Lucas Oil Buell rider Hector Arana Sr. was puzzled when he first heard the elapsed times after the final qualifying session of the O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals on Saturday.

He was told he posted a 6.942, which was actually his son Hector Arana Jr.'s ET.

"At first, I misunderstood the numbers," Arana Sr. said. "I was upset. I said, 'Man, if I went .94, what does Hector have? Then I hear the Harleys go a .91 and a .97, so I thought, 'Who grabbed those extra (qualifying) points.'"

But, Arana Sr.'s pass actually was 6.904 seconds at 192.80 mph, and that was fastest of all the Pro Stock Motorcycles.

"They came to me and said, 'No, no, no, it's a mistake. You ran .90, Hector ran .94,'" Arana Sr. said. "It totally, totally changed my feeling. I was happy. I'm anxious to look at the data."

Arana Sr.'s fastest qualifying lap was 6.881 seconds at 194.02 mph in cooler conditions in the second qualifying session Friday night, and he'll start Sunday's eliminations from the No. 4 position.

But the run in Q4 was the one that put a smile on his face.

"I think we've found something," Arana Sr. said. "We need to stay consistent. We just threw this motor together. I don't know what it can run. It's totally opposite from everything else before. I still don't know, but we're slowing creeping on it and seeing what it wants."

Arana Sr. sees potential with the new engine.

"When I saw that last run, I was happy," Arana Sr. said. "Going into tomorrow, I feel even better."

Arana Sr. faces Michael Phillips in the first round of eliminations Sunday. Phillips qualified 13th with a best pass of 7.008 seconds at 191.00 mph.

A victory would be the perfect present for Arana Sr., who celebrates his 54th birthday Monday.

"It would be one of the things to make a great birthday," Arana Sr. said. "Having the whole family with me would make it better."

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