The unstoppable force that is Gaige Herrera in NHRA’s Pro Stock Motorcycle class keeps mowing down the competition.

Herrera, since joining the powerhouse Vance & Hines team in 2023, has now won 13 national events in 17 starts.

Herrera’s latest victory came Sunday when he took home the title at the 4-Wide Nationals in Charlotte, N.C.

Herrera clocked a 6.684-second lap at 202.73 mph in the finals quad to defeat John Hall (6.758), Richard Gadson, his Vance & Hines teammate, (6.767) and LE Tonglet, who had a redlight start.

Herrera started from the No. 1 qualifying spot for the 16th time on his RevZilla/Mission Suzuki. Following the win, Herrera was ready to get some stuff off his chest.

“There's been a lot of talk on the internet for Pro Stock Motorcycle,” Herrera said. “Everyone knows about it. There are a couple media things that are kind of blowing stuff out of proportion, making up rumors about parts not being available to everyone in the class, and that is not true. But you've got people that are like Vance & Hines, you've got people like MSR (Matt Smith Racing), Steve Johnson, so on and so forth, the WAR team. But everyone says it's always the bike and I can't cut lights and this and that. So today I think my worst light was a (.021-second reaction time), and that lit a fire under me when I see the comments from people talking about that.

“But overall, as a team, me, Andrew (Hines), we're here to prove a point. Right there in the final, we had three Vance & Hines motorcycles, three fast bikes. It's just a matter of time before we're all running the same, and then it's going to be good. I've got to give a big shout to John Hall. He and I are really good friends, and I was glad to see him in the final, and he was the runner-up.”

Herrera, the reigning NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle PSM world champion, won his first quad with a 6.696-second elapsed time at 203.34 mph. He followed that up by winning his second quad with a 6.698, 202.70.

“All in all, I feel like the parity is pretty close. It's just that we came into here with a new fuel change for the Suzukis, and that's kind of what made us struggle,” Herrera said. “Q1, I had an electrical malfunction. Q2 was the very first pass ever on the new fuel for us, and we basically chipped away at it through qualifying, through today during the rounds. But I had a bracket bike (Sunday). I went 69 E1, E2, and then I went a 68 in the final, so I can't get much better than that.”

Following the season-opening and lone event the PSM riders competed in –- the Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., March 8-10 –- a rule change was put into place by the NHRA tech department. 

After Gainesville, the NHRA tech department switched from Sunoco Cyclone 17 to Sunoco SR18. SR18 and Cyclone were both allowed to be ran through the Gators, but now all PSM riders must only use Sunoco SR18.

Herrera’s Charlotte victory was his seventh in a row dating back to last season. That's the second most in the history of the Pro Stock Motorcycle class, trailing late legend Dave Schultz. Schultz, who passed away from colon cancer in 2001 at age 52, won eight races in a row in 1994.

“It's hard to put that into words. Basically, my dad grew up watching Dave Schultz and John Myers, all those guys,” Herrera said “Then for me to even have my name in that same zip code, it's an amazing feeling to even get close to him, and we will see how it goes. It's really remarkable how many round wins I've had consecutively, how many wins I've had. But I got to give it up to Andrew, Byron (Hines), Terry (Vance), all the guys back at the shop. It's not just me. I know I get the fame, the glory and most of it, but they put in a lot of work. And not only do they run a business, but they've got to run the race shop, and then they've got two full-time bikes and then Kelly (Clontz’s) bike and rental bikes. They're going nonstop. So, I've got to give all the credit to them.”

Herrera has won a stunning 27 rounds in a row. His last loss came June 25, 2023, when Jianna Evaristo took him down in the second round at Norwalk, Ohio. Schultz has the record for most consecutive round wins in the PSM class at 34, which he collected in 1994.

“When I go up there for every round, I start the bike and the burnout. Nothing else matters besides going A to B on the track,” Herrera said. “So, all the stats and all that, I really don't think about it until someone brings it up to me. I didn't even know I was that close to Dave Schultz. I never would've imagined that. And we'll see. It'd be amazing if I could just tie Dave Schultz, let alone pass him.”

Herrera acknowledged all he has to do to get fired up before competing is go on social media, where internet trolls try to diminish the amazing success of the Vance & Hines teams.

Andrew Hines has 56 career PSM national-event wins, and Eddie Krawiec, who became a team crew chief this year, has 49 PSM national event victories. Hines and Krawiec are 1-2 on NHRA’s Pro Stock Motorcycle career victory list.

Hines also won six Pro Stock Motorcycle championships, and Krawiec owns four.

“It's very aggravating. You get on Facebook, Instagram, whichever, and you see, not only me... Nothing's really been directed to me besides other comments. But you see posts about, now he's a crew chief, Eddie Krawiec about his championships don't mean anything, Andrew's don't mean anything, because they were on a Harley back then,” Herrera said.

“But I think that really lit a fire under everyone at the shop because all those championships take hard work. It doesn't matter what you're riding, type of thing. They designed those bikes from the ground up. And I want to say, I would say that all those comments don't really faze them, especially Andrew. When little stuff like that gets brought to his attention, it lights a fire under him to keep pushing and keep digging, trying something new.

“I'm very interested to see what that's all going to lead to, honestly. He's out here, he just wants to dominate. No matter what people say, he just wants to go out there and show his work, his dad's work. His dad works crazy hours in the cylinder head room trying to advance our program further and further. Not only us, but all the people that buy products from us.”