NHRA MELLOW YELLO PRO STOCK SERIES
DRAG RACING
BY KEVIN MCKENNA
PHOTOGRAPHY BY MATT POLITO
A
week after Angie and Matt
Smith met in an historic
husband-wife final, there
was a father-son battle on the
NHRA Mello Yello Pro Stock
Motorcycle tour when Lucas Oil
Buell's Hector Arana Sr. and Jr.
met in the final round. In perhaps
the ultimate example of a rebel-
lious youth, Arana Jr. defeated
his far more experienced father,
6.92 to 6.94. Afterwards, both
Arana's insisted that the victory
was sealed long before the two
riders staged for the final round.
There have been other father-
son final rounds in NHRA drag
racing and even a pair of father-
daughter finals with John Force
and his daughters Ashley and
Courtney, but never one in the
Pro Stock motorcycle class.
"We won together," said Hec-
tor Jr. "I would not be here with-
out [Hector Sr.]. To race him in
a final is just a dream come true
for our whole team. We've been
trying to do this for four years
and it finally happened. It didn't
really matter who won because
we were bringing home a Wally
[trophy] to Indiana. Now we just
need a brother-brother final with
me and Adam. As good as this
feels to be honest, I would have
preferred to beat one of the other
riders. It would feel a lot better
than beating my dad."
Screamin' Eagle Harley-Da-
vidson's Eddie Krawiec had the
dominant bike in qualifying and
appeared ticketed for the final
round, but he lost in the sec-
ond round when he red-lighted
against last week's winner, Kan-
dy Buell's Angie Smith. It was the
second time in as many events
that Smith has defeated Krawiec
ROUND 6/JUNE 29, 2014
ROUTE 66 RACEWAY/CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
P88
Hector Arana Jr. won his first
Pro Stock final of the season at
Joliet Raceway in Chicago.
FATHER DOESN'T
KNOW BEST
HECTOR ARANA JR.
DEFEATS HIS FATHER,
HECTOR SR. IN
HISTORIC FATHER-SON
FINAL ROUND