CHEVROLET RACING IN NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION
NHRA NEVADA NATIONALS
THE STRIP AT LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
OCT. 30, 2022
Chevrolet drivers hold winning hands at Las Vegas
• Erica Enders wraps up fifth career Pro Stock world championship in Camaro SS
• Brittany Force regains Top Fuel points lead with fifth win of season in Chevrolet dragster
• Robert Hight extends Funny Car advantage with runner-up finish in Camaro SS
• Leo Glasbrenner picks up third Stock Eliminator victory in Chevrolet COPO Camaro
LAS VEGAS (Oct. 30, 2022) — Chevrolet drivers were big winners in Las Vegas.
One Chevrolet driver was crowned an NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series champion and two others took large steps at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to winning world titles.
Erica Enders earned a hat trick in the NHRA Nevada Nationals – yellow hat as the No. 1 qualifier, green hat as the race winner and for the fifth time in her career the white hat signifying the Pro Stock world champion.
Enders, driving the Melling Performance Chevrolet Camaro SS, picked up a personal-best 10th victory of the season by defeating Elite Motorsports teammate Troy Coughlin Jr. in the final. She wrapped up the title with a semifinal win over Kyle Koretsky’s Lucas Oil Camaro SS.
Enders’ titles
All with Chevrolet:
2022 – 18 races*, 10 wins, 52-8 round record
2020 – 10 races, 4 wins, 25-6 round record
2019 – 18 races, 2 wins, 32-16 round record
2015 – 24 races, 9 wins, 58-15 round record
2014 – 22 races, 6 wins, 45-16 round record
*one race remaining
“It’s a huge blessing. We came out here ready for battle this year because of the fashion that we lost the championship last year, so hats off to my guys. It’s them that stand behind me. I could not be more proud the be their driver,” said Enders, who has also won Pro Stock titles in 2014, ’15. ’19 and 2020. “This is a testament – not only this championship but all the others as well – that you don’t ever give up. You dig deep, play with all the heart that you have when the cards are stacked against you. It’s like David and Goliath. You go to battle and you have not fear, you have the faith.”
John Force Racing teammates Brittany Force and Robert Hight head into the season finale Nov. 13 with faith in their talents and teams – and with the points lead in their respective classes.
Force earned her career-best fifth Top Fuel win of the season. The No. 1 qualifier for the ninth time this season in the Flav-R-Pac/Monster Energy Chevrolet dragster, Force turned an 82-point disadvantage in the standings into a seven-point advantage over Justin Ashley as she aims for her second world championship.
“I’ve been saying all season long one weekend at a time. Coming into this weekend, not looking at Pomona until we leave here. Right now, we got the win, we got the points lead and we’re going to get right back on track,” said Force, who reached her 35th career final.
“To come out here and win on a holeshot, it’s giving it back to my guys for all the times they carried me. It’s a thank you to them. We wanted to win today, we chased it down and we got it done. We’ll keep our focus and worry about what we can control as we head into Pomona. I wouldn’t want to go into this battle with anyone else but this Flav-R-Pac/Monster Energy team.”
Funny Car No. 1 qualifier Hight, who entered the penultimate event of the 22-race season with a 10-point lead, ran to a runner-up finish in the Automobile Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS to leave Las Vegas with a healthier margin over reigning world champ Ron Capps.
It was the third time this season that Chevrolet swept the top qualifier honors –Richmond (Force and Hight) and Reading (Austin Prock and Hight). Hight, advancing to his 96th career Funny Car trophy dash, was the top qualifier for the sixth time this season and 77th of his career.
The Auto Club Finals will feature 30 points per round win (points and a half). FS1 will telecast eliminations from Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, California, live at 4 p.m. ET.
John Force, the No. 5 qualifier in the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Camaro SS, fell in the quarterfinals. He remains fourth in the Funny Car standings.
Austin Prock advanced to the Top Fuel semifinals in the Montana Brand/Rocky Mountain Twist Chevrolet dragster. Prock, the No. 2 qualifier, moved to sixth in the standings.
Enders advanced to her 12th final in 18 races this season and 73rd of her career, making a pass of 6.640 seconds for her 10th win.
“We won nine events in 2015 when we won the world championship and we were fortunate enough to lock it up here,” she said. “As a personal goal, I wanted to win one more that than so we were able to do that today by securing our 10th victory on the season. We don’t plan on letting up going to Pomona.
“This whole season has been a dream come true for our whole team. This season, like every season, we set out to win races and win a championship and we did just that. We spent the whole season with a No. 2 on the car and that didn’t set well with any of us. It lit a fire under our team to become champs again.”
Leo Glasbrenner of Murrieta, California, drove his Chevrolet COPO Camaro to victory for the third time this season in Stock Eliminator. He also won at Pomona and Phoenix.
“Fortunately, I got the good side of the ladder. I had a single, made some adjustments for the semis and when I let go of the footbrake in the final, I thought it was red and it came up green and the win light turn on for the third time this year,” Glasbrenner said.
An interview with Pro Stock champion ERICA ENDERS, MELLING PERFORMANCE/ELITE MOTORSPORTS CHEVROLET CAMARO SS:
THAT WAS QUITE A DAY FOR YOU.
“What an incredible day. We came in and wanted to just semi out so we could keep the points lead and win the championship and my crew chief, Mark Ingersoll, said (no way) we’re going for it. I just had to drive it. I did a marginal job today and we were able to park the Melling Performance car in the winner’s circle.”
