Brayden Davis may have seemed like an overnight success story to casual drag racing fans when he burst onto the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series scene as the rider of Vance & Hines Motorsports’ rental bike in Pro Stock Motorcycle this season. But anyone who follows motorcycle drag racing knows Davis has been training for this opportunity since he was old enough to consider the possibility of someday competing in a professional class.
Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in DI #197, the 30 Under 30 Issue, in November/December 2025.
Growing up, Brayden’s grandfather, John Davis, and his father, Travis Davis, raced motorcycles, so it seemed natural that the third generation would eventually follow in their footsteps. Brayden started his career in Jr. Dragsters, where he earned the 2017 PDRA Top Jr. Dragster world championship to join his father, a four-time PDRA Pro Extreme/Pro Nitrous Motorcycle world champion, on the championship stage that year.
Davis continued competing in the PDRA’s Jr. Dragster ranks, eventually aging up to the Pro Jr. Dragster class. He also started riding his dad’s Pro Mod-style motorcycle in index classes with considerable success. When Travis felt confident that his son was ready to compete with more horsepower in a heads-up format, he conceded his championship-winning motorcycle to Brayden to allow him to make his PDRA Pro Nitrous Motorcycle debut at the season-opening 2023 PDRA East Coast Nationals at GALOT Motorsports Park.
Brayden proved he was ready, as he went on to win the event in both Pro Nitrous Motorcycle and Pro Jr. Dragster, making him the first competitor in series history – and possibly drag racing history – to win in a professional class and a Jr. Dragster class at the same event. Proving it wasn’t a fluke, Davis repeated the double-up two races later, giving Travis a dream Father’s Day weekend at the North vs. South Shootout.
“They work hard at this,” Davis said of his parents, Travis and Brandy, at the time. “It takes a lot of confidence for him to put his son on a bike that has won multiple championships and is fast. He’s such a great rider and I just dream of being like him.”
Davis went on to win the Pro Jr. Dragster world championship that season. His two Pro Nitrous Motorcycle victories put him in the championship conversation there as well, but he ultimately finished third behind 2019 DI 30 Under 30 honoree Chris Garner-Jones and Meshal Al-Saber. The next year, Davis repeated his Maryland win and finished third again in Pro Extreme Motorcycle points.
Last year, Davis decided it was time to start getting serious about pursuing his childhood dream of racing in NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle. He started his licensing process after the Virginia Nationals and completed his licensing runs during preseason testing leading up to the 2025 NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway. Riding a White Alligator Racing entry as a teammate to 2023 DI 30 Under 30 honoree Chase Van Sant, Davis qualified No. 14 and went out in the first round at Gainesville. But he’d made it to motorcycle drag racing’s biggest stage.
“Pro Stock Motorcycle is where a lot of people go when they have a lot of money to work with, and for someone like me, an outlaw racer, you watch the TV and you’re like, ‘Man, I want to do that.’ You just don’t know how,” Davis says. “The Pro Mod bike was a stepping stone situation that really helped me get there. A lot of people saw that if I could handle a bike like that, I should have no problem handling a Pro Stock Motorcycle.”
Just like he was on the nitrous-assisted Pro Mod bike, Davis was a quick study on the Pro Stock Motorcycle, though he admits even he was taken aback by the challenge that is adapting to the new riding style. Where Davis had to “wrestle” the Pro Mod down the track to eighth-mile passes well into the 3.90-second range, his new ride requires finesse to reach the quarter-mile finish line in 6.70 seconds or quicker.
“Coming into it, I had never even ridden a bike with a clutch, so throwing the clutch and just having to be so smooth and consistent on these motorcycles was an adjustment,” Davis says. “I don’t think a lot of people realize that any slight movement or getting out from behind the windscreen can affect you two to five hundredths. It’s unbelievable just how much you have to do to make that motorcycle run at the top.”
With expanded support from Powertrain Inc. and owners Terry and Angela Durrence, Davis hopped on to the Vance & Hines rental entry for the Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway and the Virginia Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park. He qualified No. 1 at both races and lost in the semifinals to teammate and 2023 DI 30 Under 30 honoree Gaige Herrera. He also won the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge at Virginia.
Realizing Davis was on to something, the Durrences re-upped their deal with Davis and Vance & Hines to include the prestigious U.S. Nationals, the final race of the NHRA regular season. A runner-up finish to Herrera at the Big Go gave Davis a spot in the Countdown for the Championship, so Powertrain Inc. once again expanded their partnership to allow Davis to run the six-race Countdown playoffs.
As of this writing, David advanced to the final round at two of the six Countdown races, lining up a mid-pack finish in the points standings. He was also in the conversation for NHRA Rookie of the Year honors.
Though his early success suggests that Davis was more than prepared to join the class, he points out that he progressed significantly as a rider as the season went on. He attributes that progression to the guidance he received from his teammates, Herrera and Richard Gadson, but also tuners Andrew Hines and Eddie Krawiec, who won a collective 10 world championships in the class as riders before hanging up the leathers.
“Those guys give me total confidence,” Davis says. “They’re straightforward with you. You’re working with people who didn’t just do one side or the other. They rode their bikes and they tuned them, so they know every little way to get all the E.T. out of a motorcycle. When these guys talk to you or try to help you, it’s best you listen because they’ve won a lot of championships and a lot of races. They’re good at what they do, and I really don’t feel like my riding would have progressed as much as it has if it wasn’t for them.”
Davis, 19, is determined to make his mark on Pro Stock Motorcycle through full-time participation. He’s actively seeking partners to support his 2026 campaign, which he hopes will include the new NHRA national event at his home track, South Georgia Motorsports Park. “I really feel like that win is coming soon,” says Davis, who thanked his parents, as well as Terry and Angela Durrence with Powertrain Inc., Anvil Trailers, Joel Fulghum, and his Vance & Hines teammates. “It just takes consistency and lining up on the right side of the ladder. But really, neither side of the ladder is easy. You’re going to have to face Gaige or Richard or Matt [Smith]. There’s no easy path to the final, but I wouldn’t want it any other way. If I’m going to win, I want to have to earn it.”
