NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

When Erica Enders rolled to her 49th career win to start the season in Gainesville, few doubted that her milestone 50th win was right around the corner. Fourteen races and three runner-ups later, she’s still looking for the big 5-0, and understandably getting a little tired of being asked about it.

“I joked at the beginning of the year ‘Don't ask me about 50, because I don't want to take as long as it took Greg [Anderson] to get to 100,’ and here we are,” she said, answering the question for at least the 50th time this season. 

Enders was referring to the long gap between win No. 99 and victory No. 100 that longtime rival Greg Anderson went through in 2022, a gap that frustratingly spanned 13 events before he finally returned to the winner’s circle.

“I watched Greg go through this and I remember his saying, ‘Gosh, it’s like it’s never going to happen,’ and you start to feel that way because we started off the season so well,” she added. “So I’m so ready to get this off my back.”

Enders’ drought reached 14 races last weekend when she was on the wrong end of a holeshot against Elite Motorsports teammate Aaron Stanfield in the final of the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals in Reading. It was Enders’ eighth holeshot loss of the season, a stunning stat for a driver historically known for her starting-line prowess.

Three times this year, NHRA officials have waited in the shutdown area, the celebratory 50 wins banner in hand, ready to celebrate with Erica, and three times it’s gone unused after she lost on holeshots in the final round in Pomona (to Dallas Glenn), at the Las Vegas four-wide (where she finished third), and then in Reading.

“When I let go of the button in the finals last weekend in Reading, I knew I was in deep trouble,” she admitted. “When I put it in high gear looked over and I saw JHG, big as day on Aaron's door. I saw the ‘50 wins’ banner down there, and they just kind of stuffed it back in the trailer.”

Enders isn’t exactly clueless about what’s led to her slump but also takes full responsibility for her part in it.

“I raced my last car to win four championships and for five years, so getting a new car at the beginning of the season, I was just really skeptical. Rick [Jones] built a great chassis, but it's taken me all season to get comfortable in it, and I went through a little bit of a holeshot slump, something I'm not proud of, obviously, because we pride ourselves on that.”

After qualifying No. 1 on Friday this weekend, she knows she has the car under her to win the race if she does her job, so she’ll work to hone her reaction times on Saturday.

“I want to make two clean cracks at the Christmas Tree to redeem myself on last week's holeshot loss,” she said. “I’ve got a little bit of work to do in the cockpit, and I really enjoy the true challenge of Pro Stock. It's extremely tough to drive, and something where I learn something every single run. But I also am a perfectionist. I want to do the best that I can. I’ve been doing this for 20 years and the pendulum always swings the other direction; you just have to have that staying power to withstand the lulls."

Enders, who ran what are still the quickest and fastest passes of the season, 6.481 and 212.13 mph, in Gainesville, has tasted victory twice before at zMAX Dragway, and the pressure of the Countdown to the Championship always helps her up her game.

“This is the time of year that we love,” she agreed. “I love the pressure. We seem to thrive under these conditions but, yes, I'm ready to get that 50 off my back. I'm more than ready, I promise. And hopefully, when that happens, kind of like my first win took forever to get, once we got it, they just kind of rolled. So maybe Charlotte will be a start for that.”

Things could be worse for Enders. Four-time Pro Stock Motorcycle world champ Eddie Krawiec finished his career with 49 wins after going winless for the next 36 events after that 49th victory, at the 2021 U.S. Nationals through the end of his riding career at the 2023 season finale in Pomona.

Most frustrating for Krawiec was that he was runner-up eight times in those 36 events, including at the very next event after his Indy win, the 2021 Reading race, and five times last season, all to teammate Gaige Herrera, including at the Finals, his last event.

NHRA legend Don “the Snake” Prudhomme also ended his hall-of-fame career with 49 wins, grabbing his final win at the second to last race of his career before a round one exit at his last race.

Sportsman racing great Edmond Richardson is also stuck on 49 career wins, his last coming, ironically, at the same event as Krawiec, the 2021 U.S. Nationals, though Ricardson has not raced as prolifically as he once did.

While she may or may not take any comfort in that, Enders knows one thing for sure: “I just want to be back in the winner’s circle; March was a long time ago.”