Five-time NHRA Pro Stock champion Erica Enders has deleted her social media apps from her phone.
Enders took that step because “I want to strangle the idiots on the Internet that have no clue what they’re talking about.”
“At the same time, it’s what comes with living in a fishbowl,” Enders continued. “They sit on their couch and eat Cheetos and they watch us race. They think they can be a Monday morning quarterback when we’re doing all that we can.”
Instead of allowing herself to be drawn into social media’s dark side, Enders is relying on a positive mental attitude to turn around her dismal season. It’s something her father, a former positive mental attitude coach, taught her and her sister Courtney.
“We didn’t have to go sit in any seminars,” Enders said. “It was pounded into our heads since we were little kids. So being mentally strong and mentally tough is a huge benefit, but there’s the other side of it where some mornings you wake up and you really have to talk yourself into it.”
After six events this season, the 39-year-old Enders found herself in a position she hadn’t experienced since she was building her career. She possessed no victories and had advanced out of the first round only twice.
When Enders walked into Bristol Dragway Friday morning one of her crew chiefs took his fingers and put one on each of her temples. He then told her “it’s the six inches right here that’s gonna make the difference.”
It was something Enders already knew because she’s well aware of the sport’s peaks and valleys. She raced for seven years and recorded seven final rounds before she snared her first victory. Now, in 10 seasons with Elite Motorsports, she has acquired five championships and 44 event victories. Last year she won 10 events and had 13 final round appearances enroute to her fifth Pro Stock title.
“Coming off of a season like last year for anyone, I don’t care who you are, is definitely hard to capitalize on,” Enders said. “You come in expecting the same success in a sense, not in an arrogant way, just nothing changed in the off-season.”
However, when the season started in March at Gainesville, Florida, she hit the starter button on her car Sunday morning – elimination day – and nothing happened. It’s been a downward slide ever since.
“Pro Stock has been this way for the 20 years I’ve been driving and the 20 years prior that I watched, the pendulum swings, and when it’s not swinging in your direction, it’s extremely painful. It’s definitely dark and definitely sucks,” Enders said. “But it always comes back. You just have to be able to weather the storm. What we’ve been through together would tear most teams apart. That’s what so coveted about our team, in my opinion, you can’t buy what we have.”
That’s why Enders isn’t worried even though she’s 14th in the standings. She has “full confidence” that everything will turn around.
“The way the Countdown (to the Championship) works is going to work in our favor,” said Enders, who must be in the top 10 in points to contend for the Pro Stock title. “We’ve been on both sides of it where we’ve completely dominated and won whether there was a Countdown or not, and we’ve slid to as low as ninth and come back and won the championship.”
No matter which way Enders’ season goes, the Texas resident approaches it with a pragmatic attitude. Her life won’t change if that pendulum doesn’t swing upward. She’ll return to her beautiful home, drive the same nice car, receive the same paycheck, and still have a “great family.”
“You just have to keep in mind that we’re not curing cancer. This isn’t the end-all be-all,” Enders said. “We want to do well. We will do well, but if it doesn’t, we’ll be back next year. The taste of success is what keeps you going.”
