In the history of NHRA Pro Stock racing, just eight drivers have won multiple titles, and only one of those eight had a Disney Channel original film based on their life.
Six-time NHRA champion and first-ever female champion Erica Enders is attempting to win the NHRA championship for the third time in a row. With her victory, she would tie Bob Glidden for the second-most NHRA Pro Stock racing titles ever.
She served as the inspiration for the 2003 film “Right on Track,” which followed Erica and her younger sister Courtney as they competed in junior drag racing and won the national championship in a male-dominated sport. Enders was a senior in high school when the film was shot. She was absent from school for six weeks to be on the set, where she worked as a technical advisor, appeared in a cameo, and drove a stunt for her part.
Enders recently discussed how the movie affected her life and young drag racing women in an interview with the Star-Telegram.
“A lot of [young women] had watched the Disney movie “Right on Track,” which was about my sister and me, and they started junior drag racing because of that movie,” Enders said. “I don’t really know if I grasped just how cool that was at that point in my life.” Yes, throughout the entire nation. I get to hear all these amazing tales about how we’ve influenced people. When Enders was born in Houston, her father Gregg, a professional racer, encouraged her to pursue racing, which is how she developed her love for the sport.
“My dad raced, so it was similar to what our family did on the weekends when I was growing up,” Enders said. “You know, I always wanted to drive a race car, but my friends wanted to be teachers, doctors, and astronauts.”
When she was just eight years old, she recalled asking her father whether she could start drag racing. When I asked him if I could participate in the junior drag racing league, he replied, “I’m a good kid and I made good grades, so I don’t see why not,” Enders recalled. “I was out there [in the garage] with him and I was flipping through the National Dragster.” Despite the male-dominated nature of Pro Stock racing, Enders grew up looking up to female role models like Melanie Troxel, Shirley Muldowney, and Shelly Anderson.
Enders is now the industry standard for female Pro Stock drivers, and she makes it her goal to lessen the load on the following generation. “It’s kind of surreal, full circle, and I get to meet kids at the pit, you know, and I recognize the look in their eyes, the same look that I had when I was younger,” Enders said. “It’s a role that I don’t take lightly, because part of being a pioneer is taking the heat so that the people that follow you don’t have to.”
I have a young woman who recently turned eighteen, and when she joined the team, I told her that my job was to protect her and make her trip more joyful than mine because I had been mistreated by others.
Enders is now the industry standard for female Pro Stock drivers, and she makes it her goal to lessen the load on the following generation. “It’s kind of surreal, full circle, and I get to meet kids at the pit, you know, and I recognize the look in their eyes, the same look that I had when I was younger,” Enders said. “It’s a role that I don’t take lightly, because part of being a pioneer is taking the heat so that the people that follow you don’t have to.”
When she joined the team, Enders stated, “I told her that my job was not just to make her a great driver, but also to make her journey more enjoyable than mine because people were awful to me and I’m going to protect her.” The young woman had just turned eighteen.
Enders recalls the experience of beginning her career in Pro Stock racing. “I was competing against a group of middle-aged men at the age of 19.” As a result, I can only guess what they thought of me at the time—that I was a flash in the pan and little daddy’s money girl—which was also untrue. I made it my goal to show them that I wasn’t who they believed me to be, and I enjoy doing it. I also made a living doing it. “Proving others wrong is my favorite thing to do,” Enders remarked. Enders, a first-time nominee, will wait until the fall to learn if she was inducted to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. She was unaware that she was being nominated until her father told her.