driver Skip Manning in five Winston Cup Series events. Manning recorded a handful of top-15 finishes in the five outings.

Hagan fielded the car with Stratagraph sponsorship for Manning in 25 Cup Series events in 1976. Manning finished ninth behind the wheel of Hagan’s No. 92 Chevrolet in the Nashville 420 and in the Talladega 500. Hagan landed 1st National City Travelers Checks sponsorship for the No. 92 Chevrolet and fielded the car for Manning in 28 Winston Cup events. Manning finished third in the Talladega 500 and recorded eight top-ten finishes that year.

Hagan opened the 1978 NASCAR Winston Cup Series with Manning behind the wheel of his No. 92 at Riverside, California. After 15 starts together, Hagan replaced Manning with Mel Larson for the Champion Spark Plug 400 at Michigan. He then replaced Larson with a young Terry Labonte. Labonte recorded a fourth place finish in his first NASCAR Winston Cup start driving Hagan’s No. 92 Duck Industries Chevrolet in the Southern 500. A seventh place finish followed in the Capital City 400 at Richmond and a ninth place finish in the Old Dominion 500 at Martinsville. All told, Labonte made five starts for Hagan recording one top-five and three top-ten finishes. Hagan also ran Dick May in the car for the Delaware 500 at Dover and the American 500 at Rockingham. By season’s end Hagan had made up his mind, he wanted Terry Labonte behind the wheel of his car fulltime.

Hagan worked out sponsorship with Duck Industries, Stratagraph, and Technicraft to run the full 31 event Winston Cup Series schedule in 1979. Labonte finished third in the Southern 500 and fifth in the Texas 500 at Texas World Speedway. In 31 events, the pairing recorded two top-fives and 13 top-tens finishing tenth in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series points.

In 1980, Labonte scored the first NASCAR Winston Cup Series win of his career driving Hagan’s No. 92 Apache Classic Stove Chevrolet in the Southern 500 at Darlington. He recorded six top-five and 16 top-ten finishes for the year to end the season eighth in points. The following year Labonte scored two poles, eight top-fives, and 17 top-tens to finish fourth in the points. Labonte recorded two more poles in 1982 driving Hagan’s No. 44 J. D. Stacy sponsored Chevrolets and Buicks and charted 17 top-fives and 21 top-tens finishing third in the Cup Series points.

In 1983, Labonte enjoyed three poles, a win in the Warner W. Hodgdon American 500 at the North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham driving Hagan’s No. 44 Budweiser Chevrolet. He added 11 top-fives and 20 top-tens to finish fifth in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series points.

Hagan signed Piedmont Airlines as the sponsor for the No. 44 Chevrolet. Labonte qualified on the pole and won the Budweiser 400 at Riverside, California and added another win in the Busch 500 at Bristol. Together the team recorded 2 poles, 2 wins, 17 top-fives and 24 top-tens to win Terry Labonte the 1984 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Championship. In the final event of the 1984 season, the Winston Western 500 at Riverside, Hagan also fielded the No. 1 Piedmont Airlines Chevrolet for Joe Milikan.

Labonte scored 4 poles, 1 win, 8 top-fives and 17 top-tens in 1985 finishing seventh in the points battle. In 1986, he recorded another win and another pole along with five top-fives and ten top-tens slipping to 12th in the points. Labonte accepted an offer to drive for Junior Johnson for 1987 convinced that Johnson could supply him with more competitive equipment.

Hagan signed Sterling Marlin to drive his No. 44 Piedmont Oldsmobile in the 1987 NASCAR Winston Cup Series. Marlin recorded four top-fives and eight top-tens. For the 1989 season, Hagan signed Sunoco as the primary sponsor for his Oldsmobiles and changed the car number to 94. Marlin continued to drive the car with limited success through the 1990 season. But during his four years driving for Hagan, Marlin failed to find his way to victory lane.

Hagan caught word that Labonte wanted to leave Junior Johnson. Hagan and Labonte discussed the possibilities of reuniting for the 1991 season. At the end of the 1990 season, Hagan announced he was releasing Sterling Marlin and signing Terry Labonte to return to Hagan Racing.

With Labonte back behind the wheel of the No. 94 Sunoco Oldsmobile, many thought the magic would return that had been there in the 1980s, but it was just not to be. While Labonte scored one pole during the 1991 season, he did not score a single win while driving for Hagan from 1991 through 1993. His top-five finishes fell each year until he did not record a top-five finish in 1993. It was becoming apparent that it was more expensive to run up front in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series and Hagan’s team was under funded. Sunoco left at the conclusion of the 1992 season, and Hagan signed Kellogg’s for 1993. At the end of the season, Labonte left Hagan for Rick Hendrick’s stables and convinced Kellogg’s to go with him.

Without a major sponsor and a seasoned driver, Hagan was left scrambling to secure a sponsor and a driver. Hagan fielded the No. 14 Chevrolet for John Andretti in 18 NASCA Winston Cup Series events with a multitude of primary sponsors – Financial World, Freedom Village USA, Total Petroleum, Bryan Heating and Cooling, Caesars Pocono Resorts, and Motorsports Designs. In two outings, the car had no primary sponsorship. At one event, the team blew a motor prior to the race and did not have the finances to produce another engine. Dale Earnhardt caught wind of their plight and convinced Richard Childress to loan the team their qualifying engine so they could make the race. The financial struggle was apparent in the team’s performance. Andretti failed to record a single top-ten finish. Andretti left Hagan for an offer to drive Richard Petty’s No. 43 STP Pontiac.

Billy Hagan’s final foray in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series came at Rockingham in the fall of 1994 when he fielded the No. 14 NTN Bearings Chevrolet for Randy McDonald. McDonald finished the event in 24th position 26 laps down to the leader. Hagan Racing was out of money.

In 21 years of competing in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, Hagan Racing recorded 547 starts, 15 poles, six wins, 101 top-fives, 236 top-tens, and one NASCAR Winston Cup Series Championship.

Billy Hagan passed away November 16, 2007 at the age of 75.

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.

	Enter your search terms Submit search form
	Web Insiderracingnews.com