Hagan, Aaron's streak of seven straight semifinals efforts ends Monday in the rain-delayed Nationals at Maple Grove

October 08

READING, Pa. (Oct. 8, 2012) - Matt Hagan and the Aaron's Dream Machine/Mopar team broke a string of advancing to the semifinals in seven consecutive NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series events when they lost in the second round Monday in the rain-delayed NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway.

Hagan, the reigning NHRA Funny Car world champion, was bitterly disappointed after he lost traction early in a run against Don Schumacher Racing teammate Johnny Gray.

After a disappointing first half of the season and missing a chance to defend his Funny Car championship by not qualifying for the Countdown the Championship, Hagan and the team have been fighting hard to put their Dodge Charger R/T in a winner's circle.

The team has two more chances with two Full Throttle events remaining on the schedule.

"This just gets so frustrating," Hagan said. "Our guys have been working so, so hard for us to get this win I just don't know what to say."

Hagan and the team will have two weeks to regroup before the next event Oct. 25-28 for the Big O Tires NHRA Nationals at Las Vegas and two weeks later for the finale at Pomona, Calif.

The following are Hagan's results from Maple Grove Raceway near Reading, Pa:

FUNNY CAR
Event winner: Mike Neff (John Force Racing)
No. 1 qualifier: Jack Beckman (DSR) 3.989 sec., 320.58 mph (pending national record)

Matt Hagan, Aaron's Dream Machine/Mopar Dodge Charger R/T
Qualified: No. 12

SUNDAY ELIMINATIONS
1st round: HAGAN (4.057 sec., 311.20 mph) def. Courtney Force (14.636, 30.03)
MONDAY ELIMINATIONS
2nd round: Johnny Gray (4.066, 314.09) def. HAGAN (7.962, 89.00)
`
FRIDAY QUALIFYING
Session 1: 4.098 sec., 297.35 mph (time disqualified; failed tech, too light )
Session 2: 4.074, 311.92
SATURDAY QUALIFYING
Session 3: 6.810, 101.51
Session 4: 4.861, 162.55

NHRA FULL THROTTLE STANDINGS
(Unofficial through Oct. 8, 2012; DSR drivers in CAPS)

FUNNY CAR
1. JACK BECKMAN 2,437
2. RON CAPPS 2,414
3. Mike Neff 2,383
4. JOHNNY GRAY 2,246
5. Cruz Pedregon 2,244
6. John Force 2,217
7. Courtney Force 2,216
8. Robert Hight 2,211
9. Tim Wilkerson 2,207
10. Jeff Arend 2,180
11. MATT HAGAN 1,129

About Aaron's, Inc.
Aaron's, Inc. (NYSE: AAN), the nation's leader in the sale and lease ownership of residential furniture, computers, consumer electronics, home appliances and accessories. Aaron's Inc., which celebrates its 57th anniversary this year, has 2,000 company-operated and franchised stores in 48 states and Canada. Founded in 1955 by entrepreneur and current Chairman R. Charles Loudermilk Sr. and headquartered in Atlanta, Aaron's has been publicly traded since 1982. For more information, visit www.aarons.com.

About Don Schumacher Racing
Don Schumacher Racing, headquartered in Brownsburg, Ind., consists of seven professional NHRA teams: in Top Fuel, the U.S. Army dragster driven by seven-time world champion Tony Schumacher, the FRAM/Prestone dragster of Spencer Massey and the Matco Tools dragster of Antron Brown; and in Funny Car, 2011 NHRA Funny Car champion Matt Hagan in the Aaron's Dream Machine/Mopar Dodge Charger R/T, Valvoline NextGen Dodge piloted by Jack Beckman, the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge of Ron Capps and the Service Central Dodge of Johnny Gray. DSR has won 195 NHRA national event titles and nine world championships.

Follow Don Schumacher Racing at ShoeRacing.com, on Twitter at @shoeracing and Facebook.com/shoeracing.
- DSR -