Erica Lee Enders (born October 8, 1983 in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

) is an American

drag racing Drag racing is a type of motor racing in which automobiles or motorcycles compete, usually two at a time, to be first to cross a set finish line. The race follows a short, straight course from a standing start over a measured distance, most ...

driver. Enders has won five championships in the Pro Stock class of the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series and she continues to drive full-time in that class.

Career

Enders started racing in 1992 at the age of 8. Her original Enders Racing

Junior Dragster The Junior Dragster or Jr Dragster is a scaled-down version of the top fuel dragster. The cars were developed in New Zealand in 1988, with classes developed by the New Zealand Hot Rod Association. The National Hot Rod Association in the USA beg ...

car is on display at the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum. In 1993, Enders won the Division 4 Jr. Dragster championship in the 8 to 9 year old class, and in 1995 she was named Junior Dragster Driver of the Year. In her eight years of junior dragster competition, she had 37 career wins. In 2000, at age 16, she advanced to her first national event final (Houston) to become the youngest NHRA national event finalist. She was named NHRA Sportsman Rookie of the Year. In 2004, became the 35th woman in NHRA history to earn a national event victory, in Super Gas class at Houston. In 2005, she became the first woman to compete in the NHRA's Pro Stock Category since 1993, the first woman in NHRA history to qualify in the top-half of a Pro Stock field, and the first woman to reach a final round in Pro Stock (at Chicago). Enders achieved more round wins in 2005 than all other female drivers in NHRA Pro Stock history combined, and was a finalist for the “Road to the Future” award for the season’s top rookie. In 2006, Enders became the first woman to qualify No. 1 in Pro Stock (at Heartland Park, Topeka, Kansas), and recorded another runner-up finish at the

Gatornationals The Gatornationals is an annual National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) national drag racing event held each March at Gainesville Raceway in Gainesville, Florida. The event was held for the first time in 1970. The traditional East Coast opener and t ...

in Gainesville, Fla. After returning to Cagnazzi Racing in 2011, she broke the national speed record in Pro Stock at at the Gainesville round, and defeated 2004

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971, ...

champion

Kurt Busch Kurt Thomas Busch (born August 4, 1978) is an American professional auto racing driver. He last competed full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 45 Toyota Camry TRD for 23XI Racing. He is the 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion and th ...

in Round One of that meet. On July 2, 2012, Enders became the first woman to win in NHRA Pro Stock, beating four-time champion Greg Anderson in the finals at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill. Her winning time was 6.627 seconds for the 1,320 foot run. In 2012, Enders finished a career best fourth in the points in the Countdown to the Championship in NHRA Pro Stock and followed that up with a sixth-place finish in 2013. It was announced following the 2013 season that Enders would leave Cagnazzi Racing and join Elite Motorsports for the 2014 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, driving the team's new Camaro. She currently holds both sides of the NHRA National Record for Pro Stock, 6.464 seconds and , set at Englishtown, NJ in 2014. In 2014, Enders became the first woman to win the NHRA Pro Stock World Championship, winning six races for the year (an NHRA event win requires winning four, consecutive wins over competitors drawn from the sixteen quickest cars at that event), including the season-ending Auto Club NHRA Finals to clinch the title. In 2015, Enders broke 2 records for female NHRA drivers. At

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

zMax Dragway Charlotte Motor Speedway (previously known as Lowe's Motor Speedway from 1999 to 2009) is a motorsport complex located in Concord, North Carolina, outside Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte. The complex features a Oval track, quad oval track ...

in September, she scored her 19th career win, surpassing a record previously held by

Shirley Muldowney Shirley Muldowney (born June 19, 1940), also known professionally as "Cha Cha" and the "First Lady of Drag Racing", is an American auto racer. She was the first woman to receive a license from the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) to drive a ...

Top Fuel Top Fuel is a type of drag racing whose dragsters are the quickest accelerating racing cars in the world and the fastest sanctioned category of drag racing, with the fastest competitors reaching speeds of and finishing the runs in 3.62 seconds ...

for the most NHRA national event wins by a female driver. At the

Texas Motorplex The Texas Motorplex is a quarter mile drag racing facility located in Ennis, Texas, United States, south of downtown Dallas. Built in 1986 by former funny car driver Billy Meyer, the Motorplex was the first National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) "s ...

in October, Enders-Stevens claimed her eighth victory of the year, breaking

Pro Stock Motorcycle Pro Stock Motorcycle, formerly known as Pro Stock Bike, is a motorcycle drag racing class that is the two-wheeled equivalent of Pro Stock. It has been a feature of NHRA drag racing since the 1980s when it was added to the professional class s ...

rider Angelle Sampey’s single-season record of seven wins in 2001. Enders won the NHRA Pro Stock World Championship for a second straight year in 2015. In 2018 she also began driving a Pro Modified entry for Elite Motorsports, a twin turbo 2019 Camaro. She also holds the class record for fastest speed at 261 mph. In 2019, Enders barely escaped serious injuries when her Chevrolet Camaro caught fire at the end of a qualifying run in the NHRA Pro Mod class in Ohio.

Personal life

Enders is the older sister of Courtney Enders, who was a junior dragster driver; they both attended

Cypress Springs High School Cypress Springs High School, CSHS, or more commonly as Cy-Springs is located at 7909 Fry Road, in Cypress, an unincorporated community in Harris County, Texas. Cypress Springs High School was established in 1997, making it the sixth high scho ...

. After winning her first national event in Pro Stock, her longtime boyfriend Richie Stevens, Jr. (also a drag racer) proposed. The two were married on December 7, 2012.

Film

In 2003, Enders and her sister had their life story turned into a Disney Channel Original Movie, ''

Right on Track ''Right on Track'' is a Disney Channel Original Movie. It was produced by Don Schain, directed by Duwayne Dunham, and written by Sally Nemeth and Bruce Graham. The movie debuted on March 21, 2003 on Disney Channel in the United States. Plot ...

''. Erica was portrayed by Beverley Mitchell, while Courtney was portrayed by Brie Larson.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Enders, Erica Female dragster drivers 1983 births Living people Racing drivers from Houston Dragster drivers American female racing drivers 21st-century American women