ATLANTA, GA – After fighting mechanical issues all season and weather this weekend, Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Hector Arana Sr. is more than ready to get final eliminations started at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway.

The Lucas Oil Buell rider laid down his fastest time in Q3 Saturday with a pass of 6.912 seconds at 194.24 mph, landing him in the No. 10 spot. Arana will look to lay the hammer down in the first round of eliminations when he takes on Chaz Kennedy.

“Overall, I think we got lucky that we beat Mother Nature and got all four qualifying runs in,” Arana said. “Otherwise, I finally started heading in the right direction with the clutch issue and leaving the starting line better. To me, this is the biggest accomplishment we have had since Gainesville.

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ATLANTA, GA – Lucas Oil Ford Pro Stock driver Larry Morgan is looking for consistency, and he hopes this weekend’s Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway is the place where it starts.

The Atlanta race kicks off a three-week stretch with three races, as Topeka, Kan., and Englishtown, N.J., quickly follow. It can be an arduous stretch for race teams, but Morgan believes his team is prepared.

“We’ve been preparing for this stretch for a while now,” Morgan said. “But you can never be prepared for three races in a now if you’re tearing stuff up.”

The 10-time Pro Stock winner has had his share of mechanical troubles this season, but a smooth weekend in Houston two weeks ago has him optimistic those problems are behind him.

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ATLANTA, GA After a one-year hiatus from Atlanta Dragway for Pro Stock Motorcycle riders, Lucas Oil competitor Hector Arana Jr. is ready to return to the track and score a victory during the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals, May 16-18.

The Lucas Oil Buell hasn’t made many passes down Atlanta Dragway in the past, but the couple of times it has, they were pretty successful. With a first-round win in his first start ever there, Arana is looking to take that accomplishment even farther.

“Atlanta is a good track not only competition-wise but also for our team in general,” Arana said. “We had a year off from racing there, but I don’t think that will make a huge difference. It’s one of the tracks that I was able to win the first round of eliminations I ever ran there. I haven’t raced there much, but I’m definitely ready to go back and try again.”

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ATLANTA, GA – With a new addition to this year’s schedule, Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Hector Arana Sr. is ready to return to a track that has treated him well, Atlanta Dragway, site of this weekend’s Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals.

The last time Arana competed at Atlanta Dragway, at the 2012 NHRA Southern Nationals, he took his Lucas Oil Buell all the way to the semifinals, where he came up just under two-hundredths of a second short against Michael Ray and advancing to the final round. Obviously, Arana is looking to redeem that memory and bring home the victory this time.

“Atlanta is a good track and it’s closer to home for us,” Arana said. “I’m looking forward to going back there after having a year away. There are a lot of fans who wanted to see the bikes come back to Atlanta Dragway. I’m just happy that the fans got what they asked for, and I’m happy to finally be going back there again this year.”

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HOUSTON, TX – On the one hand, Lucas Oil Ford driver Larry Morgan was happy with his Ford Mustang’s performance in the first round of the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA SpringNationals on Sunday. On the other, however, he was not at all happy with his performance.

Morgan left the starting line .033-second too soon in his matchup with Vincent Nobile, and his race ended early.

“Anymore, you always go up there and try to kill the Tree,” Morgan said. “That’s how tough this class is. Every time I go up there I’m going after it, but he’d have been tough to beat.”

Nobile had a .013-second reaction time and made a pass of 6.618 seconds at 209.82 mph to advance to the second round. Morgan’s e.t. was close, 6.632 at 209.01 mph, but the race was over on the starting line.

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HOUSTON, TX – Larry Morgan and the Lucas Oil Ford team bounced back from a difficult race in Charlotte to qualify No. 12 for the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA SpringNationals this weekend.

Morgan was forced to a third engine — and an emergency backup at that — in Charlotte after struggling with parts failures, but he had three good qualifying passes under his belt here and is confident he can go rounds during eliminations.

“I feel good about it,” Morgan said. “We made three good runs and we’ve been getting down the track good. We race Vincent (Nobile), and he’s just as good as anybody to race. Just looking forward to tomorrow.”

Morgan’s official qualifying pass was 6.610 seconds at 209.36 mph, but he made two other runs — in changing conditions — within .026-second of that pass. He was on another good run in Q4 before a broken valve spring slowed him near the finish line.

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INDIANAPOLIS, IN – Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at St. Vincent will hold a special dedication ceremony Thursday for a drag-racing-themed MRI room.

The room was completed with funds raised from the Eric Medlen Golf Tournament, hosted annually by Morgan and Katie Lucas. The room is complete with racing memorabilia and photos of the late Funny Car driver, who was killed in a crash in 2007.

“We started the golf tournament as a way to honor Eric, to remember him and keep his legacy going,” said Morgan Lucas, owner of Morgan Lucas Racing. “When it came time to decide where the money was going to go, the Children’s Hospital was the first place we thought about.

“Eric was one of the best drivers in the pits, if not the best, when it came to the kids.”

The relationship with the hospital was cemented last December when the Lucases’ newborn son Hunter was admitted for treatment for respiratory syncytial virus.

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HOUSTON, TX – Shaking off a difficult race in Charlotte, Lucas Oil Pro Stock driver Larry Morgan is optimistic things will turn around at the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA SpringNationals this weekend.

Morgan was forced to use three engines in Charlotte, and problems forced him to miss two qualifying sessions, a rarity for the veteran campaigner, but Morgan and his team spent the time between Charlotte and Houston repairing engines and adjusting their Ford Mustang’s tune-up.

“We’ve got it all back together and we’re good, so we’re headed to Texas,” Morgan said. “We’re back to normal, and we’ll have one car in my pit, so we’re good to go.”

One of the areas of concern for Morgan was broken valve springs, but the root cause of the breakage bothers Morgan, too.

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CHARLOTTE, NC – After a roller coaster of a weekend for Lucas Oil rider Hector Arana Sr., being the No. 14 qualifier didn’t stop “The Hammer” from pulling an upset in round one of eliminations at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in Charlotte.

When the Lucas Oil Buell crossed the finish line in round one, the win light showed Arana advancing to the second round but the announcer said otherwise. After a scoring correction was made, Arana did move on to the next round to face son Hector Arana Jr., Eddie Krawiec, and Andrew Hines. Unfortunately, luck didn’t fall his way, and Arana’s pass of 6.980 seconds at 195.28 mph wasn’t enough to move on to the final.

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CHARLOTTE, NC – The way Lucas Oil Ford Pro Stock driver Larry Morgan’s Four-Wide Nationals experience went, he could only laugh after falling out on the first round.

“I picked up four-tenths on every run,” Morgan said with a laugh. “By the next run, hell, I might have been fast.”

Morgan experienced a myriad of engine problems that forced him to miss two qualifying sessions, and his best qualifying pass was made on a third engine. He qualified No. 16 and had to face No. 1 qualifier Chris McGaha, No. 8 Jimmy Alund, and No. 9 Vieri Gaines in the first round.

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