Erica Enders made history at the Dodge NHRA Finals at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this month, clinching her fourth NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series championship. The win puts Erica passed greats like Shirley Muldowney and Angelle Sampey, and has her in a league all her own.
Not only did Enders clinch the championship, she later defeated Kyle Koretsky in the final round to earn her fourth victory of the season and 29th of her career.
“What an unbelievable day,” said Enders, who earned her seventh victory in Las Vegas. “This place has been so good to me, but I couldn’t do it without my team. We persevered and dug deep, and we found a way to make it happen. I am a lucky girl to live the life I do.”
Enders sealed the championship in rather anti-climactic fashion, as her two nearest challengers, Jason Line and teammate Jeg Coughlin, Jr., bowed out in the opening round. With that, Enders won back-to-back championships for the second time in her career, doing so in 2014 and 2015, and again in 2019 and 2020. Her four victories in a shortened 10-race season led all others in the Pro Stock category.
“With (crew chiefs) Rick Jones, Mark Ingersoll, (team owner) Richard Freeman has organized the most perfect group of people,” Enders said. “I’ve also got to give a big, deep thank you to Mark Melling and his family for sticking with us and stepping up to the plate when this year has been the most challenging year we’ve ever seen.”
Enders’ run began with a victory at Phoenix back in February; she won the prestigious U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis following five months of downtime due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and added a victory at St. Louis down the stretch before her triumph in Las Vegas. She didn’t suffer a first-round loss all season and put together a 25-6 round record in eliminations.
