WYNNEWOOD, Okla. — Elite Motorsports/Mopar driver Erica Enders has been nominated for an ESPY Award following her dominant performance in winning the 2015 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Pro Stock world championship.
Enders was nominated in the Best Driver category, repeating her nomination of last year. She will attend the ESPYs, hosted by John Cena, on July 13 at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.
“I’m excited to be nominated again,” Enders said. “It’s a huge honor for all forms of sports across the board. It’s pretty neat. Hopefully, this year we can win.”
Fans can vote for Enders in the Best Driver category here: http://espn.go.com/espys/2016/?voting=bestdriver.
Others nominated in the Best Driver category are Kyle Busch of NASCAR, Scott Dixon and Alexander Rossi of IndyCar, and Lewis Hamilton of Formula One.
Enders had a stellar 2015 season, eclipsing even her 2014 championship year. She won nine races in 2015, breaking the NHRA single-season record for victories by a female (previously set by Angelle Sampey in 2001). She also made two more final-round appearances and scored six No. 1 qualifiers.
Enders clinched the Pro Stock championship at the penultimate race of the season, in Las Vegas, earning the title in style by winning the race.
Enders won three consecutive final rounds (in Brainerd, Minn.; Indianapolis; and Charlotte, N.C.) on holeshots (beating an opponent with a quicker reaction time), an all-time NHRA record across all pro classes.
Her 58 round-wins in 2015 led all professional drivers and ranked 11th all-time for a single season.
Enders also won three races in a row (in Brainerd, Indianapolis, and Charlotte) to tie the mark held by Sampey (2002) and Shirley Muldowney (1977) for consecutive wins by a woman.
“I have a really amazing team,” Enders said. “It’s so nice to have group of people who always have my back. They are absolutely, hands down the biggest reason why it’s been such a success the past two years. This nomination is as much theirs as it is mine.”
Enders became the 33rd driver in NHRA history to win multiple championships and the ninth in the Pro Stock class. She’s also the first back-to-back champion in NHRA since 2011-12, when Eddie Krawiec won the Pro Stock Motorcycle title.
Enders is the first to win consecutive Pro Stock titles since the legendary Jeg Coughlin Jr. accomplished the feat in 2007-08.
Story and photo courtesy of Geiger Media Global
