Eddie Krawiec  (Ron Lewis photo)

Arana Jr. qualified No. 2 and beat Michael Phillips in the first round with a 6.829 at 195.00 mph to Phillips' slowing 9.170 at 93.15 mph. That put Arana Jr. against three-time champion Krawiec, who won a class-best nine races in 2012. Arana Jr. threw down a .006-second reaction time against Krawiec's .017 light and ran a 6.876 at 193.63 mph to beat Krawiec's 6.890 at 192.14 mph.

In the semifinals, Arana Jr. faced his dad, who had lane choice based on a better second-round elapsed time.

"My crew chief Dan Gonzalez and I said, 'You know what? If we lose, he's still going to the final,' so we took a swing and it worked out for the best," said Arana Jr. "We sped up, and I actually got a holeshot on my dad."

Arana Sr. had the better ET, 6.844 at 196.10 mph to Arana Jr.'s 6.849 at 194.97 mph, but Arana Jr. was better on the Christmas Tree, .022 to .034, and earned the win.

Adam Arana, competing at his first NHRA race, gets a little advice from dad, Hector.  (Adam Cranmer photo)

Matt Smith earned his 18th No. 1 qualifying position with his Friday performance of 6.804 at 197.28 mph on his Viper Motorcycle Company Buell. Hector Arana Jr. and Hector Arana Sr. were second and third in their Lucas Oil Buells, followed by Steve Johnson’s Suzuki and Andrew Hines’ Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson.

“You have all three makes in the top five,” said Smith. “We’ll just have to see what happens tomorrow.”  

As it turned out, the top five finishers were Buell, Suzuki, Buell, Buell, Harley. It seems that the NHRA has leveled the playing field for the other bikes against the Harley Davidsons of Eddie Krawiec and Andrew Hines, who dominated the class last year.