In championship contention, Arana Sr. sets attention toward a Mile-High win

DENVER, CO – With runner-up finishes at the last two races, Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Hector Arana Sr. is determined to snag his first win of the 2014 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season during the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals, July 18-20, at Bandimere Speedway in Denver.

Following a shaky start to the season, Arana’s Lucas Oil Buell has performed better than ever at the past two events. Posting a second-place finish to his son in Chicago and a close loss to Andrew Hines in the Norwalk, Ohio, final, Arana is ready to secure a Wally of his own.

“My goal is to finish the deal and bring home the Wally,” Arana said. “I’ve loved racing against my boys the past two weekends and seeing them run well, but I’m hungry for a win, too. It’s been a while since I’ve gotten a Wally but my fight isn’t over yet.”

While confidence is running high in the Arana Racing camp, “the Hammer” knows not to let past success get in the way of the future. Moving himself up the championship leaderboard to the fourth spot, right behind his youngest son, Arana will continue to employ the same strategy and work ethic that he has been using all season long.

“Even though the bikes are running well,” Arana said, “we’re not going to try anything out of the box this weekend. We don’t want to risk what we’ve just finally gotten figured out. We’re just going to look at our notes and play it conservative. All we want to do is go down the track so from there we can see what we need to do next.

“Our goal is to get all three bikes in the show for Sunday and work from there.”

Arana will look to capture that elusive first win of the season when qualifying for the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals is held at 4:45 and 7:15 p.m. MDT, Friday, and at 3:15 and 5:45 p.m., Saturday. Final eliminations begin at noon, Sunday. ESPN2 will broadcast all qualifying and elimination action, including live coverage of the final two rounds.