Erica Lee Enders (born October 8, 1983 in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

) 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, mos ...

driver. Enders has won six world championships in the Pro Stock class of the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series and she continues to drive full-time in that class. For the 2024 season, Enders will defend her 6 NHRA Pro Stock World Championships.

Career

Enders started racing in 1992 at the age of 8. Her original Enders Racing Junior Dragster car is on display at the

Wally Parks Wallace Gordon Parks (January 23, 1913 – September 28, 2007) was an American writer. He was the founder, president, and chairman of the National Hot Rod Association, better known as NHRA. He was instrumental in establishing drag racing as a l ...

NHRA The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) is a governing body which sets rules in drag racing and hosts events all over the United States and Canada. With over 40,000 drivers in its rosters, the NHRA claims to be the largest motorsport sanction ...

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 in Houston to become the youngest NHRA national event finalist. She was named NHRA Sportsman Rookie of the Year. In 2004, she 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 a drag racing event in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series that has been held annually each March at Gainesville Raceway in Gainesville, Florida since 1970. The event is one of the sport's most revered with a rich t ...

in Gainesville, Florida. 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 NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...

champion

Kurt Busch Kurt Thomas Busch (born August 4, 1978) is an American auto racing driver. He is best known for competing in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2000–2022, last driving the No. 45 Toyota Camry TRD for 23XI Racing. Busch is the 2004 NASCAR Cup Series ch ...

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 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, New Jersey 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's zMax Dragway in September, she scored her 19th career win, surpassing a record previously held by Shirley Muldowney in

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 3.641 second ...

for the most NHRA national event wins by a female driver. At the Texas Motorplex 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 Angelle Sampey (born Angelle Monique Sampey, August 7, 1970, New Orleans, Louisiana) is an American drag racing, drag racer, originally in Pro Stock Motorcycle but currently in Top Alcohol Dragster. She won the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle championsh ...

’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 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 The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car. It first went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro sha ...

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

Brie Larson Brianne Sidonie Desaulniers (born October 1, 1989), known professionally as Brie Larson, is an American actress. She played supporting roles in comedies as a teenager, and has since expanded to leading roles in independent films and Blockbuste ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Enders, Erica Female dragster drivers 1983 births Living people Racing drivers from Houston Dragster drivers NHRA drivers American female racing drivers 21st-century American sportswomen 20th-century American sportswomen