Published: 11/10/2022
Erica Enders Claims Her 5th Pro Stock Championship in Las Vegas
Author: THE BLOCK
Photos: AUTO IMAGERY, INC.
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At Sunday's NHRA Nevada Nationals, Team Chevy driver Erica Enders scored her historic fifth title in the Pro Stock ranks, while Brittany Force and Robert Hight inched ever closer to championships in Top Fuel and Funny Car.
At Sunday's NHRA Nevada Nationals, Team Chevy driver Erica Enders scored her historic fifth title in the Pro Stock ranks, while Brittany Force and Robert Hight inched ever closer to championships in Top Fuel and Funny Car.
Chevorlet driver Erica Enders (near lane) won the NHRA Nevada Las Vegas Nationals and her fifth Pro Stock championship this weekend at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Enders entered the penultimate round of the 2022 NHRA Camping World Drag Series season needing to advance her Elite Motorsports Camaro SS two rounds further than fellow Chevrolet driver Aaron Stanfield to claim the championship. Enders went on to score the event win after Stanfield fell in the second round at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Enders dominated the weekend, taking the No. 1 qualifying position for the sixth time in 2022 and besting her Elite and Chevrolet teammate Troy Coughlin Jr. in the final. Enders claimed her career-best 10th win of the year and the 43rd of her career with a pass of 6.640 seconds at 206.86 mph to better Coughlin's 6.668 at 206.48.
Enders celebrates with her team in the Las Vegas winner's circle.
"What an incredible day," said Enders, who competed in her 12th final round of the season. "My crew chief said we were going to go for it, and I just had to drive ... As a personal goal, we wanted to get that 10th win and I have the best guys that stand beside me. They all make it possible for me and I'm living my dream.
"This whole season has been a dream come true for our whole team. This season, like every season, we set out to win races and win a championship and we did just that. We spent the whole season with a No. 2 on the car and that didn't sit well with any of us. It lit a fire under our team to become champs again."
Enders' fifth championship moves her into a three-way tie in the category for second-most all-time. It was Chevrolet's 18th Pro Stock title, and all five of Enders' have come representing the Bowtie.
Enders previously won championships in 2014, '15, '19 and '20, but this year was perhaps the most dominant for the 39-year-old Houston native. With one event remaining on the schedule, she has amassed a staggering 52-8 round record.
Brittany Force (near lane) took home the event win in her Chevrolet dragster from the John Force Racing stable.
Meanwhile in Top Fuel, 2017 champion Brittany Force also drove to the race to win in her Chevrolet dragster from John Force Racing (JFR). In doing so, she took over the points lead heading into the final event at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona in two weeks.
Force qualified No. 1 for the ninth time this season and turned in four passes in the 3.7-second range or better during Sunday eliminations. She clocked a lap of 3.705 seconds at 332.34 mph in the final. Although her opponent turned in a quicker pass, Force won on a holeshot with a .034 reaction time.
The victory was Force's career-best fifth of the year, the 16th of her career and her third at Las Vegas.
"I've been saying all season long one weekend at a time," said Force, who advanced to her seventh final round of 2022. "Coming into this weekend, not looking at Pomona until we leave here. Right now, we got the win, we got the points lead and we're going to get right back on track.
"To come out here and win on a holeshot, it's giving it back to my guys for all the times they carried me. It's a thank you to them. We wanted to win today, we chased it down and we got it done. We'll keep our focus and worry about what we can control as we head into Pomona. I wouldn't want to go into this battle with anyone else but this Flav-R-Pac/Monster Energy team."
Robert Hight scored a runner-up finish in his Camaro SS at Las Vegas.
Force's Funny Car teammate Robert Hight also qualified No. 1 for the sixth time this year and drove his Camaro SS to the final round at Las Vegas. His 12th final-round appearance of the season helped extend his points lead as he hunts his fourth Funny Car championship.
"That wasn't quite the way we scripted the weekend ending," Hight said. "Still, not a bad weekend for our Auto Club team. We were able to grow our points lead which was important, we went rounds and qualified well, every point matters right now. We're still in control of our own destiny, if we go out and win Pomona, we win the championship. This team knows how to get the job done, eight wins so far this season, one more and we know we have the title. The competition is so intense right now, it's going to be a fight but this Auto Club team is ready for it."
Elsewhere in the JFR camp, Austin Prock turned in a semifinal result in his Top Fuel dragster and moved to sixth in the point standings. Sixteen-time champion John Force bowed out in the second round in his Camaro SS Funny Car and remains fourth in the category points.
Chevrolet also had a successful weekend in the Sportsman ranks at Las Vegas, led by Leo Glasbrenner of Murrietta, California. Glasbrenner drove his COPO Camaro to his third win of the season in Stock Eliminator after having previously won at Pomona and Phoenix.
Across the board, Team Chevy is in championship form as the calendar turns to November.
Erica Enders claimed her career-best 10th win of the season this weekend.