One year removed from a quarterfinal finish at the Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod, six-time NHRA Pro Stock world champion Erica Enders arrived in Bradenton for the 2025-26 Drag Illustrated Winter Series presented by J&A Service with both a new car and new combination.
Last year, Enders piloted Scott Tidwell’s ProCharger-powered ’69 Camaro, ultimately falling in the round of eight against event winner Steve King. This year, for the first time in her career, Enders was behind the wheel of a screw-blown Camaro with Elite Motorsports. While the results weren’t what her team hoped for, Enders was still excited about the experience while figuring out the new car.
“I have a blast at these races,” Enders says. “It’s an honor to be invited to them, first of all, but to be able to compete has been a lot of fun for me. Last year, I got to drive Scott Tidwell’s ProCharger car, and this year we built our own screw-blower car. It’s a new program. We didn’t have the results that we wanted, but it’s still a super awesome event that I was glad to be a part of, and we’ll continue to support Wes [Buck] and whatever he does for however long he does it.”
At the WSOPM, Enders just missed out on the field by .001, qualifying No. 34 with a 3.603 at 208.10 mph. From there, she entered the Outlaw Beer Wildcard Shootout for non-qualifiers, where she fell to Luis DeLeon in the second round.
Her best showing of the Winter Series came at the U.S. Street Nationals presented by M&M Transmission, where she qualified for the quickest field in Pro Mod history with a 3.595 at 209.46 mph. In the first round of eliminations, she lost to Mike Decker III in heartbreaking fashion, once again by a miniscule .001. Enders had the advantage on the tree – .030 to Decker’s .046 – but Decker’s 3.582 at 209.72 mph was just enough to slip by Enders, who ran a 3.599 at 207.27.
According to multiple drag racing historians, Enders also made history at the Winter Series, becoming the only known driver to have wheeled a Pro Mod with all four major power adders – screw blower, centrifugal supercharger, nitrous, and twin-turbos. It’s an accomplishment not even Enders realized she’d achieved.
“I think that’s pretty cool,” Enders says. “When I drove Keith Haney’s nitrous car back when I didn’t have a Pro Stock sponsor, that was my first dabble in Pro Mod. Then I got my feet really wet in the twin turbo car and had a lot of success in the centrifugal car. I’m hoping to have some success in our new car this year, but it’s been cool to drive. I’ve always prided myself on being able to get in anything and wheel it. Either way, it’s a cool stat to have driven every different power adder.”
