NHRA: Erica Enders goes from Pro Stock champ to superhero - MotorSportsTalk

When Erica Enders captured her second consecutive NHRA Pro Stock championship last month in the season-ending Auto Club Finals, she further established herself as one of the best drag racers the sport has seen in quite a long time.

Now comes word that Enders has been named to ESPNw’s Impact 25 list of 25 of the most influential females in sports.

Enders joins a list that includes UFC fighter Ronda Rousey, tennis star Serena Williams, gymnast Simone Biles, WNBA stars Tamika Catchings and Elena Delle Donne, dancer Misty Copeland, snowboarder Chloe Kim, golfer Lydia Ko, swimmer Katie Ledecky and soccer player Carli Lloyd.

In addition, Marvel (the folks known for comics and movies) decided to take the Impact 25 honor to the next level: creating caricatures of all 25 honorees and turning them into real-life superheroes.

How cool is that?

Enders’ new alter ego is known as Racer XX – and the moniker certainly fits her. Ask her fellow competitors and they likely will say Enders and her Elite Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro have proven to be faster than a speeding bullet and more powerful than a locomotive.

Enders has been a refreshing breath of fresh air in the NHRA ranks and has quickly become a fan favorite and star in her own right.

She is the first female to ever win one Pro Stock championship (2014), let alone a second in 2015.

She also broke two key records for a female racer in 2015:

* She passed Shirley Muldowney for second place on the NHRA all-time wins list for a female racer. Muldowney had 18 national event wins and three championships in her Top Fuel career. Enders now has 21 Pro Stock wins and two titles in her own career.

* Enders also broke Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Angelle Sampey’s record for most wins in a season by a female racer (seven) by earning nine victories in 24 starts in 2015. Sampey continues to hold the record for most wins in a career by a female (41); Enders is now 20 wins away from tying that mark.

But Enders wants to be known solely for her prowess behind the wheel, not her gender.

“I’ve always just wanted to be a racer,” she told ESPNw. “That’s exactly what I am. I’m not just the best female Pro Stock driver, I’m the best Pro Stock driver right now.”

Indeed she is, and likely will continue to be for a long time.

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The NBC Sports IndyCar power rankings naturally were as jumbled as the action on the streets of St. Petersburg after a chaotic opener to the 2023 season.

Pato O’Ward, who finished second because of an engine blip that cost him the lead with a few laps remaining, moves into the top spot ahead of St. Pete winner Marcus Ericsson and Alexander Rossi, who finished fourth in his Arrow McLaren debut. Scott Dixon and St. Pete pole-sitter Romain Grosjean (who led 31 laps) rounded out the top five.

St. Pete pole-sitter Romain Grosjean (who started first at St. Pete after capturing his second career pole position) Callum Ilott (a career-best fifth) and Graham Rahal entered the power rankings entering the season’s second race.

Three drivers fell out of the preseason top 10 after the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg – including previously top-ranked Josef Newgarden, who finished 17^th after qualifying 14^th.

Heading into Sunday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway, here’s NBC Sports’ assessment of the current top 10 drivers through the first of 17 races this year (with previous preseason rankings in parenthesis):

NBC Sports’ IndyCar Power Rankings

1. Pato O’Ward (5) – If not for the dreaded “plenum event” in the No. 5 Chevrolet, the Arrow McLaren driver is opening the season with a victory capping a strong race weekend.

2. Marcus Ericsson (7) – He might be the most opportunistic driver in IndyCar, but that’s because the 2022 Indy 500 winner has become one of the series’ fastest and most consistent stars.

3. Alexander Rossi (10) – He overcame a frustrating Friday and mediocre qualifying to open his Arrow McLaren career with the sort of hard-earned top five missing in his last years at Andretti.

4. Scott Dixon (3) – Put aside his opening-lap skirmish with former teammate Felix Rosenqvist, and it was a typically stealthily good result for the six-time champion.

5. Romain Grosjean (NR) – The St. Petersburg pole-sitter consistently was fastest on the streets of St. Petersburg over the course of the race weekend, which he couldn’t say once last year.

6. Scott McLaughlin (6) – Easily the best of the Team Penske drivers before his crash with Grosjean, McLaughlin drove like a legitimate 2023 championship contender.

7. Callum Ilott (NR) – A quietly impressive top five for the confident Brit in Juncos Hollinger Racing’s first race as a two-car team. Texas will be a big oval litmus test.

8. Graham Rahal (NR) – Sixth at St. Pete, Rahal still has the goods on street courses, and Rahal Letterman Lanigan remains headed in the right direction.

9. Alex Palou (4) – He seemed a step behind Ericsson and Dixon in the race after just missing the Fast Six in qualifying, but this was a solid start for Palou.

10. Will Power (2) – An uncharacteristic mistake that crashed Colton Herta put a blemish on the type of steady weekend that helped him win the 2022 title.

Falling out (last week): Josef Newgarden (1), Colton Herta (8), Christian Lundgaard (9)