A small background on the Hagopian family racing history begins with late grandfather Martin Hagopian and his Good Earth Farms full midget race team that began in the early 1980’s. During that same period, Mark Hagopian, son of Martin and father of Jake Hagopian, began his racing endeavors in the micro sprint ranks in central California. Mark would go on to become a key fixture in the micro sprint culture in Central California, winning many races and multiple championships through the mid 90’s. In the same time period, Martin would be fielding full midget entries with drivers by the likes of Bob Cetti, Roy Cook, Jimmy Sills, Brent Kaeding, John Andretti, and finishing his car owner days with good friend Craig Dillard. Martin carries the most notable accomplishment in midget racing of the Turkey Night Midget Grand Prix Championship in 1985 with Brent Kaeding behind the wheel.
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As Martins time as car owner ended, Mark’s time as driver begin to turn to a crew chief for none other than multi time World of Outlaw Champion Jason Meyers. Mark would mentor Jason through his earliest days of micro sprint racing, accomplishing a great deal of wins and multiple NMMA National Championships. For a short while, Mark spent time with Jason when his Sprint Car career began, but soon it would be time for Mark’s sons Matt and Jake to begin their time in the seat of a race car.
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In 1997, Mark’s twin sons Matt & Jake began racing in the Jr Sprint division of Micro Sprints. At the time, a beginning class with a small following, Mark played a key role in developing and growing the class into the strong starter division we have today. As Mark’s sons grew, so did the class, which saw Mark begin to build Jr Sprint chassis to help support the demand for the growing popularity of the beginner’s class. In the early 2000’s, Matt and Jake would move on to the Restricted 600’s ranks and Mark moved on from constructing Jr Sprint chassis. It would be from here that Jake continued to seek more from his passion for racing a lead him to the path that has been taken today….
