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Erica Enders: The making of a GOAT

Erica Enders should come with a warning label: Isn’t great friend material.

The 39-year-old will go down as one of the best to ever compete in the NHRA, but greatness doesn’t always have time for anything other than the craft.

“She’s not a normal human,” younger sister Courtney Enders says. “If you are a true Erica Enders friend from school or home or church, you have to understand that she’s kind of a half-assed friend.

“I don’t mean that in a sense that she’s not going to be there for you, or nice. But she can’t go to your kid’s birthday parties. She can’t always be a bridesmaid in your wedding. She can’t always sit on the phone and talk about 9 to 5 normal life for an hour, because she just doesn’t have the physical time or the mental capacity because she gives so much of her mind, soul and body to her fans, her team, the industry, me, her sponsors. There are not a lot of pieces of the Erica pie that are left, and if you are truly her friend, you have to understand that and deal with it. She’s not always going to answer the phone.”

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Enders entered the year fresh off a fifth Pro Stock world championship. It came with a 10-win season and a win-loss record of 55 and 9.

She is far from done. In her 10th season with Elite Motorsports, Enders is one victory away from sole possession of being the winningest female in NHRA national event history. Victories this season have come at Bristol Dragway (No. 44) and Heartland Motorsports Park (No. 45). Those go with a Super Gas victory from 2004.

Enders is tied with Angelle Sampey, who previously held the record with 46 victories.

It’s been an improbable journey, even if Enders was born and bred to be a racer. She started at eight years old in junior dragsters, developing tunnel vision toward being being an NHRA champion from the start.

But for nearly a decade, Enders struggled to establish herself. Not only were there winless seasons spent driving less than stellar equipment, but there were many times when she failed to qualify for national events.

Enders made her first Pro Stock start in 2005. Her first victory came in 2012, which turned out to be a four-win season. In 2013, she added two more victories.

Then came Richard Freeman. The idea that racers understand other racers and see talent not noticed by the untrained eye is at the crux of Enders being signed at Elite going into 2014.

“What I recognized was how she drove,” Freeman says.

Freeman has been around other great drivers, name-dropping Greg Stanfield and Mike Edwards. When he watched Enders, he noticed that even though she wasn’t driving the best equipment, her routine never changed.

Freeman is a self-described underdog, which is what Enders was. Although she was a winner in the sport, Enders wasn’t yet striking the fear in the competition she does today with her distinctive red Chevy Camaro.

“What I saw in her was she could do what many others just couldn’t get done,” Freeman says. “In my opinion, she is very possibly the best ever to step foot in a Pro Stock. And I say that not because she drives for me, but if you go look, in two years working for me in 2014 and 2015, I don’t know that she ever red-lit. That’s unheard of.”

Enders claimed her first NHRA national class victory in 2004 with a Super Gas win in Houston. Image via NHRA

Claiming a championship was unthinkable for Enders and Elite Motorsports simply because Freeman initially had no plans of fielding the car full-time. But as Enders started winning, the team quickly gelled.

Courtney vividly remembers the 2014 season. When her sister arrived at Elite, Courtney isn’t sure Erica yet knew her place in the sport. And there were no thoughts of her being one of the most dominant drivers or even a champion. However, there was excitement about being in a place where such an opportunity could be realized.

Gone were the days of just hoping to be in the field or just looking for a round win. Enders was suddenly a weekly contender.

“Once we started winning races, I remember a couple of times I was like, ‘Erica, holy ****, what are you doing?’” Courtney says. “She was like, ‘I don’t even know. This is crazy.’ We were taken aback by what was happening.”

Enders became the first female to win a Pro Stock championship in 2014.

“Once we finished off that first championship and she realized about being the first woman champion and knocking off all these items on the list, it was like, ‘OK, how do we back this up? How is it not a fluke?’” Courtney says. “I think the mindset the second year was, the confidence was high but not completely in knowing who she was. The thought was, we had to put an exclamation on this and let the world know it wasn’t one of those fairytale stories of getting it and leaving. It was figuring out, how do we dominate and prove that what we earned was right.”

A second world title followed in 2015. In those two seasons, Enders won 15 events.

“We got to the end of those years, and people questioned if she had some way of cheating,” Freeman says. “Tim Freeman, who now works for me but at the time worked for one of our biggest competitors, has told me many times, ‘We just didn’t see a way that any human being could do that and do it that well.’ I think her average reaction time in the 2015 countdown was 0.014.

“We won a ton of races in 2015, and we weren’t the most powerful car. We were the best program at that point. That’s why I went after her.”

Nail polish, grease and grit

The first thing Mark Ingersoll noticed about Enders was her passion to be the best.

“She’s not happy if she’s not doing the best or we’re not the fastest,” Ingersoll says.

Ingersoll became a crew chief for Enders after the 2014 season, and the two have been together ever since. It is a perfect match. The passion and competitive nature of Enders is met equally by Ingersoll’s.

