Enders Clinches Second Championship With Dominating Display At Las Vegas

Shirley Muldowney. Angelle Sampey. And now, Eric Enders.

The Mount Rushmore of female racers with the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series officially inducted a new member into its hallowed halls on Sunday as Enders went from in the conversation to a full-fledged member with the securing of her second-career Pro Stock world championship at the 15th annual Toyota Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

In a season that has seen the 32-year-old dominate the Pro Stock ranks like few before her, Enders actually used the advice of the legendary Muldowney herself to help guide her to the historic feat.

“I am very thankful to Shirley and Angelle for paving the way for girls like Alexis, and the Forces and myself. I am still a huge fan of both of those women. They are legends of our sport,” Enders said. “To be able to share a world championship title with those two incredible women is a huge honor.

“In fact, I talked to Shirley just last week driving home from Dallas. The advice she offers is priceless. She always seems to say the right things when I need them most.”

Enders clinched her second-consecutive Pro Stock championship Sunday in Las Vegas in absolutely dominating fashion. Enders was quickest in every session throughout the weekend and she extended her Las Vegas winning streak to 22-consecutive rounds won with her fourth-straight Vegas victory and ninth overall win in 2015 with a near-perfect performance against Bo Butner.

Enders had a perfect .000 light and ran a 6.595-second pass at 208.97 mph in the final, easily taking the win over Butner’s 6.610 at 209.33 mph.

“This has just been an incredible day. I am kind of speechless about it. Vegas has always been great to me and we were able to continue our trend here with 22 consecutive round wins,” Enders said. “Coming into this weekend, everybody is talking about the championship and what we have to do. People are crunching points and my crew chiefs and I are like, ‘we don’t want to think about any of that.’ So we quit talking about it and turned our focus to one round at a time.

“Our goal coming in was to make it to 22 and we did just that. It is an incredible feat to accomplish. The streak that we have here is incredible and I am so excited to be part of such a tremendous group at Elite Motorsports.”

Enders had a nearly flawless weekend en route to her ninth win of the season and 21st of her career, besting Butner, Drew Skillman, Shane Gray and Deric Kramer on race day. None, however, were able to come close to unseating the reigning champion as Enders produced runs of 6.595, 6.598, 6.596 and 6.585 on Sunday.

Butner had wins over V. Gaines, Chris McGaha and Vincent Nobile to reach his first career final round.

But the real excitement came in the second round when Vincent Nobile defeated Greg Anderson, allowing Enders to lock-up the championship before the semifinals.

“It was a long day. A stressful day. But after watching my teammate Vincent beat Greg second round, I got excited because I knew what was about to happen,” Enders said. “I thought in my head, we have to win this round. I fire the car, pull in the water box and all of my guys are jumping around, clapping and doing everything but backflips while I am just trying to get my composure.

“It was definitely interesting up there after that to get the win. I knew it was going to be a tough race against Bo. He is really hungry for his first win. But to be able to cap the second championship off with a race win here in Vegas is crazy.”

With her second career championship coming during a historic year, one that has included nine wins, 11 finals and six top qualifier awards, Enders couldn’t help but reflect on the long and winding road that she has endured to reach this moment.

“It is hard to put into words because it is an entire lifetime of experiences. I have been driving for 23 years now, 11 in Pro Stock. To go through all of those valleys, there were a number of peaks, but the peaks really didn’t start happening until I joined Elite Motorsports, was definitely a gut check,” Enders said. “You have to truly be passionate about this. I am on the road 300 days a year along with the rest of these guys and it is tough. It is tough to be away from your family and friends, but to share the same passion with a group of guys like I do, you just have to dig deep and those bad times will make the good times worth it.

“I work on sponsorship during the week and I can’t tell you how many times I would put my head down on my desk and cry and question why I am even doing this. It is so hard. I get 9 million nos, but someone is bound to say yes. I was blessed to have a father who instilled that never quit attitude in me.

“When it gets tough, you just have to dig deep. I just carried the dream along with a group of supportive people. Now, finally, I feel like I am home.”

Even with the championship locked up, Enders feels she is by no means done. With the final race of the year coming up in less than two weeks in Pomona, Enders still has another chance to add to her gaudy totals in 2015.

“With nine wins on the season, it is an incredible year. But we are by no means done,” Enders said. “We have one final race out there. I know we will go in there with a sigh of relief that we have clinched the championship, but it starts over next week to us. I have a really fast hot rod right now and I am driving well. We want to make it 10 on the year and I think we can do it.

“The sky's the limit with this group of people.”

Story by: Competition Plus