Erica Enders has established greatness in NHRA’s Pro Stock class, winning four world championships in 2014-15 and 2019-20.

Now, she’s becoming a legend on the sport’s biggest stage – the U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway Park in Indianapolis.

Enders won the Big Go for the third time in her career Sunday on a holeshot over Kyle Koretsky.

Enders clocked a 6.626-second elapsed time at 206.01 mph, while Koretsky had a quicker 6.613-second elapsed time at 206.35 mph.

The difference was at the starting line as Enders has a .024 reaction time, while Koretsky was .040 on the tree.

“This is a dream come true,” Enders said. “As a kid, I raced here in 1994 as a 9-year-old at the inaugural Junior Drag Racing League Nationals. We were runner-up as I went red in the finals. This track means so much to everybody. This is Indy. Everybody talks about it, and it is hard to explain to people what it means to us. I give the good Lord all the glory.

“My team, man, I talk about them all the time, but Mark Ingersoll (Enders’ crew chief), he has all the confidence in the world in his voice and he told me that right lane don’t mean nothin’, we’re going to get right down through there and kick them right in the a** and we did that. My Elite Motorsports and Melling Performance team, they are bad to the bone, and I could not be prouder.”

This was Enders’ 32nd career Pro Stock national event win and her third at the U.S. Nationals and second in a row as she beat Matt Hartford in the 2020 finals. Her first came in 2015 when she beat Drew Skillman in the finals.

Enders is the first woman to win the U.S. Nationals – in a Pro class – three times.  Only five females have won the NHRA U.S. Nationals: Shirley Muldowney in Top Fuel (1982); Angelle Sampey in Pro Stock Motorcycle (2001-2002); Ashley Force Hood (2009-2010), Alexis DeJoria (2014) in Funny Car, and Enders in Pro Stock (2015 and 2020-21).

Everything Enders accomplishes in NHRA Pro Stock sets another record for women in the class – but that’s not why she competes.

“I don’t care,” said Enders when asked if it bothered her that more women haven’t followed her lead into Pro Stock. “I don’t think about it. It is not something I dwell on. It is definitely something to talk about because I am the only one and I have been the only one, the first one to win a championship, the first won to win a round when I beat Rickie Smith back in Reading (Pa.) in 2005. You get all these records because I’m a female, but my goal is to be the best Pro Stock driver, period. There were a lot of greats before me and we definitely have a long way to go, but I don’t think about that (women following in her footsteps).

“It is a tremendously hard car to drive, and it is extremely humbling and frustrating and there are days I pull my hair out and I want to say I’m retiring. It is a tough car to drive and not for the faint at heart or the weak. You have to manhandle it. You have to be strong. It is hard to shift, it is hard to push the clutch in. I’m a bigger girl and I guess that’s why these little girls don’t do it. I don’t really know why they don’t do it.”

Enders has a 3-2 record in U.S. Nationals final rounds as she fell in the finals in 2012 to Dave Connolly and 2019 to Alex Laughlin, when after she had a huge lead, suffered a mechanical issue.

“I was double 0 (on the tree) and had a transmission failure and getting beat by somebody who took a nap and was 120 something on the starting line,” she said. “That was probably the most gut-wrenching, made me physically ill, hardest loss of my career. The only justification at the point was he was my teammate and at least Elite Performance was in the winner’s circle. That was a tough pill to swallow. Those are the moments that make you better.  

The four-time world champ Enders drives a Camaro for Richard Freeman’s Elite Motorsports team.

“I step back and look at it,” said Enders about her accomplishments. “But the hunger in me just wants more. My dad reminds me a lot that these are the good ol’ days and don’t forget what you’re accomplishing by looking too far into the future and enjoy the moment. I’m really blessed that Richard (Freeman) has my sister (Courtney) out here with me at every event. This team, I have raced my entire life, but I didn’t have a lot of success until I came to Elite, and this is my eighth season with them. We won our first U.S. Nationals together in 2015.

“It’s really humbling to take a step back and realize what we have accomplished in such a short period of time. I’ve been driving Pro Stock for 17 years, but I’ve really only had a great car and a great team for eight.”

With the points reset heading in the six-race Countdown to the Championship, Enders is second in the points standings just 20 behind Greg Anderson. This was Enders’ third Wally this season as she also won in Las Vegas and Norwalk, Ohio.

On Sunday, Enders beat Bruno Massel, Matt Hartford, Anderson and Koretsky.

“I had a really great car all day,” Enders said. “Mark (Ingersoll) continues to get better with it. We had an outstanding run first round and second round we were a little behind a couple of hundredths at 6.60 and from that point we just steadily worked on the race car to get it to perform. We lost lane choice going into the finals which we felt was pretty crucial today, not exactly on the starting line, but about 80 feet out. It ended up getting better after they scraped it.

“Mark had a lot of confidence and that in turn helped me because I didn’t drive spectacular today. I would probably get a C-minus. My lights were not stellar, but we were able to turn on the win light and that’s what matters. It is just about being there and taking advantage of the situation and keeping lane choice when it was crucial, especially against Greg Anderson in the semifinals, that was the big round win of the day. This is a great way to kick off the Countdown and get in a dogfight to try and win our fifth world championship.”