“She’s worried about what she’s doing and I tell her all the time that she’s the last thing I’m worried about,” Ingersoll says. “I know when it comes down to it, the pressure is on. I’m putting every dollar I’ve got on her. That’s what she does. She doubts herself, but that’s what makes her great. She knows how good she needs to be and how good she can be, and I relate to her through the car.”

It helps that all Enders thinks about is racing. She is all in, all the time. Even when she’s on the starting line watching a teammate.

Enders (right) with sister Courtney at Sonoma in 2005. That season, she moved up to NHRA’s Pro stock class. Image via NHRA

Keep an eye on her the next time you’re tuned into an event. Enders will be behind the car, most likely with her arms crossed. Behind the sunglasses, she’s honed in on the Christmas Tree. When the lights start flashing, she goes through the motions with her feet.

It’s the same in the pits. Enders isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty. Ingersoll says she knows exactly what’s going on with her car and contributes to the work.

“She can tell you if something feels different and what it is on every run,” Ingersoll says. “I’ve worked with a lot of drivers, and I’ve never seen anybody that can feel and know exactly what’s going on in the car like her. You can’t really teach that.”

Chase Freeman – the nephew of Richard Freeman – first worked with Enders when she arrived in 2014 before he briefly left the program. He returned in 2016, becoming one of Enders’ best friends. Chase has had a front-row seat to Enders’ growth and dedication to the job.

“Her methodical approach” is what he says makes Enders different from others. “She has a number for everything. She’s the only person that can tell you what she wants to do with her clutch linkage, and then it goes out and does it. She is mindful of every little change the car makes because she’s so in tune with the car. She strives for perfection in everything she does.”

The most impressive part of that perfection?

“Her ability to turn off her brain and just perform,” Courtney says. “She thinks so much; I have to tell her to stop thinking so much. Just shut up and drive because you’re so good at what you do. As soon as she puts on her helmet, I see a different set of eyeballs. That’s why I’m always the last one at the door, and we’re joking around and singing or one week, we’re quoting movies right before she went up.

“It’s a different set of eyeballs once she puts that helmet on – it’s, like, mean. It’s crazy. It’s a different part of her brain. I’ve always been envious of the ability of her turning off the world and doing what she was born to do, because if I was in her shoes, I’d be wondering what sponsors are watching or this crew guy didn’t do this and the fans are watching, did I screw this up.

“She’s just so good at shutting the world out when she puts that helmet on, and that is a huge part of her success.”

Richard describes how Enders is there every step of the way when it comes to her car. Whether it’s testing for days on end, being in the shop at all hours or preparing for an engine dyno.

“Them fingernails fly all over the place,” Richard says.

But her attention to detail gets to him – in a humorous way.

“Sometimes it’s annoying,” he says. “We tell her all the time, ‘Hey, just get in the son of a bitch and drive it.’ At the end of the day, Erica’s attention and detail to what she does, from the clutch pedal to things feeling different – and you can ask anyone – you’re like, ‘**** it, shut up.’

“Most people and I’m a driver myself, don’t pay attention to that stuff. But that’s the reason I’m not her. That’s the reason I’m not that good. Heck, there are times I roll through the water box, and I’m thinking about going fishing. I promise you, she is not thinking about that.”

Greg Anderson is the other only active five-time Pro Stock champion. Anderson has competed against and watched Enders develop from day one, and is quick to point out how she’s grown during that process.

“She had to scratch and claw her way to where she could get a competitive ride where she could compete,” Anderson says. “She didn’t even have a thought of winning a race. For a lot of years, she was just trying to qualify because the equipment wasn’t good enough, and she couldn’t go run a race car or race engine like these young kids can now.

“I respect the heck out of her for that. It’s kind of the way I went through it. It’s not a slap against the current crop of drivers, but they have it made (with the equipment now).”

Anderson praised Enders’ staying power and determination to stick it out, especially, as he explains, it’s hard to learn when a driver isn’t going rounds on race day. It’s a trait Enders learned early on in life from her dad Greg.

“The way my dad raised us was that hard work and grit can outweigh money, talent and everything,” Courtney says. “Through grit, you can gain all of those things as long as you have that hard work and don’t quit.

“My dad had this hard lesson of having to see it through completion, whether it was one season or one year. Whatever it may be. You can’t just quit because you suck or because you don’t like it. You made a commitment, you put a goal out there, and you at least have to work and prove to yourself that it was something you could or want to achieve.

“I think that little bit of early raising from my dad, putting into where she knew in her gut where she wanted to be, and it didn’t matter how bad it was. It didn’t matter how long it was, because she was not going to quit until her gut felt like she’d run it through – success or not.”

One bad year after another, Enders returned. Through heartache, not going rounds, not qualifying for an event, crashes and other failures, Enders was hardened. Courtney believes it’s the main thing that’s made her sister into who she is, and when Enders was able to finally start going rounds, things changed.

“She learned how to become a good driver, and then when she finally got good equipment around her with Elite Motorsports, bam, she started winning races,” Anderson says. “She became one of the very best drivers in the class. I’m not going to lie or beat her down. She went from down here (gesturing with his hand), and when she got the equipment around her, it made her talent show. Kudos to her.”

