Arana Sr. working hard to keep pace on Lucas Oil Buell

Arana Sr. working hard to keep pace on Lucas Oil Buell

HOUSTON -RIS - Hector Arana Sr.'s Lucas Oil Buell has shown plenty of speed during the first two races of the 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, but he would love to have more luck beginning with the O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA SpringNationals this weekend.

Arana Sr. qualified No. 3 and raced to the semifinals at the Pro Stock Motorcycle season opener in Gainesville, Fla., and then qualified No. 4 in Charlotte, but his Buell wobbled in the first round and was eliminated early.

"Houston has been good to me," Arana Sr. said. "I need some luck. If it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck. Overall everything has gone great. The kids have done great, they've qualified, and (son) Hector has won twice, so I'm happy and pleased."

Arana Sr. has tasted success in Houston, where he is the defending No. 1 qualifier. He also qualified No. 1 at the event in 2010 and has reached the final twice (in 2010 and 1997).

Arana Sr. likes racing on back-to-back weekends and is hoping to build momentum in the early part of the season, though he's crossing his fingers for Houston.

"We want to continue what we've got, but it still puts a little bit of stress on our team," Arana Sr. said. "Since we haven't gotten all the parts we need, we don't have the complete bullets ready to run. It's scary because anything can happen and we don't want to be in that situation.

"Hopefully after the big break following Houston we can have two good motors as backups, so when we start the Western Swing we don't have to worry about anything."

Pro Stock Motorcycle riders get a month off after Houston before returning to action in Englishtown, N.J., in June.

The weather forecast for Houston calls for temperatures in the low 80s, and the Miami native knows about hot weather even if he has lived in Indiana for 10 years.

"It doesn't matter," Arana Sr. said of the weather. "I'm not too crazy about the hot, hot weather. I've been in Indiana for almost 10 years now, so 60, 70 degrees is awesome."

Qualifying for the O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA SpringNationals will get under way at 3:30 p.m. CDT on Friday from Houston. Qualifying resumes at noon on Saturday. Eliminations will get under way at 11 a.m. on Sunday. ESPN2 will broadcast the qualifying show starting at 3 p.m. EDT on Saturday and the eliminations show starting at 2 p.m. on Sunday. The Sunday broadcast will air the semifinal and final rounds live.