In some respects, Gaige Herrera’s got to feel like a young actor who’s been shoved onto a stage into the heat of a glaring spotlight.

Given an opportunity to race in Pro Stock Motorcycle competition late last season, the 29-year-old Herrera didn’t make the field at the first two NHRA races in which he competed. He came back to qualify in his next four outings, and even though he didn’t win a round of competition, his performance on the Xtreme Dragbike Association circuit and a test session earned him a full-time ride with the Vance & Hines team. 

It’s not just any ride, either. Aside from the fact that Herrera’s been hired by Vance & Hines, the native of La Mirada, California, who now calls DeMotte, Indiana, home, replaces three-time NHRA champion Angelle Sampey.

If passion for the sport of drag racing is a crucial component in success, it appears Gaige Herrera will be just fine with more seat time. He makes his debut with Vance & Hines this weekend at the NHRA’s season-opening Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida. Herrera will be a teammate to four-time champion and 49-time race winner Eddie Krawiec.

“I live and breathe drag racing. This is all I do. It's what I live for. It's what I enjoy,” said Herrera, a fourth-generation racer who’s been on drag bikes since he was 16. 

“It's a dream come true for me, for sure,” he added. “Being able to race with Eddie and Andrew Hines and Terry Vance and Byron Hines, they're the ones that ... they're the icons of the sport. So to be able to be with them, it's a dream come true. It don't feel real, still, honestly, to me.”

Adapting to his new ride, a Suzuki Hayabusa, shouldn’t be difficult from a quickness and speed standpoint. Herrera has made numerous runs in the 6.3-second, 200-plus range during XDA competition. His resume includes: an NHRA Division 7 E.T. finals title; a 2018 Pro Street win in an NHDRO race at St. Louis; a Pro Street Haltech World Cup Finals qualifier in 2019; and the recordsetter for the quickest and fastest Haybusa on nitrous at 6.49, 210 last year.  

He got his first taste of Pro Stock Motorcycle late last summer on a bike owned by Gary Stoffer, the husband of long-time racer Karen Stoffer. Herrera missed making the 16-bike field at the U.S. Nationals and at the opener of the Countdown to the Championship at Maple Grove, then rebounded to qualify at St. Louis, Dallas, Las Vegas and Pomona. He enters the Gators this weekend in search of his first win in eliminations.

“I wouldn't say it's intimidating. It's a different level of pressure, I should say,” Herrera said. “These bikes are totally different, the ride, compared to what I'm used to. Doing the Outlaw race, I've raced for 35 grand before and that kind of pressure. But being able to ride these bikes for these guys and having to have the finesse and everything, it's a totally different animal.”

His predecessor, Sampey, had her ups and downs in four seasons riding for Vance & Hines. The NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle champion from 2000-02, Sampey took a five-year break from 2009-13, and then after six years back in the saddle, she was hired to ride for V&H.

She didn’t win in 2019, her first season with the team, but she picked up a victory at Houston the following season. In 2021, she was a two-time winner, and she finished second in the points to Matt Smith.

Last year produced mixed – and often head-scratching – results. Sampey was the runner-up to Jerry Savoie at Bristol – a final in which both riders tripped the red light – and followed that with a triumph over Joey Gladstone in the final at Norwalk.

Her season, though, also included multiple abysmal showings. At Charlotte in the spring, she was knocked out of competition by a tardy .157-second reaction time. There was a red light at Richmond in the second round of eliminations; more red against Krawiec at Sonoma; a .220 reaction time in a first-round loss at Indianapolis after qualifying No. 1; a late start at Reading that resulted in a loss by 18 inches; a holeshot defeat to Savoie at St. Louis; a bad light in Dallas in Round One; and red lights at Las Vegas and Pomona to finish the season.

The split that ensued opened a door for Herrera, who was brought into a meeting with team co-owner Terry Vance, who won 14 championships as a rider before retiring.

“When I first met him, he's like, ‘Alright, we got to go in my office and sit down and figure out why I'm signing you over a three-time champ’ type of thing,” Herrera said. “Just to have that feeling … to be one of the people looked at to ride this bike is a big deal.”

He will deal directly at the track with teammate Krawiec and Andrew Hines, who won the NHRA crown six times (2004-06, 2014-15, 2019) before hanging up his helmet. 

“I feel pretty comfortable with both of them, honestly,” Herrera said. “I've known Eddie for a while because they do all my cylinder heads for my grudge bikes and my personal bike, so I've had a pretty good relationship with him for the last four years. I talked to Andrew a little bit after Indy. That's when I met him face to face. Now, I feel pretty comfortable with both of them.”

He’s about to discover what it means to ride a championship-caliber bike in NHRA action on a full-time basis. When Herrera raced XDA, which is entering only its sixth season, his exposure was limited, given that the series’ schedule was a handful of events at two tracks on the East Coast. Now he’ll be on national TV at every NHRA event, and will find himself much more engaged with the fans as they swarm the pits between rounds of qualifying and of eliminations.

“It means the world, because I used to be that kid, walking around in the pits, wanting to get autographs from my favorite drivers,” he said. “I think that's the best part, is the fans. The fans are what make this happen.

“Me and my dad (Augustine Herrera) talked about doing this on our own, but he was always, ‘We got to give up everything else we did just to do this,’ because it's serious,” he added. “It takes a lot of time, money. It's basically a full-time job. To do that on our own, I really didn't see it ever happening. Then I was lucky enough, we became really good friends with (NHRA bike racer Karen) Stoffer. That got my foot in the door at Indy last year. Now I'm here today.”

And now he’s about to assume that role of fledgling actor shoved into the spotlight. It’s a moment he’s been thinking about for months.

“As soon as I got that phone call from Andrew, it was just like … I started then, honestly, trying to figure out what I needed to do to help myself improve more and more,” he said. “It's been nonstop since that phone call.”

It’s about to stay that way, beginning with the first green light he’ll see at Gainesville.