Hector Arana Jr. snares a victory over dad in opening Countdown race

CHARLOTTE (Sept. 18) -- The fourth father-son showdown of 2016 went Lucas Oil Racing TV rider Hector Arana Jr.'s way at the NHRA Carolina Nationals on Sunday in Charlotte.

Arana had been 0-3 against his dad, Lucas Oil racer Hector Arana Sr., but he got the win this time when the oil-pump belt broke on his father's bike during the burnout.

Arana Jr., though, didn't have similar luck in the second round against No. 1 qualifier Angelle Sampey. Sampey broke on two of her three passes Sunday, but the one full run she made came against Arana Jr.

Still Arana Jr. was pleased because several Countdown to the Championship contenders fell early in Sunday's race.

"A lot of players in the Countdown went out in the first round and we didn't," Arana Jr. said. "We went on to the second. I'm sure that's going to juggle some points around."

Arana Jr. got his first-round victory on a single run, making a pass of 6.901 seconds at 194.86 mph after his dad has to push his bike off.

"I always pay attention to everything, and I saw my belt laying right there (after the burnout)," Arana Sr. said. "I'm like, 'Oh, no,' so I had to made a quick decision. I know I've got another restart. If the belt came off, I can still put it on and make my run -- (Arana Jr.) is just going to have to wait. Before I turned my engine off, I grabbed the belt because I wanted to make sure it was in one piece. If the belt were in one piece, I'd turn it off and work on it real quick, but it was in two pieces, it was broken apart."

Arana Sr. then quickly went over in his mind what would happen if he took the Christmas Tree but finally decided to push his bike off the line.

"I could go and hurt the motor and he's still going to beat me because the motor is not going to run fast without oil, and then I'm going to be screwed for the next race," Arana Sr. said. "It was against Hector, so it's a loss but it's still a win. Better against Hector than someone else."

Arana Jr. then left first with a .030-second reaction time against Sampey in Round 2, but his pass of 6.954 seconds at 193.74 mph wasn't enough to hold off her 6.896-second run at 194.02 mph.

"It's not like our tune-up is way off or we're missing it so bad on the clutch because we've been really good on leaving the line," Arana Jr. said. "That's what kept up alive. So we're just going to go back and try to find some more beams.

"I'm also happy because I rode well. No red-lights, so I got that monkey off my back and that's something I've been wanting. I was really conscious on staging. I paid attention, and I feel like I know what I was doing wrong and I feel like I was able to correct that and do well this weekend."

Lucas Oil Racing TV rider Hector Arana Jr., near lane, defeated his father Hector Sr. in round one before going out in the quarterfinals of the NHRA Carolina Nationals in Charlotte.

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