- Erica Enders completes third set of back-to-back titles.
- She equals Pro Stock legend Warren Johnson with No. 6.
- Winningest woman in all of motorsports aces out nemesis Greg Anderson.
NHRA Pro Stock racer Erica Enders’ dotted the “i” and crossed the “t”s in “title” Sunday by winning her first-round match against Fernando Cuadra in the In-N-Out Burger Finals.
She completed her climb from 14th place in the standings in May at Southern California’s In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip and recorded her sixth Pro Stock championship – her third set of back-to-back championships.
With that, the Melling/Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage Chevrolet Camaro driver matched retired class legend Warren Johnson’s six series crowns. The late Bob Glidden earned 10 in Pro Stock.
NHRA Drivers with 6 or More Championships
TOP FUEL
8 – Tony Schumacher (1999, 2004-09, 2014)
FUNNY CAR
16 – John Force (1990-91, 1993-94, 1995-2002, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2013)
PRO STOCK
10 – Bob Glidden (1974-75, 1978-80, 1985-89)
6 – Warren Johnson (1992-93, 1995, 1998-99, 2001)
6 – Erica Enders (2014-15, 2019-20, 2022-23)
PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE
6 – Andrew Hines (2004-06, 2014-15, 2019)
6 – Dave Schultz (1987-88, 1991, 1993-94, 1996)
6 – Matt Smith (2007, 2013, 2018, 2020-22)
Enders, the most successful woman in all of motorsports, also reigned in 2014-15, 2019-20, and 2022.
“First and foremost, I want to give the good Lord all the glory. He turns every single mess into a message. And that’s exactly what the season started off as—a complete and utter disaster. It took us seven races to figure out our issue. The message this year is tenacity and consistency and digging through all of the crap and just prevailing when it matters,” Enders said.
She languished as a back-marker at the beginning of the season, losing in the first round four times in the first six races and not advancing past the quarterfinals. Then, in June at Tennessee’s Bristol Dragway, Enders won and pointed herself in the correct direction. She methodically moved up through the order, started the Countdown seeded No. 3, and worked her way to first place in the standings by the St. Louis event in October. Then she won the next two races, at Dallas and Las Vegas, to lock into another classic championship battle against Greg Anderson.
“I owe my guys all the credit in the world. I have to thank my guys for that. Richard Freeman’s a tremendous leader that gave us all such a great opportunity, starting in 2014, here at Elite Motorsports. it’s through God that I can do all things,” Enders said. “But it takes a team of people to do it here and I couldn’t do it without them.
“As a little girl in a Jr. Dragster, this is my dream. I’ve not only been able to accomplish it once, but we’ve been able to accomplish it six times,” Enders said. It’s us against the world. And today, ‘us’ won.”
Contributing Editor
Susan Wade has lived in the Seattle area for 40 years, but motorsports is in the Indianapolis native’s DNA. She has emerged as one of the leading drag-racing writers with nearly 30 seasons at the racetrack, focusing on the human-interest angle. She was the first non-NASCAR recipient of the prestigious Russ Catlin Award and has covered the sport for the Chicago Tribune, Newark Star-Ledger, and Seattle Times. She has contributed to Autoweek as a freelance writer since 2016.
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