ARANA JR. RULES IN PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE RIVALRIES

Written by Susan Wade, photos by Burghardt Photography, NHRA    Mon, 2019-04-08 14:00




Officially the race was the Denso Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals.

But when Hector Arana Jr. won his first Wally trophy of the year and second in his past two visits to The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, his final round Sunday was a three-wide affair.

A mechanical problem kept Andrew Hines even from staging his Harley-Davidson, and his Street Rod teammate Eddie Krawiec red-lighted away his chance by three-thousandths of a second. Hines nevertheless took over the points lead from Matt Smith, who was runner-up with an elapsed time just four-thousandths of a second slower than Arana’s.

Arana triumphed with 6.907-second pass at 195.79 mph, and Smith trailed at 6.903, 197.02.

His rivalry with the Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson team has matured from the days when they traded silly barbs in the not-that-long-ago span of “the Hectors and Harleys.” Today, Matt Smith has made it a three-way challenge.

“You know, other people like to say, ‘Oh, it’s not fair that Harley’s have their own deal.’  But honestly, we don’t think about that. My father and myself, they push us to be better. They push us to work harder, because we want to be the best and they’re one of the best out there. So it’s those teams that push us to do better,” Arana said. “We’re always looking to set the bar, so whoever’s ahead of us, they’re pushing us. The rivalry’s good. We just want to see who is the best on the track.”

He certainly was Sunday, especially in a showdown that pitted him against three racers who have a combined 12 series crowns – 12 more than he has right now.

“I tell you what, that Lucas Oil motorcycle, she’s bad to the bone,” he said. “That’s just a testament to my team and the consistency. As you can see, we weren’t the fastest, but we were consistent all weekend. We were right there, consistent, in the money,” Arana said.

“I just worked on my lights and they got better and better, and I stepped it up when I needed to step it up in the finals because the finals was stacked,” he said. “I know Andrew didn’t get to make a pass, but still even with Andrew not in the game, we still had Matt Smith and Ed Krawiec. So it was Number one, two, and three in the finish last year, and it was the three of us again. It was also one, two, and three qualifier. It was a stacked round, and I love going up against those guys. It really makes me put out my best. I always do that, but it’s just something about racing those guys you just dig deep and really go for it.”

He said his consistency comes from “more laps, but it’s more laps because we’re getting more and more notes. We’re looking at all the little details with the bike and the tune-up to make it consistent. Really, when the bike’s consistent, it makes it easier for me to be consistent and be consistent at the light,” Arana said. “So that was what we’ve been working at and just taking good notes, looking at all the little details. As we’re going, we’re looking at more and more things and that’s what’s helping us.”

This victory, Arana’s 16th overall, is a milestone for him personally. It’s his first as a father. He and wife Nicole are the parents of a little girl, Sofia.

Now, Arana said, “You’re bringing home the trophy to family. I had a family with Nicole and now my family’s gotten bigger with Sophia. It’s great for her to be able to say, even though she’s not saying anything yet, but her daddy’s a winner.”

So is his own dad, Hector Arana Sr., who runs the shop out of his Milltown, Ind., shop.

“My dad takes care of the bikes, along with the crew, Dan Gonzales and Foster Galloway. Between the three of them, they work really hard. I’m on the phone every day with my father, going home from work, and we have a strategy. I know I’m not there to work on the bikes with them, but we still go over a game plan of what we’re doing every day and to stay on track and things that we need to work on,” Arana said. “If there’s phone calls I need to make or schedule anything, I try to handle all that stuff so they can focus on working.”

 

 
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