NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Almost since the day he first slung a leg over the saddle of a Pro Stock Motorcycle for the Vance & Hines team to start the 2024 season, Gaige Herrera has busted the record book, and he's just done it again.

With his victory at the Muckleshoot Casino Resort NHRA Northwest Nationals, two-time NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Pro Stock Motorcycle champion Herrera became the quickest driver to record 25 career NHRA national events, accomplishing it in just 43 events.

Ten-time Pro Stock champion Bob Glidden was the previous record holder, needing just 52 races to reach 25 victories, notching his 25th at the 1979 Le Grandnational after launching his career at the final event of the 1972 season.

“I never would imagine getting to 25 [wins] this quick,” Herrera said. “I'm living the dream. I'm very blessed as far as that. To get 25 wins, I mean, it still feels like my first. Every time I get a win, it's just one of those things. You never lose the excitement. You always drive and push yourself to get the Wally, because everyone wants to get the Wally."

Herrera's meteoric rise might be even better had he not run his first six events for an independent team at the end of the 2022 season before joining Vance & Hines to start the 2023 campaign. Herrera failed to qualify at his first two events in 2022 and lost badly in the first round at the next four events — although you could see his progress charting up based on elapsed time, qualifying position, and reaction time as he gained confidence — before kicking off a record-breaking 11-win 2023 championship season.

After winning the final five events of the 2023 season, he then won the first six races of 2024 to establish an all-class record of 11 straight event wins that spanned 46 rounds of competition.

He has not lost in the first round since joining the powerhouse Vance & Hines team in 2023, and in his 35 events with the team, he has reached the final round 29 times and qualified No. 1 26 times.

“It means a lot to have done what we have,” Herrera said last year. “We’ve won a lot of races in back-to-back years. I go home, and I see all the Wally trophies, and I remember just dreaming to be able to hold one, and now I’ve got [more than 20] of them. It’s insane, and for us to do the same in back-to-back seasons, and to have 10 wins this year, it’s incredible, and it just showcases [tuners, past champions] Andrew [Hines] and Eddie Krawiec and all the guys back at the Vance & Hines shop. None of this is possible without them. I feel like these are more their wins than mine, and I’m very thankful to be a part of it.”