Drivers included Brett Butler, who will drive the #99 Aaron’s Dream Machine in Saturday’s race alongside Andrew Rogers who will race the #18 Termidor/Aaron’s Dream Machine and Ken Butler III who races the #00 Aaron’s Dream Machine.

Father-son Aaron's franchisees Joe and Ben Bost with "Lucky" at the customer appreciation event tied to the company’s sponsorship of the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series. The Bosts operate three locations in North Carolina; Hickory, Salisbury and Morganton.

Three drivers from the Series’ Northern and Southern Divisions were on hand to meet fans and sign autographs at the Hickory Aaron’s Sales and Lease Ownership store. Those drivers included Brett Butler, who will drive the #99 Aaron’s Dream Machine in Saturday’s race alongside Andrew Rogers who will race the #18 Termidor/Aaron’s Dream Machine. Also on hand was Ken Butler III who races the #00 Aaron’s Dream Machine in the Northern Division. The Butler brothers are part of Michael Waltrip Racing’s driver development program (see story).

Father, Joe, and son Ben Bost operate three Aaron's Sales and Lease Ownership locations in North Carolina; Hickory, Salisbury and Morganton. The younger Bost gave up a law career in Atlanta, GA to come back home and work in the family business. He became familiar with Aaron's program while working for SunTrust bank in Atlanta, Georgia, a major banking partner of Aaron’s. "I worked on projects like Aaron’s credit facility and franchise finance agreements. You could say I’ve been able to learn about Aaron’s from the inside out.”

According to Ben Bost, the driver appearances are part of a larger Customer Appreciation Event. “We wanted to thank our customers and the people of Hickory for supporting Aaron’s since we opened in 1999. We made this a great event for our customers."

A local radio station carried the event live and Bost had a driving simulator outside the store along with Hooters girls handing out free Hooters Wings. Customers registered to win an all-expense paid trip to Bristol Motor Speedway, an autographed Michael Waltrip helmet and tickets to the Hooters race.

Aaron’s is a major sponsor of the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series throughout the country. Much of the company's marketing effort revolves around racing and other sports, including Arena Football (see story).

This Saturday’s Hickory Motor Speedway’s Lowes Foods 250 Presented by Crane Cams will air nationally on SPEED Channel next Wednesday July 12 at 4pm and it will re-air Friday July 14 at 12noon.