She's the winningest woman in all of motor sports and helped establish a groundbreaking policy for pregnant NHRA drivers.

Erica Enders is our guest this week on Nevada Week In Person.

♪♪♪ Support for Nevada Week In Person is provided by Senator William H. Hernstadt.

-Welcome to Nevada Week In Person.

I'm Amber Renee Dixon.

A Houston, Texas native, she began drag racing at eight years old.

A six-time National Hot Rod Association Pro Stock World Champion, she's also the winningest NHRA driver at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Erica Enders, thank you for joining Nevada Week In Person.

(Erica Enders) Thank you for having me.

-So as we record this, you have 10 wins at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the most in NHRA history.

What do you attribute your success here to?

-I don't know, maybe a little lady luck.

But we've been coming racing in Las Vegas for quite some time.

I joined Elite Motorsports in 2014, and it was our first win together as a team.

There was a specialty race within that race as well called the Cannon Challenge.

We were able to win that as well, came back in the fall and won there.

Every time we come to Las Vegas, we've had a ton of success, and I'm obviously hopeful that that continues.

-Was that your first time in Las Vegas competing?

-No.

My dad brought me here for my 21st birthday, and at the time, I was driving a Super Comp dragster and a Super Gas Corvette.

So we hauled our stuff from Texas, and we came out here and made a birthday weekend of it.

-So especially for that.

I mean, you weren't competing.

You came out here and then went out to, I'm guessing, the Speedway?

-We did.

We raced that weekend in my Super Comp and Super Gas cars, but we might have done a little 21st birthday celebration as well.

-I imagine.

What were your thoughts on Las Vegas at that time?

-I was a little overwhelmed, but it was fun, and I learned that I loved the Wheel of Fortune slot machine.

I got as much joy out of that as I did winning races.

-Okay.

Limit your time there this weekend.

-For sure.

-And as we record this, this is the weekend.

This is ahead of your weekend.

You're going to be competing.

This is the last race prior to the final race.

How, how are you feeling?

-I feel good.

I'm not in the same position that we were in last year.

I'm coming into this weekend 4th, my teammate Aaron Stanfield is ahead of me in 2nd, and then our arch nemesis is in 1st.

So our goal, obviously, is to take him out early and make sure that Aaron and I both have a great shot at going to Pomona and hopefully securing what would be our seventh world title or Aaron's first world title in Pro Stock.

-Your arch nemesis, how did that happen?

-He races for the other team.

There's like two big conglomerates, Elite Motorsports and KB Titan.

And Dallas is part of the KB Titan group.

Nothing against him; he's just not on our team.

-Okay.

So eight years old is when you get behind the wheel of your first Junior Dragster.

What do you remember about that?

-I remember growing up watching my dad race, and I was out in the garage while he was working on his car.

And our series magazine publication was called National Dragster.

I was flipping through that while he worked on his racecar, and I saw this big article that said they were introducing the Junior Drag Racing League where kids at the time from 8 to 17 could drive.

I grabbed the shoplight and rolled under the car.

I'm like, Dad, they're gonna let kids drive.

Do you think I can do it?

He said I was a good kid, I made good grades, so he didn't see why not.

And that was kind of the beginning of the end.

-What do you remember about the actual experience of being behind the wheel?

-I remember the first time I did it.

I was so excited, and I came back and I said that I wanted to go faster.

He says, Faster, Daddy, faster.

So it's a-- from the time I got the bug, it hasn't left my system.

-And the bio on your website says that it was that day you discovered your passion and your purpose.

Was it really?

I mean, how did you know as an eight year old?

-Growing up, watching my dad and then going to the NHRA national events, I obviously had some heroes of mine.

A couple of them were females like Shirley Muldowney, who's a pioneer of our sport.

And watching them, I just kind of had that glimmer in my eye, you know?

And when I'd do projects in school, it was, I want to be a racecar driver when I grew up, where my friends were doctors, lawyers, astronauts, whatever.

And I was fortunate enough to turn a dream into a reality, so pretty cool.

-I'm glad you brought up the women that have come before you, but also you've gone through plenty yourself.

You talked about it in a recent article.

