NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

While he’s still best known for winning three world championships and 30 races aboard the Vance & Hines Eagle One Suzuki, Matt Hines has blossomed into one of NHRA’s most successful crew chiefs.

Much like his mentor and team co-owner Terry Vance, Hines stepped off the bike in the prime of his career. Like Vance, he also went out on a winning note, beating Geno Scali in the final round of the 2002 Auto Club NHRA Finals on his last competitive Pro Stock Motorcycle pass. As a rider, Hines set a couple of marks that might never be duplicated, most notably winning 20 of the first 40 races he attended.

As the oldest son of Hall of Famer Byron Hines, he took a keen interest in the mechanical side of motorcycle racing from an early age, and by the time the Vance & Hines team rolled out its two-bike Harley-Davidson V-Rod effort in the early 2000s, Hines was more than ready to make the transition from rider to tuner.

It took a couple of years for the Screamin’ Eagle Harley-Davidson V-Rod program to get up to speed, but Hines helped shorten the learning curve with his extensive knowledge of electronic fuel injection and his ability to tune each bike to suit each rider’s style.

In his role as crew chief for the Vance & Hines team, Hines has had unparalleled success with riders GT Tonglet, Eddie Krawiec, and his younger brother, Andrew, combining to win 78 races and eight NHRA Mello Yello world championships. In 2005, Andrew also made history with the sport’s first six-second Pro Stock Motorcycle pass.