It’s been a long two seasons for six-time NHRA Pro Stock champion Erica Enders, which explains why Friday’s provisional No. 1 qualifying effort at Route 66 Raceway felt less like a celebration and more like cautious optimism wrapped in hard-earned realism.
Enders drove her Elite Motorsports entry to a 6.542-second pass at 209.92 mph during qualifying for the Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals. The run placed her atop the field ahead of teammate Jeg Coughlin Jr. at 6.543 and Greg Stanfield at 6.549, while reigning world champion Greg Anderson sat fourth at 6.553.
Yet Enders walked into the media center sounding far more suspicious than satisfied.
“It’s definitely a good feeling,” Enders admitted. “I’m obviously surprised that we stayed number one but I honestly don’t think that we’re fast. I just think that there’s something going on.”
That answer carried the tone of a driver who has spent the better part of two years chasing answers instead of trophies. Enders has lived through enough Pro Stock cycles to know one strong Friday qualifying run does not suddenly erase months of frustration, second-guessing and sleepless nights in the engine shop.
For the first time in a while, however, there was at least visible daylight.
“2025 was extremely rough for our entire organization and ’26 hasn’t started off on the right foot either,” Enders said. “But we’ve been working really hard and it’s about tenacity and not giving up and just keep plugging away at it.”
That word — tenacity — surfaced repeatedly during Enders’ conversation with reporters. It wasn’t polished sponsor language. It sounded more like the survival mechanism of a veteran racer trying to drag her team back into championship relevance one pass at a time.
“And that’s what my guys are really good at,” Enders continued. “We’ve been in these valleys before and unfortunately it’s what makes the peaks sweet, so you just keep at it and don’t give up. But again, we’re not where we need to be, definitely.”
That honesty reflects the current state of Pro Stock more than any scoreboard could. The category has always operated in cycles, where dominant teams eventually become targets, the competition catches up, and momentum swings in another direction.
Enders has seen every version of it.
“As long as I’ve been a part of Pro Stock, which is over 22 years now, it’s gone in cycles,” Enders explained. “The peaks are followed by really deep valleys.”
She referenced earlier eras of the class when Warren and Kurt Johnson, B. Gaines and Mike Edwards represented the benchmark teams everyone else chased. Now Elite Motorsports finds itself clawing back toward the top while KB Titan Racing has controlled much of the recent conversation.
“The trend always continues,” Enders said. “You have teams that are at the top and then it cycles, and the other teams work really hard and they catch up. And we’re just in one of those cycles right now but we’re digging our way out slowly.”
Part of the frustration stems from the fuel changes introduced into the category, something Enders believes sent many teams down technical rabbit holes searching for answers that didn’t exist.
“I think ever since this fuel change, what we see on the dyno is an illusion compared to what the scoreboards show us,” Enders said. “And then you go down these rabbit holes and you start grasping at straws and you end up changing your entire program.”
That search for speed eventually became a search for familiarity.
“Sometimes you don’t leave enough breadcrumbs to figure out where you came from,” Enders said. “So we’ve been reevaluating a lot of things that are going on.”
Enders said a recent test session at Rockingham finally offered a glimpse of progress. After nearly a year and a half of frustration, she left the test believing Elite Motorsports might finally be headed in the right direction.
“And then we got to Charlotte and got our teeth straight kicked down our throats,” Enders said. “It was just so disheartening and frustrating but we just keep going back to work.”
The grind inside Elite Motorsports has become relentless. According to Enders, crew members are arriving at the engine shop before sunrise and leaving long after dark trying to recover the performance edge the organization once carried almost weekly.
“The guys in the engine shop have been there at five in the morning and then they’re the last ones to leave at night,” Enders said. “I feel so badly for them but they want this so bad.”
What makes Pro Stock especially cruel is how one adjustment often triggers three more unintended consequences. Teams chase thousandths of a second while constantly trying not to lose themselves in the process.
“Pro Stock is competitive problem solving,” Enders said. “And it makes us crazy but it’s what makes us good at times.”
Friday’s performance may have represented the strongest collective showing for Elite Motorsports in months. At one point during qualifying, multiple Elite entries occupied the top portion of the scoreboard while KB Titan cars searched for answers.
Even then, Enders refused to declare anything fixed.
“I don’t think we’re fast,” she repeated. “I think they’re slow.”
That line drew laughter, but not because anyone mistook it for a joke. Inside the Pro Stock pits, the rivalry between Elite Motorsports and KB Titan Racing remains deeply personal and intensely competitive.
“Listen, I don’t like them at all,” Enders said bluntly. “It is no secret and they feel the same about me but that’s what crazy competition brings.”
The tension has been building for years as both organizations battled for championships, race wins and technical superiority. Rivalries like this have always fueled Pro Stock’s identity.
“And you go through the trenches with these people and you learn things that go on behind the scenes and it just changes your outlook on everything,” Enders said. “I’m proud of my team for what they stand for, for their character, for their standards. And I’m proud to be part of Team Elite.”
Chicago also carries special significance for Enders. Route 66 Raceway remains the site of her first NHRA national event victory in Pro Stock back in 2012, a breakthrough win that came against Greg Anderson.
Enders still remembers sitting in the same media center afterward when her phone rang.
“Bob Glidden called my phone,” Enders recalled. “I’ll never forget it. That was so cool because he was my hero and a legend.”
