Erica Enders Englishtown Final Report

End result aside, Enders pleased with Englishtown effort

ZaZa Energy driver Erica Enders made the second-fastest pass in the quarterfinal round of Pro Stock eliminations Sunday at the 41st annual NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park. But in a cruel twist of drag racing fate, she happened to face the driver who made the best pass of all.

Enders had the top speed of the round at 211.36 mph in the Cagnazzi Racing Chevrolet and ran the quarter-mile in 6.547 seconds. That elapsed time was .015 seconds faster than six of the seven other drivers who raced in the second round.

But Allen Johnson had a monster pass of 6.533 at 211.23 mph to move around Enders and into the semifinals.

"Yeah, we want to win, but once we came back and downloaded the run and went over everything on the computer and did the math on everybody's run – we lit it up," Enders said. "We made a great run. I drove well. The run was beautiful. There's not a whole lot we could've changed for that."

Erica Enders

Photo by: Ted Rossino

Enders qualified No. 3 at one of NHRA's famed tracks after making four excellent runs in Pro Stock qualifying. She then knocked out Vieri Gaines with a 6.539 at 211.13 mph in the first round.

"We'll leave here with our heads held high knowing that we were consistent," Enders said. "Being consistent will pay off. We beat everybody else on this property by .015 in the second round. It's unfortunate, and we want to win every race we enter, but to come here and do as well as we did and be consistent – if I'd have lined up against anybody but A.J., we'd be going to the semifinals, with lane choice."

And had Enders duplicated her second-round pass in the semifinals, she'd be racing for the Wally.

But she's not frustrated, and neither is her ZaZa Energy team.

"We just need a little luck on Sunday, just a little bit," Enders said. "We're making good runs, and I'm driving well. It's going to come together. One of these days is going to be our day."

The next event on the Full Throttle Drag Racing Series occurs June 17-19 with the 11th annual Ford NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway.

-source: cagnazzi racing