Hector Arana Sr.  (Chris Haverly photo)

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.

"I had a very up and down weekend of emotions, especially after the confusion in the first round of eliminations," Arana said. "I heard them announce Shawn Gann as the winner of our round and for that split second I hesitated. I knew that I had crossed the line before he did, but I wasn't really paying attention to what the announcer was saying. 

"It wasn't until one of my crewmembers showed me the ticket with the mistake; they had swapped mine and Gann's numbers. In what seemed like forever, an NHRA official had to call the tower to confirm that I was in fact moving to the second round."

Faces at zMax


Chris Haverly photos