Winning amid so many variables is a roller coaster of emotions.
“There’s a lot of emotion that plays into it,” she said. “I look back to our first championship, I remember (Pro Stock Motorcycle champion) Eddie Krawiec coming up to me before the final round and saying, ‘Whatever you do, don’t cry.’ I had that in the back of my mind — and I’m not a big crier, anyway. But to give your whole life to something from the time I was 8 years old — and the things my dad and mom sacrificed to allow my sister and me to do what we want for a living and chase our dreams, sacrificing their own … It’s been a really long road and it’s not easy at all. There have been way more valleys than peaks. I talk about it all the time, but I feel that story is so important. You preserve, and you never give up.
“There are so many people who stab you in the back and pull the rug out from underneath you along the way. And it has nothing to do with gender,” added Enders, who is now 37. “It’s how this world works. It’s very cutthroat and it’s very challenging, honestly, to be a part of it.
“But I love what I do, and I love the guys I get to do it with every week. So I’m honored to be a champion and represent a sport I love, that I’m so passionate about, and have given (nearly 30) years of my life.”
There were many times that Enders could have lost focus along the way. For example, Anderson blurted out that he didn’t want to be “that guy” who was on the losing end when a woman won for the first time. But she kept plugging away and in her eighth year, that’s exactly what happened. Enders claimed her first event victory on July 1, 2012, at Anderson’s expense. She said Anderson “grabbed my shoulder and said, ‘Well deserved.’ That means a lot, coming from (him).”
She has reeled off four championships since Anderson won his fourth in 2010.
Theirs is a true rivalry, one that carries mutual respect but is nettlesome, nonetheless. Pondering Enders’ fourth championship, Anderson conceded, “She’s a great racer, does a great job,” but he stopped short of confirming she had earned her way into the Pro Stock Parthenon. He said, “We’ll have to see how it all shakes out at the end of her career.”
Enders shrugged off his lukewarm endorsement. “That guy has hated losing to a girl from the day I set foot on the scene — and I plan to keep it that way,” she said.
Tanner Gray, the 2017 champ and now-NASCAR rising star, had a tiff with Enders off the track. But when Gray defeated her in the final round at Richmond in 2018, he was humble, saying, “You’ve got to respect her. She’s a two-time champ and has accomplished a lot more than I have.”
She has the strong respect and friendship of most of her other peers. Bo Butner, the 2017 class champion, said of Enders, “She’s badass. I mean, she hops in the cars. She’s been taught well, but people need to realize she paid her dues.”
And Line, who retired in November, said Enders is one of his top three favorite opponents.
She isn’t leaving the Pro Stock class this year, but plans to add some sportsman-level racing to her schedule.
“I definitely have interest in racing Pro Mod again. I think our new Pro Charger program shows a lot of promise. However, my dad and team owner aren’t too keen on the idea after our catastrophe of a fire in Norwalk (in June 2019) that destroyed our car and did everything it could to take me with it. Let’s just say I’m game. I just have some convincing to do,” Enders said. “We plan to continue to run some Competition Eliminator and I have interest in some super class racing as well.
“Time will tell, but you can bet I will be competing in a few classes this year, in addition to chasing our fifth world title in Pro Stock.”