NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

In a wildly diverse driving career, Alex Laughlin has carved a reputation for being able to master anything with an engine and a set of tires. Now, he has a distinction that no other driver in NHRA history can claim.

With his recent licensing in Pro Stock Motorcycle on the Monday after the Mopar NHRA Las Vegas Nationals powered by Dodge at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway aboard the TK Motorsports Suzuki of Tim Kulungian and Chase Van Sant, Laughlin became the first driver to earn a competition license in all four NHRA Pro categories: Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle.

The accomplishment takes Laughlin one step beyond Funny Car legend Bruce Larson, who previously stood alone as the only driver to have been licensed in three of the four Pro categories after competing in Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Pro Stock.

Simply securing the license wasn't where Laughlin wanted the story to end. If he was going to become the first driver licensed in all four Pro categories, he also wanted to race the motorcycle, which he plans to do at this weekend’s In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals.

"I would hate for somebody to come later on and then my little claim gets lost in history because somebody else actually competed," Laughlin said.

So, Laughlin launched a fan-funding campaign to finance the Pro Stock Motorcycle appearance and said the necessary money was raised in approximately one day. The plan is to race with TK Motorsports on the same Suzuki Hayabusa he used during the licensing process.

His best licensing run was a 7.54-second pass at 168 mph, although Laughlin said the motorcycle reached approximately 180 mph before he lifted. There is still plenty for him to learn, and he has no illusions about that.

"When I go to Pomona, at least for the first couple of runs, I don't plan on making a full pull just to make sure that I can get the bike slowed down in that shorter shutdown there," Laughlin said.

Collecting the whole set

Laughlin holds or has held licenses covering 15 categories, ranging from the four NHRA Pro classes to Pro Mod, Mountain Motor Pro Stock, Top Alcohol Dragster, Comp, Factory X, Super Comp, Super Gas, Top Dragster and Top Sportsman, and multiple E.T. racing classes.

Laughlin launched in the Sportsman ranks before he tackled Pro Stock in 2015, the category that established him nationally. Laughlin became a Pro Stock winner, but rather than remaining exclusively in the factory hot rod category, he began exploring almost anything else that interested him.

Top Alcohol Dragster became part of the résumé by 2017. He wheeled Scott Palmer’s Top Fueler in 2021 and drove for Funny Car legend Jim Dunn in 2023.

He has also raced Mountain Motor Pro Stock, including an appearance in Charlotte, and later made runs in Comp with a ProCharger-equipped Camaro, competing in Dallas and St. Louis. Factory X became another addition, with Laughlin competing in the category during the 2024 season.

For Laughlin, the possibility of going one better had been sitting in the back of his mind for years.

"Really, since I licensed in Funny Car in 2022 and learned that I'm only the second person in history to ever have done that," Laughlin said. "I thought, man, at some point I need to ride a bike and do it."

There was, however, a significant difference between imagining himself on a Pro Stock Motorcycle and actually letting go of the clutch on one.

Laughlin grew up riding dirt bikes, but he had never ridden a drag racing motorcycle. His first attempts came the Monday following the Las Vegas event in 2025, and the experience quickly dismissed the notion that his considerable four-wheel talents would make the transition easy.

"The first time I ever let the clutch out on that thing, I thought, 'I don't think that I can actually do this,' " Laughlin said. "Holding on to it and staying on it for the first 20 feet was a huge, huge undertaking."

He estimates he made about six attempts during that initial test session, with only three amounting to actual runs. A busy schedule kept him from returning to the motorcycle during the following months, leaving nearly a full year between his first experience and the runs that ultimately completed the licensing process.

Life on two wheels ain't easy

Laughlin calls Pro Stock Motorcycle the most physically difficult vehicle he has driven, and that's coming from someone who knows firsthand what more than 12,000 horsepower feels like in a nitro car.

"Physically, yes, without a doubt," Laughlin said. "Mentally, the nitro stuff is harder because it's just so hard to describe what it does to your brain and being able to process that. Physically, though, the motorcycle all day. It's man versus machine. It's 50-50."

Even the wind became an opponent. On one run at approximately 170 mph, Laughlin said air got underneath his right knee and tore his foot from the peg. He couldn't physically pull his leg back to the motorcycle.

"I just sat up there and just floated like the tail of a kite until I slowed down enough," he said.

The starting line, though, provided the biggest surprise.

"The first time I ever let the clutch out, man, it snapped my neck back," Laughlin said. "Shoulders came up. I was barely hanging on to the handlebars with the tips of my fingers. I thought I was ready for it. I've seen videos of people that have rolled off the back of it, and I just thought, 'My God, I don't want that to be me.' "

Eventually, Laughlin figured it out. Working with Kulungian and Van Sant, Laughlin completed the runs necessary to add Pro Stock Motorcycle to a résumé already unlike any other in NHRA racing.

He credited both with patiently guiding him through a discipline in which virtually everything was unfamiliar.

"They're absolutely awesome folks, some of the best people that I've been around," Laughlin said. "Depending on who it is that you're partnering with on the team, it matters so much. To be able to find a cohesive group of people makes all of the difference. There's no doubt I couldn't have done it without them."

The future is Pro Mod

Despite all of the licenses filling his wallet, Pro Mod has proved to be a particularly natural fit. Laughlin has remained heavily involved in the category and considers it perhaps the best overall combination of performance, competition, economics, and schedule, although he expects to make occasional Pro Stock Motorcycle appearances.

"Pro Mod probably, because it's really a happy medium," Laughlin said when asked to pick a favorite. "For being able to pay for it, it's still heads-up racing. The cars are badass. Extremely competitive. The 10-race schedule is extremely attractive, especially at this point in my life with family and business and stuff away from the racetrack."

Whatever happens this weekend on two wheels in Pomona, Laughlin has already carved a unique place for himself in NHRA history.