The world of drag racing is ever-changing – one minute you’re planning to run a full season and the next minute you’re adjusting to fit financial constraints.
That’s the case for veteran NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle racer Hector Arana Jr.
Arana Jr., winner of 19 NHRA Wallys, confirmed to CompetitionPlus.com that he will not be running a full season in 2025 like he did in 2023 and 2024.
“We will be doing a select few races,” Arana Jr. said. “We don’t have the Gettrx sponsorship anymore. We will not get to any West Coast races; we will try and cover the East Coast ones. We are working on trying to find some money here and there, and hopefully, maybe something will turn into a full-time deal, but as of right now, we don’t have primary sponsorship or enough secondary ones to run a full season.”
Arana Jr.’s tentative 2025 race schedule is as follows:
- NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, Charlotte, N.C., April 25-27
- Gerber Collison and Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals presented by Peak, May 15-18, Chicago
- Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, June 26-29, Norwalk, Ohio
- Cornwell Quality Tools, NHRA U.S. Nationals, Aug. 27-Sept. 1, Indianapolis
- NHRA 4-Wide Nationals Carolina Nationals, Sept. 19-21, Charlotte
- NHRA Midwest Nationals, Sept. 26-28, St. Louis
Arana Jr. added that he could also compete at the Reading (Pa.) NHRA Nationals, Sept. 11-14; and the Texas NHRA FallNationals, Oct. 9-12, in Dallas.
Arana’s longtime sponsor was Lucas Oil, and that ended in 2020. In 2021 and 2022, Hector Jr. ran on his own before Gettrx came on board for the last two races of the 2022 season in Las Vegas and Pomona, Calif.
With Gettrx as his sponsor, Arana Jr. won in Las Vegas, and he followed that up with national event wins in Norwalk in 2023 and Reading, Pa., in 2024.
“We got three more Wallys and if you look at the competition and what was going on out there every year, we were one of three bikes to win a Wally,” Arana Jr. said. “I think we performed well considering the budget we were working with and how we were running.”
Arana Jr. said he will still keep running a Buell.
“If it wasn’t for our team and our group of guys volunteering their services, we wouldn’t be able to do this,” Arana Jr. said. “To top it off, we do all our own engine services and maintenance. We are still working, and we are working on a new head that we are continuing forward with. Unfortunately, with Gettrx, things are a little tough for them right now, and they weren’t able to continue. I’m very grateful for the opportunity that we had to represent them. We were able to go race another two full seasons thanks to Gettrx, and we were able to collect three more Wallys with their name.
“Hopefully, things will turn around, and we can continue that partnership in the future, but right now, they have to take care of Gettrx.”
Arana Jr. emphasized that he and his father/tuner Hector Arana Sr., the 2009 NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle World Champion, aren’t ready to leave the sport.
“We are not ending,” Hector Jr. said. “This is what we love. It is the passion, and we are good at it. We have a lot of horsepower, and we have a fast bike and we able to come out and be competitive and win races. I still have a personal goal and that is to win a world championship. If someone (a sponsor) wants to jump onboard, that is what we are looking for. We want to go for a championship. We need the proper funding to really go for it.
“The last two years we were able to do maintenance, but we weren’t able to do anything extra.”
In 2023, Arana Jr. finished fourth in the points standings, and last year, he was fifth.
