“Winning doesn’t define you.”
Those are the words of wisdom that Elite Motorsports team owner Richard Freeman shared with NHRA Pro Stock racer Erica Enders in the midst of one of the worst slumps of her career.
The rough patch began about nine months ago.
Enders was attempting to defend her fifth NHRA championship, but an unrelenting series of struggles was making it difficult. Six races into the season, Enders was 14th in the Pro Stock standings and had yet to advance past the quarterfinals.
It was a bitter pill, considering the Texan had dominated 10 races the previous year — a season where winning, more or less, defined her. She was the same resilient, fiercely competitive driver she had been in years past, but the results simply weren’t coming as expected.
“I don’t want to say (winning) is the most important thing, but it’s pretty high up there to me,” Enders said, flashing her hefty silver championship ring. “When I was 8 years old, this was my dream.”
Perhaps it was that lifelong passion, or simply her tenacious personality, but Enders wasn’t about to let a sixth Pro Stock title fall from her grasp.
“I’ve always said, Erica digs deep when the pressure’s on,” Freeman said. “I think she’s got a drive that’s like no other. In my opinion, she’s the best that’s ever sat in the seat.”
Sure enough, her true colors flooded out and Enders began writing her comeback story – one race at a time.
The team diagnosed a few of their issues — “self-induced” problems, according to Freeman — during the Route 66 Nationals in late May. A few weeks later, Enders broke through with a win during the Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol (Tenn.) Dragway.
There was no turning back after that, and the 40-year-old powerhouse went on to collect three more Wallys en route to earning her second consecutive Pro Stock championship during the NHRA Finals on Nov. 12.
“Kind of a surreal moment,” Enders admitted. “I wouldn’t have ever thought it after the way our season started, but you know, that’s the story of the year, right? The perseverance and the tenacity that it took to get through all of that junk at the beginning of the year and still finish with the same result.”
Her sixth NHRA title tied her with Warren “The Professor” Johnson for second all-time. Bob Glidden leads the list, with 10 Pro Stock championships.
“If you would’ve told me when I first started junior drag racing that they were going to say my name alongside of Warren Johnson and Bob Glidden as a Pro Stock racer, I would’ve told you that you’re crazy,” Enders said. “It’s one of those ‘pinch me’ moments.”
After what he’s seen from the brown-eyed, hot-headed Texan over the last decade, Freeman doesn’t expect her story to end anytime soon, either.
“I think she can get to Bob Glidden if we choose to continue down this path,” Freeman said. “I’d like to get to 10 (titles) with her. But if we can’t do that, I think there’s some other things on the horizon.”
But there’s a part two to Enders’ season that goes beyond Freeman, beyond Elite Motorsports and even beyond the walls of NHRA.
During the Texas FallNationals on Oct. 15, when Enders earned her third win of the season and 47th career victory, the 40-year-old became the winningest woman in all motorsports.
She surpassed Pro Stock Motorcycle racer Angelle Sampey’s previous record of 46 wins.
While the “female racer” persona is typically something Enders prefers to bypass, hitting the worldwide milestone certainly called for a moment of reflection.
“I still get goosebumps,” she said, nearly two months after her Texas triumph.