The difference between Erica Enders’ first brush with a Top Fuel opportunity and the one now in front of her begins with certainty rather than speculation. This time, there is equipment, personnel, and a defined plan, not just the idea that something might happen.
Enders is not announcing a full-time move into Top Fuel, nor is she walking away from the Pro Stock category that shaped her career and reputation. Instead, the six-time champion is preparing to license in a Top Fuel dragster, a step she views as deliberate, calculated, and rooted in perspective rather than impulse.
That distinction matters to Enders because she remembers how unsettled the idea felt the first time it surfaced. Earlier conversations came without structure and carried more questions than answers, leaving her cautious about committing emotionally or professionally.
This version arrives through an alignment between Elite Motorsports and Tony Stewart Racing, giving Enders access to people and systems she did not have when fuel rumors followed her years ago. The difference, she says, is not subtle, and it frames how she evaluates everything that comes next.
That perspective is shaped by how she entered Pro Stock, a moment she now views as equal parts opportunity and naivety. The contrast between then and now is central to how she approaches Top Fuel.
“I was a 19-year-old kid that didn’t know anything at the time,” Enders said. “I had no idea what I was about to embark on.”
She said she did not grasp the magnitude of Pro Stock driving when she began, largely because she lacked the experience to understand the demands of the category. What she carries now, she said, is awareness, and that awareness changes how intimidating new challenges feel.
“No. Not even close. No way,” Enders said when asked if she succeeded early in Pro Stock. “I can only imagine what my coaches at the time thought.”
Those early years were defined by instruction and patience, not instant success. Enders credits that period with laying the foundation for everything that followed, even if she did not recognize it at the time.
Her primary coaches were Tommy Lee and Steve Cultrera, both working under Victor Cagnazzi when Enders was learning to drive at the professional level. Their influence, she said, extended far beyond the basics.
“Tommy Lee taught me how to drive,” Enders said. “He was very patient with me.”
That patience remains meaningful decades later. Enders said Lee recently stopped by her pit, and the two reflected on how far she has come since those first tentative laps.
“He told me he was proud of me and how far I’ve come,” she said. “We joked about where and how I started.”
Those conversations reinforce Enders’s view that development is ongoing rather than finite. Success did not erase uncertainty; it taught her how to manage it.
“I don’t think it’s ever something that you master,” Enders said. “I think that it’s a continuous learning process.”
Her résumé supports that belief. Enders has driven alcohol Funny Cars, screw-blown, turbocharged, ProCharger, and nitrous Pro Mods, along with nearly every door car combination available at the professional level.
“Pro Stock is the absolute most challenging car to drive,” she said. “To drive well.”
That belief shapes how she compares Pro Stock to what awaits in Top Fuel. Pro Stock taught her precision, accountability, and the consequences of small mistakes, lessons she expects to carry forward even into unfamiliar territory.
The contrast sharpened earlier this year when Enders climbed into a modern screw-blown Pro Mod with a Lenco transmission for the first time. It was not an environment she controlled, and the uncertainty was immediate.
“I had never driven a Lenco, I’d never driven a screw-blown car,” Enders said.
Aaron Stanfield, her teammate at Elite Motorsports, is in the same position. Neither have prior experience in racing nitro, and both are learning publicly.
“When I showed up and got my seat poured,” Enders said, “I was looking at it with a big blower sticking out of it.”
She understood the horsepower numbers and what they implied. The visual alone was enough to spark doubt.
“I’m like, ‘This seems very unintelligent,’” she said.
That reaction, Enders explained, is not unique to that moment. It is part of a familiar cycle she experiences every time she steps into something new.
Her sister Courtney noticed the pattern and reminded her of it.
“She said, ‘You do this for every car you drive,’” Enders said. “‘Then you get in it, and after the first run, you’re totally fine.’”
The pattern held true again. Once Enders made her first pass, the uncertainty gave way to focus and familiarity.
“But it’s the not knowing what to expect,” she said. “That’s always the hardest part.”
Experience, however, introduces a new variable that did not exist early in her career. With success comes scrutiny.
“You’re judged under a different microscope when you’ve had success in a different car,” Enders said.
She paused to clarify the point, careful not to frame it as entitlement.
“I don’t want to sound like I think I’m something special,” she said.
The pressure, she explained, comes from expectation rather than ego.
That same pressure existed when she transitioned from Pro Stock to Pro Mod, and she expects it to be even more intense when she straps into a Top Fuel dragster.
She is grateful not to face those firsts alone. Stanfield will be licensing alongside her, providing a shared reference point.
“I’m really thankful that I’ll have Aaron Stanfield alongside me,” Enders said.
Her praise of Stanfield was direct and unqualified.
“He’s a specimen,” Enders said. “Very talented, very smart.”
Stanfield’s value to Elite extends beyond the driver’s seat, as he also contributes to tuning the Pro Stock cars. Enders said that depth reinforces her confidence in the people surrounding the Top Fuel effort.
That emphasis on people explains why this attempt feels different from earlier opportunities. Enders acknowledged she previously had serious conversations with Don Schumacher about driving a fuel car.
Those discussions, she said, helped shape her priorities as her career matured.
“As I get older and more experienced, I’m cautious about who I team up with,” Enders said. “I want the best equipment and the best people.”
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That caution also applies to timing and communication. Enders prefers not to discuss opportunities until they are real, a habit built through years of near-misses and unrealized plans.
“I never talk about things until I know they’re going to happen,” she said.
She acknowledged feeling blindsided when Richard Freeman discussed plans publicly before everything was finalized. At that point, she had not committed emotionally or professionally.
A year later, circumstances changed in meaningful ways. Assets were acquired, personnel were hired, and leadership roles were clearly defined.
“Everything that Richard does, there’s a lot of thought behind it,” Enders said. “It’s not just on a whim.”
Preparation now includes gathering perspective from those who have lived inside a Top Fuel cockpit. Enders said she has leaned on Tony Stewart, Leah Pruett, Antron Brown, and Scott Palmer.
“You can’t put into words what you’re about to deal with,” Enders said Palmer told her.
Friends from her Junior Dragster roots, including Shawn Langdon and J.R. Todd, echoed that assessment. Seat time, they said, is the only true teacher.
“They say it takes about 40 runs,” Enders said.
That reality challenges the foundation of Enders’ career identity.
Preparation has always been her defining strength.
“I really pride myself on being prepared,” she said.
Top Fuel disrupts that comfort in a way no previous transition has.
“We’ll definitely be behind the eight-ball,” Enders said.
She does not soften the risk involved.
“You can get hurt or killed,” she said.
Top Fuel was never a lifelong ambition or personal dream. Enders is clear about that.
“I’m a Pro Stock girl,” she said.
Still, opportunity carries weight when it arrives with the right people and the right structure.
“With the opportunity in front of me, I’m going to jump on it,” Enders said.
She hopes decades of training her instincts will translate, even if imperfectly.
“You’ve been trained for 20-plus years on what to feel,” she said.
Whether that carries into Top Fuel remains unanswered. What is clear is that this opportunity arrives with perspective rather than illusion.
This time, Enders is not stepping forward with blind optimism. She is stepping forward with experience, caution, and people she trusts.
“And when the opportunity presents itself,” she said, “I’ll be ready.”
