Pro Stock champ Erica Enders holds head high after performance gains in Denver

DENVER, CO — No one in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series hates losing more than two-time Pro Stock champion Erica Enders, but she can smile after the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals on Sunday at Bandimere Speedway knowing her Elite Motorsports/Mopar Dodge team made strides toward the top of the Pro Stock charts.

Enders lost in the second round after an unfortunate parts failure slowed her pass, but she knows her Dodge Dart is now a contender.

“We’re certainly pleased with our performance gains this weekend,” Enders said. “It shows that our hard work is paying off. Having said that, we still have a long way to go.”

Enders qualified No. 2 in Denver, the best qualifying effort of the year for her and her team, which switched to Mopar for the 2016 season.

She beat Alan Prusiensky with one of the best passes in the first round, 6.970 seconds at 197.42 mph. That gave her lane choice against Allen Johnson for the second round, but Johnson’s good fortune in Denver continued.

The two friends and rivals got off the line almost identically, but Johnson sped to the win with a pass of 7.000 seconds at 196.53 mph while Enders lost elapsed time from her first pass and ended up with a run of 7.026 seconds at 195.62 mph.

“We had a parts failure that round,” Enders said. “We should have been able to go out there and run a .98 absolutely no problem because we took where the failure in the run happened and did a run completer from there. We were actually on a better run than Greg (Anderson) in that round and he went a .99.

“I think we would have been a solid to low .98. Should have, would have, could have, but it would definitely have been enough to beat AJ. This is just his lucky track.”

Johnson ended up racing to his 10th consecutive final round here, beating Vincent Nobile in the final.

Enders, meanwhile, looks forward to continuing the Western Swing next weekend in Sonoma, Calif.

“We’ll load up and go to Sonoma definitely with our heads held high because of the gains made here,” Enders said. “I’m looking forward to racing at sea level again, or closer to sea level, and kicking ass in Sonoma.”