The eyes of Texas were upon five-time and reigning champion Matt Smith and aggressive newcomer Joey Gladstone in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class at Sunday’s Texas NHRA Fall Nationals. They had been trading leads for the past few Countdown to the Championship races. 

But Hector Arana Jr., of East Northport, N.Y., ultimately commanded the attention at Texas Motorplex, south of Dallas.  Though unqualified for the Countdown, ineligible for a title because finances have relegated him to part-time status, Arana earned his 16th victory in just his fifth start this year. 

He shared the winners circle with fellow Long Islander Justin Ashley (Top Fuel), Ron Capps (Funny Car), and Erica Enders (Pro Stock). 

And Arana Jr. was no respecter of status or history. On his family-owned Buell, he dismantled the Matt Smith Racing powerhouse, advancing to the final round past Chip Ellis, Ange Smith, and Matt Smith.  Then in the final, Arana Jr. used a 6.822-second, 196.35-mph run on the quarter-mile course at Ennis, Texas, to defeat Jerry Savoie (6.890, 193.03), who was making his seventh final at Texas Motorplex in the past eight years. 

For Arana Jr., who for financial reasons has been relegated to a part-time Pro Stock Motorcycle racing schedule, it was his first victory since the fall 2019 Las Vegas race. He has skipped eight of the 13 completed events this year. 

“I mean, words can't express [his satisfaction],” he said afterward. “We're not out here racing fulltime, so I don't get too many opportunities to race for a Wally. So, to be able to go rounds is always awesome because it's more seat time on the bike, because I don't know when the next race is going to be. So, to be able to go four rounds and get the win is awesome. 

“And we actually made it here to the finals last year. To be able to come back and seal the deal is just awesome. It feels great. [In] 2021, we were pushing really hard, and I had some relatives that they passed later that day, and I was trying to hard to get the win for them, and I wasn't able to get it. But to come back a year later and to seal the deal, it's really awesome,” Arana Jr. said. 

“And it wasn't easy,” he said of Sunday’s lineup. “I definitely had a tough day ahead of me.” 

That, in a nutshell, described Arana’s entire experience in his return to Texas Motorplex. 

So far he isn’t sure whether he’ll rejoin the class as the Camping World Drag Racing Series keeps heading west for the final two races of the year: the Oct. 27-30 Nevada Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the Nov. 10-13 Auto Club Finals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, Calif. But during the weekend, he and team-owner dad Hector Arana Sr. spoke with potential marketing partners who might allow them to do that. 

But at least for Sunday, Arana Jr. said he “felt awesome and comfortable on the bike, just woke up feeling good and just kind of having that feeling of just relaxed, calm” and, he said, with “the confidence [that] I felt back on my A-game. 

“We did really well in testing, and that just gave us the confidence we needed. It was good to get some seat time and kind of clear my head other than going right into qualifying and racing,: he said. “And then we were actually a little behind the eight ball on Friday. We went from our test set-up right into qualifying, and it wasn't exactly the same. So we had to make a few changes and we were able to account for that and we ran really well on Saturday, which is just an awesome confidence booster, just knowing you ran well. And I had good lights all weekend and so we just had great momentum coming into it.” 

He said his victory was “definitely a huge statement. We haven't been back out here racing fulltime, so we don't have the sponsorship right now. And I went through a little slump myself, gained a ton of weight. I was going over the scale super-heavy. But I'm down 25 pounds, back to my race weight, and it feels good. And we're out here and we're just doing really awesome. We're kicking ass, we're running fast and we're not even running. 

“Before the plug was pulled on us, we had new motors, the new Gen2 motors, like what Matt Smith runs, in the works and going together, and then we actually haven't even finished them yet. We're still running our same package,” he said. “We continue to massage them and they're making more power and running better. And we haven't given up on the R and D. It's just it's hard when you don't have the money to continue to really progress. 

“But it's a passion of ours. It's just something that we live, we sleep, we breathe every day. I call my dad when I leave work [as an operations supervisor for a manufacturing facility that serves the U.S. Navy], and we're talking about new things: ‘What can we do?’ ‘How can we go faster?’ ‘How can we find some money to come out to the next race?’ ‘What's the next race we could do?’ It's just something that it's a passion of ours. It's our hobby. It's what we love to do, so that's [what] we love to do.” 

And it’s clear Arana Jr. still has the winning touch.