Erica Enders sets track record in Full Throttle pro stock qualifying for Winternationals

There were some dark clouds Thursday afternoon on the opening day of qualifying at the National Hot Rod Assn.’s four-day Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, but the sun shone most of the day, particularly on Full Throttle pro stock driver Erica Enders.

The subject of a 2003 Disney Channel movie, “Right on Track,” Enders set a track record with a quarter-mile run of 6.533 seconds with a top speed of 211.69 mph.

Enders, 28, had never had a run of even 210.

“My crew chief came on the radio and he’s like, ‘You skipped right over 210,’ ” she said. “It’s just awesome.”

It has been a tough go in recent years for Enders, who made her professional debut at these Winternationals for Cagnazzi Racing in 2005. She competed in a limited schedule the last two years for Cunningham Motorsports but is now back with Cagnazzi and driving a new Chevy Cobalt.

It was also a good day for another female driver, Alexis Dejoria, 33. Although she received her license to compete in the Full Throttle Series funny car class last year, for now she is still competing in top-alcohol funny car in the developmental Lucas Oil Series.

She plans to move up to the nitro class later this year and will compete in both series if she has a shot at a national title at the alcohol level. She’s off to a good start. She had a personal-best quarter-mile qualifying run of 5.54 seconds Thursday, placing her third in the standings.

Dejoria, who grew up in Southern California and now lives with her 8-year-old daughter, Isabella, in Venice, has a pretty good in with her main sponsor, Patron Tequila. Her father, John Paul Dejoria, owns 51% of the company. He is also the co-founder of the Paul Mitchell hair care empire.

“My father has been very supportive since I started racing seven years ago,” Dejoria said.

Antron Brown was the No. 1 qualifier in top fuel with a time of 3.805 seconds for 1,000 feet and a speed of 319.98 mph.

Brown raced motorcycles before moving up to top fuel three years ago.

In funny car qualifying Thursday, Johnny Gray was No. 1 with a run of 4.079 seconds and a speed of 306.33 mph. Defending national champion John Force was third at 4.090 and 305.84. Matt Hagan, who battled Force for the title last year, was a disappointing 12th after the first day of qualifying.

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