Progress made with quarterfinal run at
Brainerd for two-time champ Erica Enders
BRAINERD, Minn. (Aug. 20) — Although she was unable to capture her third career Brainerd win at this weekend’s 36th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals, Erica Enders says progress is being made with her Melling Performance/Elite Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro, as witnessed by her race day performance.
After qualifying with a 6.665-second quarter-mile pass at a top speed of 206.42 mph, Enders managed to improve her best time of the event twice on Sunday, first beating teammate Jeg Coughlin Jr. with a 6.659 at 207.78 mph and then running a 6.648 at 207.66 mph in a close loss to Tanner Gray.
“We made some gains this weekend in regards to getting the car up and moving off the starting line,” Enders said. “But we’re still not running as well as we should. This team is used to winning championships. This team is used to contending for every race win. Anything less than that just doesn’t measure up for us.
“It’s really hard for our whole team to race like this. We are definitely behind the eight ball right now with all four of the team cars. We have to fix our hotrods and until we do it’s going to be hard to expect different results.”
Enders certainly hasn’t lost her touch behind the wheel. In her race against Coughlin, he posted a stellar .009-second reaction time. But Enders was even quicker with an otherworldly .003-second light. She was equally sharp against Gray, a driver she’s beaten three rimes previously, with a .011-second launch.
“I think the silver lining in all of this is that I have the greatest team in motorsports and every time we’ve been backed up against the wall in the past, that’s when we become the toughest.” Enders said. “I know we are good at dealing with adversity and handling all the challenges racers encounter out here and I’m already optimistic about what’s to come.”
With a test session in St. Louis in their plans, Enders said she has every confidence the Elite Motorsports team will be ready to win the upcoming 63rd annual Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals, which runs from Sept. 1-4 at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis.
“Indy is the biggest race of every season,” Enders said. “We were fortunate enough to win it in 2015, which helped us towards our second championship. It would be great to get our groove back at this year’s race and win it again.”