Pro Stock had cars on the property at Gainesville, but the headlines leaned heavily toward nitro.
The reason was structural rather than competitive.
Track preparation stopped at 1,000 feet to protect nitro tires, and Pro Stock teams clicked the engines off well before the finish line. The abbreviated laps limited headline numbers but did not limit the work being done.
With the exception of Australia’s Shane Tucker, the Pro Stock roster belonged to Elite Motorsports. The group focused on transitions and repetition rather than top-end hero runs.
That approach suited six-time champion Erica Enders.
“No. I don’t want to say what I want to say, real race cars go to the quarter mile, but,” Enders said jokingly when asked about running short.
“No, we’re just putting it in high gear and cutting it off.”
The format did not frustrate her.
“We’re getting all of the data that we need from high gear on, it’s just horsepower,” Enders said. “We are fine-tuning down low in our transitions where we got our teeth kicked in last year.”
The work was about rhythm more than glory.
Enders had not raced Pro Stock since October after skipping Pomona and shifting focus late in the season. Testing helped remove the rust.
“As grueling as testing can be, it’s definitely nice to knock the rust off, not just as a driver but as a team and get back in the groove of things,” she said.
The laps also reinforced why she remains drawn to the category.
“This is my 23rd year and I feel like every run I learn something,” Enders said.
“There’s something I could have done better and there’s something my crew chiefs could have done better,” she added.
Pro Stock, she explained, is constant evaluation.
“So it’s competitive problem solving and really cool to just continuously work on it,” she said.
Even short runs offered valuable seat time.
On one pass, Enders drove through tire shake by pulling second gear, a move that requires instinct built through repetition.
“It’s just seat time that gets you to the point where you know what you can drive through and you know when to throw the white flag,” she said.
She emphasized that instruments do not always tell the full story.
“My instruments are lying to me, now I have to use my butt, the feel of my butt and my brain to overcome what’s happening,” Enders said.
Testing provided the chance to sharpen that instinct without elimination-round pressure.
“That’s what I love about testing is you just get to practice on all of that stuff,” she said.
Enders remained hands-on between runs, servicing the engine with her crew before reviewing data upstairs.
“Every run I service the motor with the guys and then I go up in the crew chief lounge to go over the run,” she said.
She pushed back against perceptions that Pro Stock drivers are detached from the mechanical work.
“Despite what the internet says, I’m definitely, definitely a worker,” Enders said.
The shorter distance did not alter the mission.
Elite Motorsports came to Gainesville for refinement, not recognition.
Every run addressed transition zones and low-gear application — the areas that cost the team a season ago.
Testing, for Enders, was never about the scoreboard.
“This is my 23rd year and I feel like every run I learn something,” she said. “There’s something I could have done better and there’s something my crew chiefs could have done better.”
That, she said, is the point.