But make no mistake, Anderson admits Enders has been “a thorn in my side.”

The two developed a rivalry over the years as the most decorated drivers in the class. At times, it wasn’t always friendly.

Enders beat Greg Anderson at Chicago in 2012 to become the first woman to win an NHRA Pro Stock event. She backed it up two years later with the first of five (so far) titles. Image via NHRA

“We have more respect for each other today,” Anderson says. “I guess we probably didn’t have that during those climbing years. I didn’t respect her. She probably didn’t respect me. She just wanted to whip my butt.

“It’s changed and we’re more civil now. We hate to lose to each other, don’t get me wrong. There is nobody out there that we hate to lose more to. But it’s because of that respect level. It’s a great day when you can find a way to beat her, and I’m sure she says the same thing. It’s kind of cool. It’s come a long way. We don’t have to love each other; we don’t have to like each other, but we respect each other. And I certainly respect her talent, for sure.”

Sacrifices and self-doubt

The fabric of every race car driver is different. Some show up and race, unable or uninterested in learning the ins and outs of their machine. Others, like Enders, think of one thing.

And then there is the personal and professional life. Some can balance both. It was the opposite approach for Enders, who felt her quest for greatness needed to come at the sacrifice of everything else.

“Her whole life,” as Courtney says. “A man could be a professional athlete or businessman who travels the world, and it’s OK for the wife to have to deal with that and be at home and still do the groceries and take care of the kids. But when the gender roles are flipped, you can’t have a normal life at home. Well, you coul,d but it’s not going to be the secure, confident man that Erica’s going to want, so she’s had to really give up a personal life because there’s really not a guy that fits into the schedule or mental bandwidth or the relationship we have with the guys at the track and the team.

“She’s given up a marriage. Given up the opportunity to have kids. When would you do it even if you wanted to do it? It’s really her whole life. It’s everything.”

Even on an off weekend, Enders isn’t at the beach. She is in the shop, either taking care of her car or doing managerial work.

How many drivers have you heard handle hotel arrangements for the team? Design their fire suits and the crew shirts? All of which Enders takes to get laundered every week. A constant focus on racing keeps her sharp.

“When she was married to Richie [Stevens], she would fly in and out and come to the shop every once in a while,” Courtney says, “but I think she really got legendary, if you will, when she was a part of every single little business meeting that came about. She’s negotiating all the sponsor deals, and not even just for her but the other cars and the partners with the engine shops. She’s selling motorhomes, because the motorhome revenue helps pay for the race team when we don’t have enough sponsorship coming through for all these Pro Stock cars.

“It’s wild. If people really knew.”

Enders’ reputation has been carved by what she does behind the wheel. But behind the scenes, she’s fully engaged in every facet of the team. Image via NHRA

Enders is also a mentor to other drivers in the camp. When she’s on the starting line (before going through the motions), it’s for more than moral support. Enders has her eyes and ears open to offer feedback. She’s also helped license other drivers.

Despite having five world titles and 39 Pro Stock wins to date with Elite, it’s not enough. There is nothing left to prove to anyone, but Enders arrives at the track every weekend feeling as if she does.

“Last year was the perfect example,” Chase says. “We won 10 races, and she’s happy she won 10, but she’s like, ‘screw that, I should have won 12.’”

Anderson sees it, too.

“She hates to lose. Absolutely hates to lose,” he says. “I love that. I love that quality. I don’t know that everybody has that killer instinct where it’s win at all costs. It doesn’t matter if it’s a teammate, she is (mad) if she loses. I’m the same way; I try not to show it, but we’re (mad) when we lose.

“She has that killer instinct, and you have to have that. If you look back at a Bob Glidden, he had that. The guy would cut you with a butter knife in order to find a way to win. No matter what it took. Those are the kinds of people who get to the crazy levels of wins. For a lot of years, people didn’t like her because of that, but there’s nothing wrong with that. I respect that.”

If drag racing is a mental game, Enders has mastered it.

Richard has watched how much stronger she’s become since first walking through the door of his operation. For Courtney, if her sister didn’t have thoughts about still needing to prove something, it would throw everything out of balance.

“I think a lot of that is fabricated in her mind of what she has to prove because she subconsciously knows that’s what’s going to drive her,” Courtney says. “The second she’s reached a pinnacle, she’ll get complacent. I don’t think she has that bone in her body, and whether she knows it or not, she has to tell herself she sucks and she can’t lead anymore or whatever because she’s proving it to herself.”

Motivation also comes from remembering the times when life wasn’t as good. There will be conversations between the sisters about the good, no doubt, but how horrible it was to not qualify. Or when Warren Johnson told Enders, “This ain’t a place for little girls to go play.”

And yet to the chagrin of Johnson and many others, Enders has made the Pro Stock class her playground for years. Which is why she’s now on the doorstep of NHRA history.

Story originally appeared on Racer