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In most kinds of motorcycle racing, if you make an error — you run wide in a turn, or double a triple jump — you might be able to make it up in the following laps. But in Pro Stock motorcycle drag racing, there are no laps, just a one-way blitz down the quarter-mile that's over in less time than it takes to read this sentence
This explains why Gaige Herrera's record-tying streak of eight consecutive final-round wins — a streak that began at the end of his 2023 NHRA Championship-winning season — is special.
The record of eight consecutive Pro Stock wins was set by the late Dave Schultz and has stood for 30 years. The RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki Hayabusa rider will be aiming to break that long-standing record this weekend at the Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway in Tennessee.
But beating Schultz is not foremost in Herrera's mind. It's simply about getting to the finish line first.
"My main focus is just winning," Herrera says. "I like to focus on the present instead of what could be achieved. If you're focused on milestones, it makes them harder to reach."
So Herrera concentrates on each race as it happens — and each race happens fast. "We have a little over 6.5 seconds to cram everything in and make a perfect pass, so we have little time for error," he says of all the details, small and large, that go into a clean run. "It's not like roadracing where you have 20 to 30 laps and if you make a mistake you can recover."
Herrera says instinct has as much to do with a fast pass as analytical thinking. When the green light comes on, he says, "It's more like you go into instinctive mode. I started drag racing motorcycles when I was 15, but I've been riding bikes since I was three. It comes naturally, as far as what needs to be done, how to feel what the motorcycle's doing. It’s definitely a natural, instinctive thing. It's like walking down the street."
The Pro Stock motorcycle Herrera rides is called a Hayabusa, but the name is about the only thing it shares with its street-legal counterpart. "The body is based on a 2024 Suzuki Hayabusa, but the chassis is a custom chrome-moly unit. The motor is based on an old GS1100 but now it's a full Vance & Hines engine, with billet cases, cylinder head, and block. Basically, everything is aftermarket. It's purpose built, just like Pro Stock cars. They look like stock, too, but when you look under the hood nothing's even close."
The Hayabusa makes about 400 horsepower, weighs 645 pounds with Herrera aboard, and pulls 3.0 to 3.5 Gs off the line. Not surprisingly, Herrera says, "It's a rush."
Herrara gets his chance to make quarter-mile history this weekend at Bristol Dragway.
"It's a beautiful facility," he says, "cut out of the mountains. The surface is nice, too. I'm looking forward to it. We did a little bit of testing after Chicago and I think as a team we're going to go out there and do well."
Whatever happens in Bristol, afterward there are still 12 more rounds in the 2024 season. At each one, Herrera will need all of his experience and skill to stand on the top step of the podium at the end of the day. That will require all the focus he can manage and maybe more, with no distractions. Even so, Herrera has to be thinking just a little about breaking that 30-year-old record, right?
"I'm on an incredible, surreal streak right now," he says. "I'm number one in points and I hope to keep it going. I try not to think about the record, just go out there and race my race… but I'd be lying if I said it’s not in the back of my mind."
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