UPDATED –
The move surprised the KB Titan team.
Greg Anderson said, “All I can tell you is that as far as I knew, everything was great. I’m as shocked as anybody. I don’t know why. Don’t have a bloody clue. I’m still stunned. I don’t know what to say.”
He didn’t show any anger at all about the situation, saying, “We’re going to race together a lot of years. You can’t be like that. You’ve got to be civil. But it surprised the s— out of us, I can tell you that.”
Pro Stock’s Erica Enders has worn white hats as a series champion and a Mission Foods #2FastTasty Challenge winner, yellow hats for qualifying first in the starting order, and a variety of colors of hats for earning her 48 victories. Now she will once again be wearing another hat – that of a driving mentor.
Rookie of the Year Award candidate Sienna Wildgust has jumped ship from KB Titan Racing to Elite Motorsports and will be racing with her new colleagues starting at the July 19-21 Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways, near Seattle. And Enders, who has helped show the Pro Stock ropes to such standouts as Drew Skillman, Bruno Massel, Marty Robertson, Brandon Foster, and current teammate Jerry Don Tucker.
Wildgust, whose father, Scott, is competing this weekend in the Pro Modified category, joined Elite Motorsports in making the announcement Saturday morning at Virginia Motorsports Park.
“My family has known Richard Freeman for a long time, and I have always looked up to Erica as a driver and as a person. She came up through the Jr. Dragster racing with her sister Courtney same as I did with my sister [Avery]. I believe I can learn a lot from her. I’m excited to have her as a mentor and have her help me further my career,” said Wildgust. “Elite Motorsports is a family. Racing for me has always been a family sport. I feel, and my family, feels like this is going to be a good fit. With the culture of the team and all the experience, I believe I can learn a lot. I’ve always wanted a career in drag racing, in Pro Stock, joining Elite is going to move my career path forward.”
Enders said, “I look forward to mentoring Sienna. I’ll tell you what, for being so young, she is beyond her years in identifying what’s right and wrong, what’s good and bad. She has a clean slate and doesn’t have a lot of bad habits yet. And most importantly, she hasn’t been negatively tainted by the sport yet.
“I have always said that people are the most important part of the puzzle, and she nailed that by choosing Elite. We operate differently, here at Elite Motorsports. It is about family. It’s about being a team and operating as one. We don’t have dissension. It is not tolerated. We swim in the same direction. We don’t point fingers,” Enders said. “We are a big, dysfunctional family. We work hard, and we play hard. I am so proud of what we have built.”
Enders, the six-time world champion, is a 20-year Pro Stock veteran. As such, she has contributed to helping racers new to the class.
“I have had the privilege of teaching a lot of racers how to drive Pro Stock. From Drew Skillman, Bruno Massel, Marty Robertson, and Brandon Foster, to my teammate Jerry Don Tucker. And I’ve helped mentor and advance the skills of the Cuadra brothers, Troy Coughlin Jr., and Aaron Stanfield. I take as much pride in that, as I do driving,” she said. “When I really get to thinking about the legacy I want to leave behind when I am done with this sport, it boils down to embracing those next in line. It’s our job to help others. It’s my job to make their journey to the top shorter and much more enjoyable.”
Wildgust also is the granddaughter of sportsman racer Paul Martin. Already she has competed at the first six races of this season, qualifying for the Winternationals at Pomona, Calif., and at both four-wide events, at Las Vegas and Charlotte. Her most recent Pro Stock national-event appearance was at the Route 66 Nationals at Route 66 Raceway, at Joliet, Ill.