After failing to take advantage of superb conditions during qualifying on Friday, the current NHRA Pro Stock point
Roger Richards
leader, Hector Arana, wasn’t about to let the sun set Saturday without taking his shot at the class elapsed time record, and the 20 points that accompanies it.
Arana took his cut and laid down the quickest run in the history of the class with a 6.851 on his first pass of the day. The No. 1 qualifying effort held through the final session on Saturday for his sixth No. 1 of 2009 and seventh of his career.
“We really wanted to set the record,” said Arana, lamenting his inability to produce the one-percent back-up in the final qualifying session. “My gut instinct was to drop the two-step even more than we did. We had to make sure we could leave the starting line to set the ET record. Tomorrow we have another opportunity but we have to focus on winning races.”