Drag Illustrated Issue 152, January 2020 | Page 61

The Champions of 2019
On the top end, Line was dejected as he
watched, while Enders pounded the wheel in ex-
citement. In a matter of 6-and-a-half seconds the
race was done, but the moment will live forever.
“You know, it was a great drag race, I mean
we’re thousands apart on the tree and 5 thou-
sandths apart at the finish line. I am so thankful
that that the win went our way because it could’ve
very well went differently,” Enders says. “My guys
just rise to the occasion and I try to do the same.
It was crazy. I mean, I loved it and I was more
pumped up that round than the second round
when we won the championship. It’s definitely
a big moment in my career and obviously was
the deciding factor in winning our third world
championship.”
Of course, that victory wouldn’t have mattered
as much if Enders slipped a round later, but that
wasn’t the case. She was brilliant again on the
starting line, going .019 to beat Chris McGaha
on a holeshot.
It gave Enders her third world title and a
chance to reflect on what an emotion-filled ride
it’s been for the last four years.
In a span that has embodied her adversity-filled
career, Enders and her team battled their share
of valleys to rise back to the top in 2019, giving
further credence that Enders is one of the best
to ever to do it in drag racing.
T
he story of Enders’ career
may be best defined by how she’s
pushed so hard through the val-
leys. The end results have always
been the peaks – the first Pro Stock win, the
back-to-back titles, the 2019 championship –
but none of them came without experiencing the
low moments first.
There was just getting into the class, finding
funding, being the lone female in a male-domi-
nated class, suffering heartache after heartache
in six final-round appearances over seven years
before finally breaking through in 2012.
There was the nasty breakup with Cagnazzi
Racing – a sequence of events that still sours
Enders – before Freeman came along in 2013,
forming a dominant team that won 15 times in
two years and crushed foes in 2015 to clinch back-
to-back championships.
But what followed the 2015 title was a signif-
icant valley that took four years and all of the
team’s mettle to dig out of. Following the dom-
inant run in 2015, the team signed with Mopar
for the next season, a year that also included the
introduction of electronic fuel injection (EFI).
To say it was an ill-fated season would be an
understatement. The team struggled just to qual-
ify, finishing ninth in points and winning just 12
rounds. They moved back to Chevrolet heading
into 2017, but it remained a game of catch-up as
Enders won once that year en route to a sixth-
place finish.
She made a big leap a year ago, advancing to
seven finals and winning once to finish fourth, but
the team was still looking for the dominant perfor-
mances that dotted the 2014 and 2015 campaigns.
Yet, Enders saw a group that never changed,
never wavered and never gave up on getting back
on top. From the outset, it was a group decidedly
different than anything she had ever been a part
of – and it made every difference in the world.
“The tough times make you stronger and what
we went through those years would’ve torn a lot of
teams apart,” Enders believes. “There’s no ego in
our pit and there’s no finger-pointing, it’s always
we just work together.
“I still have my core group that I started with
in 2014 and I think that speaks volumes of their
character. But I do think that those times they
make you tough and they make you stronger and,
on the mental side of it, it absolutely helps you.
Those things not only made us stronger, they
made us better, it made me a better driver, so
I’m thankful that they were not easy times to
go through.”
In addition to becoming a better driver, it gave
Enders a calming sense that she could speak her
mind, stand up for herself and not wonder about
COOL CHARACTER
Enders has been lauded for her
driving skills, and it’s something
she’s taken a great deal of pride
in over the years. Visualization,
practice and plenty of hard work
have made Enders one of the best
drivers in Pro Stock history, and
her reaction times were impressive
throughout the Countdown.
Ja n u a r y 2 0 2 0
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