Hard work ahead for Hagan, Aaron’s Dream Machine team after suffering first-round loss at NHRA event in Ohio

July 08

NORWALK, Ohio (July 8, 2012) – The 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing season has been full of hard work for Matt Hagan’s Aaron’s Dream Machine team. And it hasn’t yet paid off yet for the reigning Funny Car world champion through the first half of the season.

It didn’t get any easier for the group on Sunday during eliminations at Summit Motorsports Park when they suffered a first round loss to Cruz Pedregon in the 12th of the year’s 23 events for Don Schumacher Racing.

But those who know Hagan are aware of his strong work ethic as a racer and farmer. He vows that he, crew chief Tommy DeLago and their crew will continue to show that characteristic.

“We’re obviously struggling,” said Hagan. “It’s one of those deals where that right there might have sealed the deal as far as not being able to get into the Countdown (to the Championship).

“We’ve got five more races until they separate the top-10 from everyone else and we need to find a lot of momentum. We’ve lost some of the momentum that we gained a couple of races back. These last two weekends have been pretty tough.”

Hagan and the team will have next weekend off to regroup before heading out on NHRA’s grueling three-week tour known as the “Western Swing” with successive races at Denver, near San Franciso and Seattle.

“These guys are still working so hard and that won’t change,” Hagan said. “Everybody is going to pull it together and keep after it.

“It’s hard to turn a lot of things into a positive and make it sound better or look better, but that’s what we have to do. We’ll just keep working hard until we get back on top.”

NORWALK RESULTS

Matt Hagan, Aaron’s Dream Machine Dodge Charger R/T
Qualified: No. 14

SUNDAY ELIMINATIONS
First round: Cruz Pedregon (4.122 sec., 297.81 mph) def. HAGAN (4.694, 187.63)

QUALIFYING
FRIDAY
Session 1: 6.283 sec., 108.29 mph
Session 2: 4.245, 288.95
SATURDAY
Session 3: 4.368, 284.51
Session 4: 5.966, 116.54

NEXT FULL THROTTLE EVENT:
July 20-25, Mopar Mile High Nationals, Denver

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 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 arrived at Norwalk, Ohio, with 184 NHRA national event titles and nine world championships.
Follow Don Schumacher Racing at ShoeRacing.com, on Twitter at @shoeracing and Facebook.com/shoeracing.

- DSR -