Another Season, Another Record-Breaking Championship Season for Gaige Herrera
Another Season, Another Record-Breaking Championship Season for Gaige Herrera
Two-time world champ enjoys another stellar campaign, setting all-time NHRA marks, reaching 10 wins again
A year ago, Gaige Herrera burst onto the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle season full-time, becoming something of a phenomenon in his first full season riding for the Vance & Hines team. Setting record after record, winning race after race, Herrera cruised to his first world championship, capping off a surreal year that even Herrera had trouble comprehending.
A season later, not much has seemingly changed, as Herrera rode his way to another dominant championship run, again setting records, again reaching double-digit wins and again remaining as the class of the category on his RevZilla/Mission Foods/Vance & Hines Suzuki.
Herrera won 10 races in 2024, clinching the championship after his opening-round win in Pomona, posting another unbelievable win-loss record, this time going 50-5 in 2024. Included in that was wins in the first six races of the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season. That gave him 11 straight victories dating back to last year, breaking the all-time NHRA record for most consecutive wins. That run included 46 straight round wins, another NHRA record, but Herrera insisted this championship and this season almost meant more for him.
“This is very special. Last was a dream for me and it almost didn’t seem real. This year, I had to prove it wasn’t a fluke,” Herrera said. “We kind of ran away with it last year and I knew it was going to be tough this year. I have to give it up to the whole team. This team is working day and night. I’ve got one of the top bikes out here and I’ve just tried to stay consistent.
“The last two seasons have been incredible. I’m just living the dream and having fun with it. Win or lose, I’ve got to have fun and I’m having a lot of fun right now.”
Herrera posted nine No. 1 qualifiers in 2024, down from last year but also a nod to the strong improvement from the rest of the class. Herrera’s dominant 2023 help spur that and he had to deal with challenges all year long, mainly from chief rival Matt Smith, who finished second in points with three wins, six finals and six No. 1 qualifiers.
He certainly pushed Herrera, who opened the year in dominant fashion with wins at Gainesville, Charlotte, Chicago, Bristol, Richmond and Norwalk. His first loss of the season finally came in the final round in Seattle, where Chase Van Sant got the best of him, but Herrera was quick to recover, winning the U.S. Nationals for the first time.
It was a meaningful moment for Herrera, who posted a perfect .000 reaction time in the final round, but there was still adversity to overcome. He lost in the semifinals at the first two races in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs, as Smith moved into the points lead. Herrera, though, recovered in St. Louis, rolling to the win and moving back to the points lead.
That keyed a three-race winning streak that pushed him to the championship, including a final-round win over Smith in Dallas. It handed Herrera his 20th career victory in his 34th career race, reaching the 20-win milestone quicker than any driver in NHRA history.
For good measure, the 21st – and 10th of the season – came a race later in Las Vegas, opening up a points lead that all but guaranteed the title in Pomona. In the end, it meant another dominant season for Herrera, who now has an unbelievable record of 100-9 the past two years and 21 wins in his last 30 starts. Both are jaw-dropping numbers and Herrera hasn’t taken a minute of it for granted.
He continues to praise the work of his team and crew chief Andrew Hines, remaining hopeful this meteoric pace can continue to be possible in 2025.
“Indy was a huge highlight,” Herrera said. “That was my debut (two years ago) and to have a perfect reaction time and win there, it was the top. Then, getting the championship here (in Pomona) meant a lot. I was pushing myself to the limit and Andrew was pushing the bike to the limit, all to try and stay at the top. We were definitely pushing all year. I pushed myself more this year, so this championship means a lot to me and I’m excited for next season.
“I never thought I would win a championship or even a race in Pro Stock Motorcycle, so it means a lot to win two in a row. But I think it means even more for this team. Andrew and everyone at the shop deserves this and I’m lucky to be able to showcase how much work they put into it. Next year is going to even more challenging, but I’m looking forward to it.”
The 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series begins March 6-9 with the NHRA Gatornationals at legendary Gainesville Raceway. For more information about NHRA, including the 2025 schedule, please visit www.NHRA.com.
ABOUT NHRA
The National Hot Rod Association, the largest auto racing organization in the world, has come a long way since Wally Parks founded it in 1951.
Though it has grown into a global sports-entertainment business, NHRA has not lost sight of Parks’ original goal: to provide competitors a place to race. But now those places are deluxe supertracks in major U.S. markets, and the racing runs the gamut from 11,000-horsepower Top Fuel dragsters to 5-horsepower Jr. Dragsters. Drag racing’s journey through the decades has been sometimes swift, sometimes rocky, but always exciting and always worth the trip.
In the 1950s, top performance marks were 140 mph in 9 seconds. Today, they’re more than 330 mph in less than 3.7 seconds. Back then, winners earned little more than a trophy and bragging rights. Today’s racers compete for trophies and bragging rights as well as a share of more than $3 million in prize money.
In 2024, NHRA joined forces with Mission Foods to present the world’s fastest motorsports attraction as the flagship sponsor of the national touring series, the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series.
Under the leadership of President Glen Cromwell, NHRA raced forward in 2020 with a number of key initiatives, including a multiyear partnership with FOX Sports to televise NHRA events from the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, and the Pro Mod Drag Racing Series. FOX Sports networks aired more than 500 hours of programming throughout the year, highlighted by 22 race-day shows, including eight on FOX’s national network, in addition to primetime Friday night qualifying shows, and fans are in for more of the same this year.
NHRA has extremely loyal fans that are committed to the sport they love, and it’s easy to see why. They continue to have the best access to the behind-the-scenes action of racing. NHRA’s open-pits policy allows fans to get an up-close-and personal view of how teams rebuild engines. Drivers are often found in their pit areas, signing autographs and chatting with fans, who have the rare opportunity to get behind the wheel themselves in a variety of racing simulators in the Nitro Alley Fan Zone. Those are just a few reasons NHRA fans continue to be some of the most loyal in any sport.
For more information, log on to NHRA.com, or visit the official NHRA pages on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
About Mission Foods
Great food is a great motivator. It brings everyone to the table and inspires us to explore all kinds of delicious destinations. At Mission®, it drives us to seek the freshest ingredients, simple recipes, diverse flavors and wholesome products that help us discover all the places our tortillas can go. There are better-for-you destinations like with our high protein, low carb, or gluten-free tortillas. Of course, tacos and nachos are favorite stops. We are always up for those. www.missionfoods.com
The post Another Season, Another Record-Breaking Championship Season for Gaige Herrera appeared first on Dragbike.com.