I think you were being interviewed about your nomination for the induction into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.

-Yep.

-And you talked about young women you mentor, but you've had to take some of that heat that they may not have to.

What was it like coming up for you?

-Well, it probably wasn't quite as bad as the women before me, but it certainly hasn't disappeared.

And that's-- it's not terrific, but it's just part of the program.

It's definitely a man's sport, and we've made our way through it.

But a lot of gut-check moments, a lot of like, do I really want to do this?

And when I first started-- I turned pro when I was 19 years old, so I can only imagine what this group of middle-aged men probably thought of me.

I can't blame them in a certain sense, but at the same time, I was trying to prove myself and make my way.

But I have figured out how to kind of channel that and gain thick skin.

It wasn't something that I had naturally, I had to acquire it.

So I've learned a lot through the years and how to deal with it, and my job now is to make the girls behind me, their journey shorter to get there and more exciting.

-Give me an example of what happens that people might be surprised to learn.

-So Pro Stock is like the good old boys' country club.

There was never a girl that competed in it that was successful.

So we scored the first for everything, whether it was to qualify in the top half of the field, qualify number one, win a race, win a world championship.

So we own all of those records for females.

So there really wasn't one in my class that did it before me, and they were a little brutal.

But it's part of, I guess, the hazing?

I don't know what it is, but it comes with the territory.

And you can, you know, put your head down on your desk and cry, or you can get up and, let's roll.

So that's what I decided.

-When you say "we," you're talking about you and your racing team?

-We, yes.

-Okay.

-We are not "I."

We do it together.

-Because you and your sister also accomplished a lot, your younger sister, Courtney.

-Yes.

-Winning the first national championship together, how did that work?

It was awesome.

My sister's three years younger than me, so she spent-- she was five when I first started Junior Drag Racing, so she was kind of like my crew chief and my biggest cheerleader, and she was at the races all the time.

She was excited when she turned eight, because she could race.

And we got to do it our whole lives together, and now she still works with our team and has a very important job within our industry as well.

So it's, it's pretty neat that I get to travel on the road with her.

-What kind of influence do you think she's had on you?

-Courtney, Courtney is, we were talking about a ball of energy.

She says and does all the things that I cannot, but she is loyal to a fault.

She's amazing.

She's my hype girl, and I wouldn't and couldn't do it without her.

Honestly.

-I watched the documentary that FloSports did on both of you, and she's hilarious.

-She's very funny.

She is very funny.

-So it does kind of paint you, though-- and you say you are an introvert.

I don't see that from you.

But it also talks about you being perhaps overthinking some things.

And this was, I believe, according to your father who said Courtney was maybe the more natural driver, but you were the more focused driver.

-Courtney has always been great at everything she's done.

She's, she's a natural athlete.

We both played stick-and-ball sports growing up throughout high school and college, and she was just always naturally good at everything, and I just worked really hard at everything.

And we kind of balance each other out in that aspect, where, before a race, I like, want to have quiet and focus and be calm, and she'd be bebopping around and messing with the boys and whatever right until she had to get in her car.

And then she'd jump in and perform the same as I did while I was over here trying really hard.

So you'd have to know her to understand her personality.

But from the time we were kids, she was kind of, she always jokes that she should be the older sister because she takes care of me.

I was so shy.

I wouldn't ask for ketchup at McDonald's.

And she just, she's been my wingman my whole life.

-Look at you now.

-Yeah.

-The Disney Channel would do a movie about both of you.

It came out in 2003 called Right on Track.

What impact did that have on the drag racing fan base?

-I'd say it changed it substantially.

The Junior Drag Racing League is now comprised of over 50% female drivers, which is a really awesome stat, in my opinion, because when we started back in the early '90s, we were, we were one of the first.

So to see it come full circle like that is really neat.

And then obviously those, not just the girls, but those kids go on to race in the sportsman ranks, and a handful of them have moved to the professional ranks as well.

Leah, Shawn Langdon, J.R. Todd, they all grew up Junior Drag Racing with me, and now they're all racing in the pro ranks as well.

-And you're talking about Leah Pruett?

-Leah Pruett.

-I read she started at eight years old too.

