Cycle News Staff | January 5, 2011
Hector Arana won the 2009 NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle Championship. In 2011, Arana brings his 21-year-old son into the fold with Hector Arana Jr. set to ride an identical Lucas Oil Buell in the 2011 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series as a teammate to his father.
“It’s very cool to be flying Lucas Oil colors,” Arana Jr. said in a release from Lucas Oils. “Forrest Lucas was actually the one that came to us and said he wanted a two-bike team and he got the ball rolling on adding me to the team. It’s very humbling and I can’t thank the Lucas family enough.”
Arana Jr. will be aboard the bike his father won the 2009 championship on.
“I’m excited to ride this bike,” Arana Jr. said. “I already know what it can do so I’m really pumped up. This bike knows the way to the winner’s circle.”
Being the son of a professional Pro Stock Motorcycle rider, Arana Jr. has grown up around the track and up until now he’s worked as a mechanic on his father’s team. That’s about to change.
“I’ve always wanted to race; it’s all I know,” Arana Jr. said. “I’m ready to go out and run the full season. I’m ready to run for the Auto Club Rookie of the Year award too.”
When Arana Jr. first got on the Buell, he was excited. His dad, however, was a bit apprehensive.
“My dad was so nervous during my first test pass,” Arana Jr. said. “For me, getting on the bike the first time was indescribable. It was way more powerful than I expected, but at the same time everything was a lot slower in my head. I think I had imagined making passes so many times in my head that when I finally did it seemed like I already had done it before. It’s like a giant slingshot; just a smooth and a consistent pull.”
Arana Jr. recently attended George Bryce’s Pro Stock Motorcycle class at Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School in Gainesville, Florida, to earn his license. He even got a bonus day of instruction thanks to Mother Nature.
“It was so cold in Gainesville that the two-day school turned into a three-day school because we couldn’t run the first two days,” Arana Jr. said. “It was great though. I really enjoyed the whole course.”
Once they were turned loose on the track, Arana earned his license in one day.
“Both George Bryce and Frank Hawley were present on the third day and were able to sign for my license so I’m just about ready to go racing,” he said.
Although Arana Jr. earned his license, he’s preparing to make many more passes before entering his first race in March.
“We’re going to go testing in West Palm Beach as much as we can,” Arana Jr. said. “That way I can get a lot of seat time before Gainesville so I can be totally ready to race.”
