Sooner or later, Pro Stock drag racing driver Erica Enders will win a meet and make history. It's going to happen. But as everyone associated with the sport keeps wondering: When?
Enders drives for Victor Cagnazzi and she has one of the better young drivers of this era helping with her driving and tuning the car: Dave Connolly. With one of the better engine builders and being one of the best drivers in the sport, Enders has everything she needs to win races and possibly even a championship.
Close
After five races, she sits sixth in the point standings and has been competitive in all the meets so far this year; improving as the year goes on. At zMax Dragway, she was runner-up at the Four-Wide Nationals in Charlotte (April 13-15). In-fact, Greg Anderson edged her out at the line by just a couple hundredths of a second. Her time is coming soon.
The NHRA Full Throttle series comes to Royal Purple Raceway near Houston, Texas, home of none other than the sports' most successful female Pro Stock driver, Erica Lee Enders. The 28 year old was born in Houston and grew up racing junior dragsters, starting at the age of eight. So yes, she already has 20 years of experience in drag racing.
Enders' father is a CEO of an energy company and was a racer in his own right. But he started the junior dragster for his daughter and the rest is, well, history. She was a divisional champion at nine and victorious 37 times. Along with her sister Courtney (who is now 24), during the time they finished their junior drag racing careers, Disney Channel did a movie about the girls called "Right on Track" - it is the second most watched original-movie.
History
At the age of 21, Enders earned a Super Gas event victory at Houston. She earned her Top Alcohol license that same season. The next year, she entered Pro Stock becoming the first woman to qualify in the top-half of the field and go to a final round. Last season, she broke the national Pro Stock speed record, going 213.57 mph at Gainesville. Also, Enders was #1 qualifier twice and went to three finals.
It would seem she's ready. Now she comes back to her home track and seems more than ready to make more history. Enders is certainly ready as she said recently: "I think we've figured out as many ways possible that there are to lose so we're ready to win. I'm ready to just get this first win over with so we can put it in the books and go on and hopefully win a lot more races."
The O'Reilly Auto Parts Spring Nationals is in Baytown, Texas, and will be April 27-29. Eliminations will be telecast Sunday April 29 on ESPN2 at 7:00 PM ET. Better watch as there might be more history in the making.
Source - NHRA, Cagnazzi Racing
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Daryle has been involved in motorsports most of his life and has three decades of experience inside racemarketing, plus for several years has blogged about every type of racing.
