Hagan says 'don't count us out' after disappointing day, Aaron's Dream Machine Funny Car out in opening round

February 19

CHANDLER, Ariz. (Feb. 19, 2012) - Matt Hagan believes his Aaron's Dream Machine has just a few wrinkles that need to be ironed out before the team can start showing their strength that earned them a NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Funny Car Championship in 2011.

"It's just a matter of getting things ironed out," said Hagan after a disappointing first round loss at the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Firebird Raceway.

"I have all the faith in the world in Tommy DeLago (crew chief) that he'll put us right where we need to be. We're not really running a whole lot of new combinations, we're just running the race car. We just have some small windows to be in and we're just missing them a little bit."

Temperatures were a little cooler on Sunday morning during the opening round of eliminations, which might have thrown the team a curveball.

"The track was a little bit better than we thought it was," Hagan said.

"It basically went out there and shook the tires. I pedaled it and it dropped two cylinders, so it was laboring out there. I never saw Todd (Lesenko, opponent). I guess we were pretty close together all the way down the track.

"Then it dropped another hole down towards the top end right before the finish line and I had to shut it off to be able to save the car."

Hagan will return to his home in Virginia to get caught up on work at his 600-acre cattle farm before heading to the next event in Gainesville, Fla., in two weeks.

"I'll head home and get back to work and regroup and be ready for the next one. My guys shouldn't hang their heads and I hope they go back and put this behind them as well.

"That's racing. There's a winner and there's a loser. We will go to Gainesville and dig deep."

ARIZONA NATIONALS RESULTS FOR DSR TEAMS

FUNNY CAR
Matt Hagan, Aaron's Dream Machine Dodge Charger R/T
Qualified: No. 4
Round 1: Todd Lesenko (4.264 sec., 266.79 mph) def. HAGAN (4.325, 293.92)

Jack Beckman, Valvoline NextGen Dodge Charger R/T
Qualified: No. 6
Round 1: BECKMAN (4.090 sec., 308.57 mph) def. Tony Pedregon (4.179, 304.83)
Round 2: BECKMAN (4.172, 282.24) def. Jeff Arend (4.322, 294.43)
Semifinals: Mike Neff (4.099 306.74) def. BECKMAN (4.129 301.60)
Event winner: Robert Hight

Johnny Gray, Big O Tires/Service Central Dodge Charger R/T
Qualified: No. 1
Round 1: GRAY (4.0484 sec., 310.34 mph) def. Grant Downing (4.422, 217.28)
Round 2: Robert Hight (4.613, 241.97) def. GRAY (no time, disqualified for hitting wall)

Ron Capps, NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T
Qualified: No. 10
Round 1: CAPPS (4.162 sec., 301.13 mph) def. Cruz Pedregon (4.210, 274.33)
Round 2: Mike Neff (4.264, 246.75) def. CAPPS (7.000, 90.68)
Matt Hagan, Aaron's Dream Machine Dodge Charger R/T
Qualified: No. 4
Round 1: Todd Lesenko (4.264 sec., 266.79 mph) def. HAGAN (4.325, 293.92)

TOP FUEL
Antron Brown, Matco Tools dragster
Qualified: No. 5
Round 1: BROWN def. (3.796 sec., 320.36 mph) def. Terry McMillen (3.857, 313.73)
Round 2: BROWN def. (3.888, 287.47) def. (3.987, 262.74)
Semifinals: BROWN (3.832, 313.51) def. Shawn Langdon (6.072, 106.18)
Final: BROWN (3.793 sec., 319.82 mph) def. Tony Schumacher (3.813, 318.17)
Event winner: Antron Brown

Tony Schumacher, U.S. Army dragster
Qualified: No. 2
Round 1: SCHUMACHER (3.770 sec., 323.12 mph) def. Mark Strasburg (4.217, 208.91)
Round 2: SCHUMACHER (3.819, 315.12) def. Doug Kalitta (3.856, 307.65)
Semifinals: SCHUMACHER (3.819, 315.12) def. Clay Millican (8.924, 83.46)
Final: Antron Brown (3.793 sec., 319.82 mph) def. SCHUMACHER (3.813, 318.17

Spencer Massey, Prestone/FRAM dragster
Qualified: No. 4
Round 1: MASSEY (3.769 sec., 325.37 mph) def. Cory McClenathan (3.964, 255.73)
Round 2: Antron Brown (3.888, 287.47) def. MASSEY (3.987, 262.74)

NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING STANDINGS
(Through Phoenix; 2nd of 23 national events)

TOP FUEL
1. ANTRON BROWN, 212
2. TONY SCHUMACHER, 180
3. SPENCER MASSEY, 176
4. Morgan Lucas, 143
5. Shawn Langdon, 139
6. Clay Millican, 126
7. Steve Torrence, 89
7. Bob Vandergriff, 89
9. Brandon Bernstein, 85
9. Doug Kalitta, 85

FUNNY CAR
1. Mike Neff, 196
2. Robert Hight, 154
3. John Force, 150
4. JACK BECKMAN, 137
5. RON CAPPS, 125
6. Courtney Force, 124
7. Todd Lesenko, 102
8. JOHNNY GRAY, 99
9. Jeff Arend, 84
10. Gary Densham, 83
11. MATT HAGAN, 74

NEXT UP
The DSR racing convoy of 19 rigs hits the highway Monday for its 1,689-mile jaunt back to headquarters in Brownsburg, Ind. The next NHRA event is the Tire Kingdom Gatornationals presented by NAPAfilters.com on March 8-11 in Gainesville, Fla.

FOLLOW DSR
Reports on DSR drivers from the NHRA Arizona Nationals can be found later Sunday night at ShoeRacing.com.
Follow DSR on Facebook at www.facebook.com/shoeracing and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/shoeracing.
More information can be found at NHRA.com.

About Aaron's
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 over 1,940 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 174 NHRA national event titles and nine world championships.