Herrera Resumes His Winning Ways
F
ollowing an epic record-
setting win streak to start the
season, RevZilla Vance & Hines
Suzuki's Gaige Herrera came to
the NHRA U.S. Nationals, Au-
gust 31-September 2, riding a
two-race losing streak. Still, he
wasn't about to let a chance to
win the sport's biggest and
most prestigious drag race
pass him by.
Herrera won for the seventh
time in 2024 and finished the
regular season as the Pro Stock
Motorcycle Champion following
a final-round win against Denso
Buell's Angie Smith. Herrera left
the starting line with a perfect
reaction time and extended his
lead to win the 18th race of his
career with a 6.762 elapsed
time.
"This race is very special for
me. Two years ago, I made my
debut here," Herrera said. "Two
years ago, [crew chief] Andrew
Hines had Covid and was sitting
on his couch. He didn't even
know my name until I made my
first pass here."
Winning the U.S. Nationals
was about the only thing Herrera
didn't accomplish last year, as
he cruised to the season cham
-
pionship with a record 11-win
campaign.
"For me to be able to get this
win, I feel like this was the big-
gest monkey of all on my back,"
Herrera said. "Last year, I had the
simplest part fail, which cost me
[a win]. To get the win here, even
though I won the championship
last year, I feel like this almost
surpasses that.
"This ranks at the top, all the
stuff that I've done as far as
creating history or beating [Pro
Stock legend] Bob Glidden's
record—throughout my years,
I'm probably going to remember
this over all of that. This is one
everyone wants to win. It's the
Super Bowl of drag racing.
WIND
IN THE
P40
Gaige Herrera wrapped
up the NHRA's regular
season championship.
PHOTOS: MATT POLITO
