ENDERS BECOMES WINNINGEST DRAG RACER AT THE STRIP AT LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY IN A RJ BUILT CAMARO

Erica Enders has accomplished plenty in her NHRA Pro Stock career, highlighted by her four world championships in 2014-15 and 2019-20.

Now, she has another line on her decorated resume.

Enders became the winningest driver at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with her ninth victory at the facility Sunday.

Enders’ latest win came at the Four Wide Nationals when she clocked a 6.68-second elapsed time at 206.32 mph to win her quad that consisted of Cristian Cuadra (6.702); Mason McGaha (6.684) and Dallas Green, who broke after staging.

Enders was tied with Top Fuel star Tony Schumacher with wins at The Strip with eight. She has now won in Vegas for four-consecutive years.

“It’s nuts over there (at Elite Motorsports),” Enders said. “We have seven cars under the Elite Motorsports/Elite Performance banner and all the engines are Elite Performances. So, we jump in when we have to. I service the engine on my car with (team owner) Richard (Freeman) and as soon as I was done with that I would run over to Fernando (Cuadra Jr.’s) car and T.J. (Coughlin) had to swing motors this weekend and so did Bo (Butner). It is all hands-on deck, all the time. I think we had roughly 38 to 40 crew guys out her this weekend.

“There are a lot of moving parts, and it definitely takes determination and focus to keep all the fish swimming in the right direction, if you will. It was really good day.”

Enders is in second place in points standings – just three behind Aaron Stanfield, her Elite Motorsports teammate.

“They had my Melling performance Hot Rod tuned up for sure,” Enders said. “We laid down a pretty stellar number there in the finals. Vegas has always been good to me. Even when I haven’t been good out here, we are still able to turn on win lights consistently. It definitely means a lot to me. Four Wide definitely throws its challenges at you, and you definitely have to be paying attention with all the distractions going on up there. It was a long hard day and I’m just really proud of my team.”

This was Enders’ 35th career NHRA Pro Stock win and second this season as she also won the season-opening Winternationals in Pomona in February.

Enders acknowledged there’s no secret formula for her at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“I’m not really sure what it about Las Vegas,” she said. “The guys have a really great tune-up. Everything changes out here. It is a little bit of altitude, and it is definitely dry and crazy air, so you have to have your tune-up right. You don’t want to be too lean, or you will burn your motor up. I have to give a lot of the credit to my crew chiefs because they have a ton of data her and they do a great job.

“I’m not much of a gambler. I would rather go shopping than gambling, but I love coming to Las Vegas just to drag race and get the heck out of here as soon as I can. I’m thankful for the success we have had here. I scored my first win here with Elite Motorsports in 2014. I won the K&N Challenge on Saturday and came back and won the race on Sunday. That was our first national event win at Elite Motorsports, and it has been quite the ride since. I’m just proud to be their driver.”

Enders said she was driving with a heavy heart with the passing of beloved Pro Mod racer Scott Oksas March 28. Oksas was a member of the Elite Motorsports family.

“He was family,” Enders said. “Scotty was just happy-go lucky all the time. He was the light in every room he walked in. I know it sounds cliché, but the world is going to be a darker place without Scotty. We came in here and we have a grease board in our trailer with things to do and it consistent of racing stuff and all that was on the board this weekend was win Vegas for Scotty. That was goal coming in here and I’m really thankful to have done that. He was riding along with us this weekend, and this was for the Oksas family.”

Enders bounced back in Vegas after losing in the first round at the previous race in Gainesville, Fla., to Bo Butner.

“I took Gainesville really hard,” she said. “I was in a couple race slump. I’m the worst critic. I take a lot of pride in my driving. I have been racing Pro Stock for 18 years and we didn’t have any success the first nine and it has been quite the ride with Elite Motorsports and I’m really thankful for that. It definitely makes going back to normal work easier when you get to take a Wally home.”