TWELVE FINAL ROUNDS AND TEN WINS THIS YEAR AND NOT DONE YET. YOU’VE HAD PRO STOCK DREAMS THAT DIDN’T GO THAT GOOD.
“We won nine events in 2015 when we won the world championship and we were fortunate enough to lock it up here. As a personal goal, I wanted to win one more that than so we were able to do that today by securing our 10th victory on the season. We don’t plan on letting up going to Pomona.”
HOW DOES THIS CHAMPIONSHIP STACK UP WITH THE OTHERS?
“It’s a huge blessing. We came out here ready for battle this year because of the fashion that we lost the championship last year, so hats off to my guys. It’s them that stand behind me. This is a testament – not only this championship but all the others as well – that you don’t ever give up. You dig deep, play with all the heart that you have when the cards are stacked against you. It’s like David and Goliath. You go to battle and you have not fear, you have the faith. I could not be more proud the be their driver.”
YOU WANTED TO BEAT YOUR SEASON-BEST WIN TOTAL AND YOU’VE DONE THAT. WHAT IS THIS FEELING FOR YOU?
“The sky is the limit. We’ll keep on going. What a great day. We did what we call a hat trick – we got the No. 1 qualifier, we got the winner’s hat and we got the white one, which means world champion. To be able to do it five times and join the list of people like Bob Glidden and Jeg Coughlin, couldn’t mean anything more to me. We’re happy to park this Melling Performance Chevy Camaro in the winner’s circle. At the beginning of this year, I though five wins would be sufficient; that’s how tough this class is. When we got to the middle of the season we thought why not ten. Well, now why not 11?”
WHEN WILL YOU BE SATISFIED?
“I don’t know; you just keep going. I drive a really badass Chevy Camaro that Rick Jones built and I’m thrilled. I don’t know if that fire will ever get put out. I’m going to enjoy the ride while it lasts.”
An interview with Top Fuel winner BRITTANY FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, FLAV-R-PAC/MONSTER ENERGY CHEVROLET DRAGSTER:
YOUR TEAM WAS SLUGGING IT OUT THIS DEEP INTO THE CHAMPIONSHIP COUNTDOWN.
“We’ve really come a long way this season. We’ve had a great season. We carried No. 1 and then we lost it right when it mattered and we got lost for the first three races of the Countdown. Somehow we still hung in there at that No. 2 spot, and then today our goal coming in was let’s do what we do best. Let’s go for low of every session, let’s grab as many points as we can, go No. 1 and try to win this thing.”
JUSTIN ASHLEY GOES OUT EARLY AND YOU’VE GOT TO BE THINKING OPPORTUNITY. WE CANNOT LET THIS GET AWAY.
“I actually didn’t know that he went out until we were back (at the hauler). My focus is once I’m in that car, once I’m in the staging lane, once I’m at the starting line it’s only that. I don’t look around me because it’s another distraction, and you don’t need distractions when you’re trying to cut a light and turn a win light on.”
IN THE FINAL, HOW GOOD IS IT TO HEAR BRITTANY WINS ON A HOLESHOT?
“It feels fantastic. I struggled today, all weekend. We’re closing in on the championship and there is a lot of pressure. There’s a lot on our shoulders, our entire team. I pulled up to that final and I wasn’t proud of my lights all day. I knew I could do better than that, so pulling up to that final round I said let’s get this together because we’ve got to win this race and leave as the points leader.”
ONE RACE LEFT AND YOU’VE GOT A LEGITIMATE SHOT TO BE A TWO-TIME TOP FUEL CHAMPION.
“I’ve been saying all season long one weekend at a time. Coming into this weekend, not looking at Pomona until we leave here. Right now, we got the win, we got the points lead and we’re going to get right back on track.”
CHEVROLET FROM THE COCKPIT
TOP FUEL
AUSTIN PROCK, JOHN FORCE RACING, MONTANA BRAND/ROCKY MOUNTAIN TWIST CHEVROLET DRAGSTER: “Awesome weekend for our Montana Brand/Rocky Mountain Twist team. We backed out No. 1 qualifier from Dallas with a No. 2 and then had a semifinal appearance. We managed to move up in the points again and we’ll be looking for another strong weekend in Pomona.”
FUNNY CAR
ROBERT HIGHT, JOHN FORCE RACING, AUTOMOBILE CLUB OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CHEVROLET CAMARO SS: “That wasn’t quite the way we scripted the weekend ending. Still, not a bad weekend for our Auto Club team we were able to grow our points lead which was important, we went rounds and qualified well, every point matters right now. We’re still in control of our own destiny, if we go out and win Pomona, we win the championship. This team knows how to get the job done, eight wins so far this season, one more and we know we have the title. The competition is so intense right now, it’s going to be a fight but this Auto Club team is ready for it.”
JOHN FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, PEAK ANTIFREEZE AND COOLANT CHEVROLET CAMARO SS: “Not a bad weekend, not the way we wanted it to end, but we qualified well, went a couple rounds. Overall, it was a good weekend. Brittany with Flav-R-Pac getting the win and the points lead back and then Robert with Auto Club going to the finals and gaining points, making sure we’re all still chasing him. Even Austin Prock over there with Montana Brand, he went some rounds. So, we’re in a good spot. Pomona is going to be exciting, going to be an exciting end to the season.”
About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in nearly 80 countries with nearly 2.7 million cars and trucks sold in 2021. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.
