may have seen 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.

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 situ-

DAVIS EARNED HIS FIRST OF TWO PDRA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS IN 2017 WHEN HE SCORED THE TOP JR. DRAGSTER TITLE. HIS FATHER, TRAVIS, ALSO WON THE PRO EXTREME MOTORCYCLE TITLE THAT YEAR.

94 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated. com Issue 197