tomer network, and Lee White has collected victories from no-prep to radial competition. The newest addition, Rickie Jones, arrives with NHRA Pro Stock victories as a driver, championship-winning crew-chief experience with Erica Enders, and decades of chassis knowledge through RJ Race Cars.
The individual résumés are impressive. The greater contribution is collective: a group that shares data, develops combinations, and repeatedly moves the performance ceiling for the entire sport.
– NATE VAN WAGNEN
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Jeff Stange
As the son of company founder Bob Stange, Jeff Stange practically grew up inside Strange Engineering. At 12 years old, he began working in the business each summer all the way up until he went away to college. After earning a marketing degree and considering opportunities outside the family business, Stange chose the racing route, eventually taking over dayto-day operations from his father.
Under Jeff’ s leadership, Strange Engineering has remained one of the industry’ s premier manufacturers since 1964, producing everything from axles, brakes, and rear ends to shocks, struts, and driveline components used throughout professional and grassroots racing. In 2025, NHRA recognized Strange among its“ Movers, Shakers, and Deal Makers,” highlighting his commitment to innovation and maintaining the company’ s wellknown presence throughout the sport. After his father’ s passing in 2023, Jeff’ s commitment remains strong in 2026. Strange Engineering is investing directly into racers and events, becoming the title sponsor of the Lil’ Gangstas series earlier this year.
Stange inherited an extraordinary racing legacy, but he is nowhere close to being done. Instead, he and his team are focused on investing, innovating, and ensuring that the Strange Engineering name remains a crucial part of drag racing’ s future. – MADELYN ZARON
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Andrew Hines and Eddie Krawiec
Andrew Hines( left) and Eddie Krawiec rank among the most accomplished riders in NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle history, but their current influence is being measured from the other side of the handlebars.
Hines won six world championships and Krawiec four during their riding careers, helping establish Vance & Hines as the class’ s benchmark organization. As they phased out of full-time riding, both shifted into crew chief, tuning, and team leadership roles. The transition has been remarkably successful.
Their clearest success story is Gaige Herrera. Hines served as crew chief when Herrera joined Vance & Hines in 2023 and immediately produced one of the most dominant seasons in class history, winning 11 races and the world championship. Herrera followed with a second straight title in 2024.
Krawiec then stepped fully into a crew chief role when Richard Gadson joined the team in 2024. Gadson finished third as a rookie, then broke through in 2025 with four wins and his first NHRA world championship, giving Vance & Hines three consecutive titles between Herrera and Gadson.
The program has also provided opportunities for emerging riders, including Brayden Davis, who showed immediate promise during his time on Vance & Hines equipment.
Hines and Krawiec no longer need their own win lights to shape Pro Stock Motorcycle. By transferring decades of championship experience into tuning, rider development, and team leadership, they have helped ensure Vance & Hines remains the standard while developing the riders capable of carrying that legacy forward. – NATE VAN WAGNEN
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Jeff Pierce
Jeff Pierce’ s value as a tuner has always been rooted in versatility. Raised around his father Dave Pierce’ s nitrous Pro Street and Pro Mod cars, Pierce turned that background into Jeff Pierce Race Car Tuning, building a résumé across virtually every major doorslammer power-adder combination. Nitrous, twin-turbo, centrifugally supercharged, and screw-blown cars have all won with Pierce making the calls, and his experience has extended beyond Pro Mod into categories as varied as Outlaw 632 and Top Alcohol Funny Car.
His list of accomplishments includes tuning the late Scott Oksas to the $ 100,000 World Series of Pro Mod victory at Bandimere, Ron Muenks to a Mid-West Drag Racing Series Pro Mod championship, and Scott’ s son Joey Oksas to another MWDRS title. Against the odds, he tuned Kye Kelley to a $ 50,000 Snowbird Outlaw Nationals win in Pro Mod with a steel-roof-and-quarters car. More recently, Pierce has become a central figure in Stevie“ Fast” Jackson’ s Killin’ Time Racing operation, guiding Jackson to the $ 75,000 U. S. Street Nationals victory in 2026.
Pierce has built his reputation by refusing to become a specialist in only one combination. In an era when every power adder demands its own depth of knowledge, he has become one of the few tuners trusted to make nearly all of them work.
– NATE VAN WAGNEN
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Darren Mayer
Darren Mayer has spent decades developing one of the most critical components in drag racing: the supercharger. Through Darren Mayer Performance Engineering, Mayer designs and manufactures superchargers and related components used across Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Mod, and blown alcohol
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