By two-thousandths of a second, Enders gets fourth Pro Stock win of the season
Pro Stock racing has always been close, but few races have been as close, or as dramatic as the St. Louis final round featuring Erica Enders and Dallas Glenn. Enders won her 33rd career race and fourth season but the margin of victory at the finish line was just two-thousandths of a second, or just a few inches at nearly 210 mph. The numbers were impressive as Glenn left first with an almost perfect .001 reaction time and made a very competitive run with a 6.583 in his RAD Torque Systems Camaro. That wasn’t enough as Enders countered with a .010 light of her own and a 6.572 in the Elite entry.
For Enders, the win was much needed after she’d fallen 65 points behind rival Greg Anderson as both drivers battle for their fifth Pro Stock world championship. Anderson lost in round two, giving Enders the opportunity that she needed to get back in the hunt.
“I always put it in high gear and check and I knew exactly where [Glenn] was. I knew it was going to be close,” said Enders. “I was legging it and shoving the throttle pedal through the firewall. We just needed to have Greg stumble a little and we needed to go to work on our program and I needed to work on myself. I’ve been struggling a little bit. Tim Freeman and Mark Ingersoll, my two crew chiefs said ten or better [on the Tree] and you can’t lose. I was .010 and Dallas was .001 and these kids are keeping us honest and making us work for it. Again, it’s going to be a dog fight.”
Enders has also won the last St. Louis events, a combined 12 round win streak in the Gateway City. She’s at a loss to explain that success, but will happily take it.
“I don’t know but I love it. I’m not going to question it,” said Enders. “I don’t know what it is about this facility. I’ve been coming here since we were kids with our Super Comp dragsters. It’s a blast and I really enjoy it.
Enders came from the No. 5 qualifying spot to reach the final thanks to wins against Bo Butner, Aaron Stanfield, who later clinched his second-straight now two-time Factory Stock champion Aaron Stanfield and Mason McGaha, who also got the early lead with a .017 light before falling behind when his 6.63 was nosed out by Enders’ 6.59.
For his part, Glenn continues to have what amounts to an amazing rookie season. Already a two-time winner, he’s now been to four final rounds including last week in Charlotte, his home track. Glenn took advantage of red-light starts by Fernando Cuadra and semifinal opponent Chris McGaha, but also did his part with a 6.580 in his victory against Rodger Brogdon in the quarterfinals.
Points leader Anderson was dominant in qualifying but took a tough loss in the quarterfinals when he got beat on a holeshot by Mason McGaha. Anderson once had the biggest championship lead of any of the four pro classes, but that has now shrunk to just 17 points with four events remaining.