-She did, from the West Coast.

We would see each other at a couple races a year.

We'd race in Phoenix or Denver, out in California.

But yeah, I've known her my whole life.

-And she led this charge to get a policy, a new pregnancy policy for NHRA drivers.

You helped out.

What is this policy?

What does it entail?

-So Leah and I did some talking.

She spearheaded the whole movement, but I'm really proud of her for that.

But something that she worked on for quite some time, and it took her getting a couple of the other female racers together to get it heard and get some movement on it.

And they finally released it a couple weeks ago, and it's, I think it's very exciting.

It's not going to be something that her and I particularly benefit from, but the girls in the future.

And that's part of our job in pioneering this stuff is to make it easier and better for the next generation so girls in the future potentially won't have to choose between their career and having a family.

-But she is pregnant at the moment-- -She is.

- --and due any day now.

She's sitting out this season, but is she having a replacement driver?

Because that's part of this new policy, right?

-Right.

She chose to stop racing before she started her fertility stuff.

So her and Tony-- she was sitting out before she was even pregnant, and her husband, Tony Stewart, took over driving duties for her.

So she she made the choice to stop to have a family.

If she has another one, maybe she'll get to use the pregnancy policy to her benefit.

But yes, the policy states that you can put a replacement driver in the seat so that your team still accumulates the points for a potential world championship.

So you're not having to give up the chance at winning the world and then also giving up air time for your sponsors and stuff like that.

-Oh, yeah.

She talked about it being an invisible race, that she felt like-- I think what she was saying was that she felt she had to establish a career before she could have a baby.

-Yeah.

-And do you, do you feel that same sentiment?

-I never thought I wouldn't have a family.

I'm getting to, like, the finish line, age-wise, where I'd have to make a decision.

But I had always hoped for that.

But she-- her spearheading this made it really, really cool.

I'm excited for it.

-That's really neat.

What other impact do you think you've had on little girls?

-I get to see them at the ropes.

Behind our pit, we have ropes behind us, and I go out and sign autographs and take pictures with them.

There are a handful of them from city to city that we go to that I recognize the same look in their eye that I used to have when I'd look at Shirley Muldowney or Melanie Troxel or Angelle.

And so it's kind of neat to see it come full circle.

And a lot of the kids have seen the Disney movie.

It still plays on the Disney Channel, and you can get it on Disney Plus also.

But it's really neat to see that people who wouldn't have necessarily gone drag racing or had never been to a drag race now are involved in our sport because of the movie.

So it's really neat to see the next generation coming.

-It's hard to decide what to ask you with our two minutes left.

I think I'm going to ask you about, well, Top Fuel, all right?

I know you've been asked a ton, but Leah Pruett, that's what she was racing in.

Brittany Force as well.

You may join Top Fuel racing?

-Yep.

-What's keeping it from happening?

-Sponsorship dollars.

It's quite an expensive venture, but it's something-- my team owner, Richard Freeman, loves our sport.

Obviously, he works in the real business world, but this is where he chooses to spend his fun money.

And he sees car counts getting lower, and he wants to add to the sport.

And so he asked if I would be interested in driving a Top Fuel car.

I said I love Pro Stock, because it's a clutch and a five-speed, so you actually have to drive it.

But I said, I would absolutely.

That's a new carrot in front of me, a new challenge.

So we're definitely going to explore it, providing the sponsorship funding comes together and expand Elite Motorsports into the Nitro ranks.

-How rare is it that you actually know your own engine, talking about Pro Stock racing?

And you talked about it being more difficult to drive, you think.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

So how does knowing the engine help you?

-I feel like it makes me a better driver.

Like we have a computer system on our car.

It's called Racepak, and we could collect a whole bunch of different points of data.

But there is stuff the computer can't tell my crew chiefs, and it's kind of like my download.

When I get back from a run, I tell them what I felt and heard.

And I know when things are going south, if something doesn't sound right, it might not shows up on a gage or a computer.

So I feel like the more I know about my racecar, the better driver I can be.

And also, in between rounds, I work on the-- I work on the car as well.

-Erica Enders, thank you for joining Nevada Week In Person.

-Thank you.