Pro Stock points leader Erica Enders-Stevens will challenge for the 2014 NHRA championship with Mach 1 Global Services on the side of her powerful Elite Motorsports Camaro. The global logistics company, which has supported Enders-Stevens in the past, signed on as title sponsor for the remainder of the season, beginning with the race in Dallas. Geiger Media Global brokered the deal.
Erica Enders-Stevens
“We’re so excited to reunite with Erica,” CEO Jamie Fletcher said. “We’ve certainly kept up with her career since we first started supporting her in 2008, and we’re definitely impressed with the season she’s putting together.
“Being a woman in a male-dominated industry, Erica and I share a special bond because we’ve faced many of the same obstacles in our respective careers. She’s been a real inspiration to so many young women, and to see her in the winner’s circle so many times since we’ve met always serves as personal motivation for me.”
Using Elite Performance horsepower, Enders-Stevens leads the Pro Stock class with four victories this season, also winning the non-points K&N Horsepower Challenge in Las Vegas. She has collected at least one round-win at every race and has led the points standings after 12 of 16 national events. She’s currently 32 points ahead of Allen Johnson with two regular-season races left on the schedule.
The Houston native’s victory on July 6 in Norwalk, Ohio, was the 10th of her career, making her only the third female to post double-digit national event victories in NHRA history (along with three-time series champions Angelle Sampey and Shirley Muldowney). She’s the most successful woman in Pro Stock class history with 10 career victories, eight No. 1 qualifiers, and 144 elimination round-wins. She is the only female to have won or been the top qualifier in Pro Stock.
“Jamie and her dad (Mike Entzminger) are like family to me,” Enders-Stevens said. “It’s been neat to see Jamie take Mach 1 Global Services over since we partnered with them in the past and succeed the way she has in a really tough industry. They will fit in great with Richard (Freeman, owner of Elite Motorsports) and the rest of the team.
Richard Freeman (red shirt)
“There’s some real synergy having a female-owned business supporting a female driver. I think it’s something special and really something we should be proud of.
“Our hope is that we win the championship together with Mach 1 on the doors. We also want to make sure we bring as much attention as possible to their services and help them grow along with us. The best way to do that is to keep winning. We have some work to do before the Countdown starts and then we’re going all-out to win the title.”
Mach 1 is a global provider of transportation and logistics solutions. They offer a full portfolio of integrated freight forwarding services via air, ocean, and ground to all major destinations and ports worldwide. Mach 1 is a licensed U.S. customs broker with more than 26 years of industry experience and has 30 company-owned offices in the U.S., Mexico, China, and India, along with best-in-class strategic partnerships around the globe.
Elite Motorsports, owned by Richard Freeman, offers a wide variety of semi transporters, motor coaches, gooseneck and stacker trailers, specialty hospitality and point-of-sale units, and new and used high-performance engines, race cars, and racing equipment.
Enders-Stevens returns to action Aug. 15-17 in Brainerd, Minn.
(Photos by Ian Tocher; Click to enlarge)
This story was originally published on August 7, 2014. 
