Billy Joe Hagan (March 22, 1932 – November 16, 2007) was a

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

owner/driver. He owned Hagan Racing and was known with winning the 1984 NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship with

Terry Labonte Terrance Lee Labonte (born November 16, 1956), nicknamed Texas Terry or The Iceman, is an American former stock car driver who raced from 1978 to 2014 in the former NASCAR Winston Cup and Sprint Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Series). A two ...

Career

He made three starts in NASCAR's Grand National/Winston Cup division, finishing eighth in his first start, the inaugural Talladega 500 in a self-owned 1968

Mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...

Cyclone In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an anti ...

. He did not field another car until 1975, finishing 19th once again at Talladega. He also fielded a car for five races for

Skip Manning Skip Manning (born April 23, 1945) is a former NASCAR driver from Bogalusa, Louisiana. He competed in seventy-nine Winston Cup events in his career, spanning from 1975 to 1979. Manning won the rookie-of-the-year award in 1976. He had sixteen top ...

. In 1976, he fielded the #92 Stratagraph

Chevrolet Chevelle Laguna The Chevrolet Chevelle Laguna is a mid-sized automobile produced by Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the ...

for Manning, and he won Rookie of the Year honors. Manning was released in 1978, and replaced by

. Hagan hired

Petty Enterprises Petty Enterprises (formerly Lee Petty Engineering) was a NASCAR racing team based in Level Cross, North Carolina, USA. It was founded by Lee Petty with his two sons Richard Petty and Maurice Petty. The team was later owned by Richard Petty, hi ...

crew chief

Dale Inman Dale Inman (born August 19, 1936) is a retired NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup Series crew chief from Level Cross, Randolph County, North Carolina. He is best known for being the crew chief of Richard Petty at Petty Enterprises during three de ...

for the 1984 season. Labonte won the

Southern 500 The Southern 500, officially known as the Cook Out Southern 500 for sponsorship reasons, is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, United States. The race distance is and consists of 367 laps. Fro ...

, and won the 1984 championship. Labonte left the team in 1986, and was replaced by

Sterling Marlin Sterling Burton Marlin (born June 30, 1957) is an American semi-retired, professional stock car racing driver. He currently competes part-time JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour, driving the No. 114 for Sterling Marlin Racing. He formerly competed in the N ...

. Labonte returned to the team in 1991, but was unable to continue their success. 1994, marked Hagan's last season as a single car owner, fielding cars for

John Andretti John Andrew Andretti (March 12, 1963January 30, 2020) was an American race car driver. He won individual races in CART, IMSA GTP, Rolex Sports Car Series, and NASCAR during his career. He was the son of Aldo Andretti, older brother of racer Ada ...

and

Randy MacDonald Randy MacDonald (born July 26, 1962) is a Canadian stock car racer and a former competitor in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series. He is currently team owner of MacDonald Motorsports, which competes in the Natio ...

. In 1996, his shop was purchased by

Triad Motorsports Triad Motorsports was a motorsports team that competed in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series and ARCA Menards Series from 1993 to 1999. The team was owned by Jim Wilson. The team's drivers included Gary Bradberry, Billy Standridge and Randy MacDonald. ...

. Hagan continued to serve as a co-owner of the operation until the team's demise in 1999. In 1981 Hagan entered a

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

Camaro The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car. It first went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro share ...

stock car under the Stratagraph team name in the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

. Powered by a modified 350-cubic-inch Chevrolet small block, the car qualified well enough in the IMSA GT class, but was sidelined by a crash caused by brake failure.Sports Illustrated July 13, 1981 Drivers were Billy Hagan, Cale Yarborough, and Bill Cooper; also listed by some sources was Bobby Mitchell. The following year, he came 17th at 1982 24 Hours of Le Mans, always on

V8 350 inch

small block (#81 team Stratagraph inc.), paired with Gene Felton. The other team car (#80

V8, Stratagraph inc.) arrives 19th.

Death

Hagan died on November 16, 2007, at the age of 75.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Grand National Series

Winston Cup Series

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

(

)

References

External links

Billy Hagan driver stats

Billy Hagan owner stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hagan, Billy 1932 births 2007 deaths 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers Racing drivers from Louisiana NASCAR drivers NASCAR team owners ARCA Menards Series drivers People from Union Parish, Louisiana World Sportscar Championship drivers