READING, PA — For the first time in two months, reigning Pro Stock champion and current points leader Erica Enders will not reach the final round of an NHRA national event in her Elite Motorsports Camaro. Enders, the wife of fellow Pro Stock driver Richie Stevens, fell in the second round to Bo Butner Sunday at Maple Grove Raceway when her engine expired, squandering a near-perfect .004-second reaction time.
“When it’s not your day, it’s just not your day,” said Enders, who has three wins and a runner-up in the last four races. “There’s nothing you can do about it. This whole weekend has been goofy with all the rain and only getting one qualifying session. Then we switched to a new motor this morning and hurt it against Kenny (Delco, first-round opponent). The guys thrashed to change it out and then we blew that one up big time against Bo.
“No one did anything wrong. My driving was good (.044-second advantage in Round 1 and .025 in Round 2) both rounds and the guys did everything they normally do. We just had some bad breaks.”
Enders entered the weekend a massive 113 points ahead of Greg Anderson, and even if Anderson goes on to win this race, the NHRA Keystone Nationals, she’ll still have a nice cushion atop the rankings.
“That’s a blessing,” Enders said of her lead. “We raced hard to get that lead, beating everyone straight up to earn those points, and we really wanted to add to it here. That obviously isn’t going to happen, but we’ll hold our heads high and move on to the next event and do what we’ve done all year.”
The NHRA tour takes next weekend off before heading to Texas Motorplex near Dallas in Enders’ home state of Texas. That race takes place Oct. 16-18.
“It’s a home race basically for me and for the guys from Elite,” Enders said. “I was born and raised in Houston and the Elite shop is in Oklahoma, so this is like meeting in the middle of where we’re all from. We always have fun in Dallas because being so close to all of our homes we have lots of friends and family come and support us.
“I think we’re all excited to have a weekend off, too. It’s a grind when you’re going hard every weekend, plus the break will give us time to go through the cars front to back and get these engines freshened up.
“We’ll come back stronger than ever and try to sweep the last three races and just put this thing away. It’s a fun time and we’re all enjoying the ride.”