4x NHRA World Champion Erica Enders Resets Pro Stock World Record
/How easily we seem to forget what happens from day to day in drag racing. While there were a lot of highs and lows over the weekend, let us not forget that one of the best to ever strap into a door car reset the World Record over the weekend.
Gainesville certainly went through it’s heartaches over the weekend with the tremendous amount of rain and track conditions that the safety safari had to battle to get a handle on. Combine that with all of the downtime the drivers had and a lack of chances at qualifying, it leaves you with a recipe for disaster.
If you spent the weekend online and you follow NHRA at all I am sure that you were exposed to the conditions that the teams were facing over the weekend in Gainesville. Whether it be parking, rain, alligators, etc. there seem to always be something popping up. None of that seemed to have an affect on the four time NHRA World Champion Erica Enders though.
Erica, who is on a mission to become a 5x World Champion in NHRA Pro Stock has already started off the season in championship form. She snagged a victory at the season opener and is sitting second in points right now, just a few rounds out of first. The NHRA season is a marathon, a grind if you will, and maintaining the ability to stay on top or within striking distance of that number one spot is the objective. Go rounds, win races, and stay focused. Something that very few with that opportunity have accomplished in the past.
When it was time to go racing the conditions were something that a lot of drivers salivate over. A negative DA (density altitude) and nice cool air. Erica faced off against Bo Butner and had an uncharacteristically bad light. While she lost on a holeshot by a margin of about 4’, she did run a brand new Pro Stock World Record. Erica Enders' incremental times: 60ft-0.966 sec., 330ft-2.701, 660ft-4.149/169.76 mph, 1,000ft-5.398. 6.450 at 213.
Plenty of people are going to say that the World Record doesn’t matter if you don’t win the round or the race. Your opinion regarding that is your own, and if you go back to what I stated earlier, you will see that the NHRA season is a marathon, not a sprint. While I am sure that Erica would have loved to get the round win over Bo, and move on to the next round, but the fact is the because of the loss we seem to just gloss over the accomplishment.
Setting a record at that high of a level is never an easy task. You are racing against the best drivers in the world, and the horsepower combinations keep the class very tight. So to go out there after only one qualifier and a weekend of shit weather and reset a World Record is an accomplishment that cannot and should not be overlooked.
Becoming complacent with achievements or expectations is something that the media and fans have done over the last decade. We have gotten so used to seeing records fall, races won, championships captured, that we just look around and say “oh well” we expected that to happen. I can expect that my favorite baseball team wins the World Series every year, certainly doesn’t mean that it’s going to happen. Our disregard for these events happening is a terrible thing and we all need to do better at giving the praise when it’s due. So on that note, congratulations to Erica Enders and the Elite team for resetting the NHRA Pro Stock World Record!!
Thank you to Courtney Enders for the Photos!