Drag Illustrated Issue 152, January 2020

LETTER from the EDITOR Wes Buck Founder & Editorial Director 660.988.2313 wes@dragillustrated.com Scott Dorman Publisher 615.478.5275 scott@dragillustrated.com Mike Carpenter Design & Production Director 704.737.2299 mike@dragillustrated.com Nate Van Wagnen Editor-in-Chief 440.986.1480 nate@dragillustrated.com Nancy Koeppen Chief Operating Officer 573.552.5551 nancy@dragillustrated.com hoosing the cover feature subject is al- ways one of the biggest decisions we face each month, but it’s especial- ly challenging to decide who goes on the cover of the Champions Is- sue, our annual look at the just-past season’s champions in a wide range of classes and series. Each champion and their respective teams had to overcome struggles and apply seri- ous focus to reach the number one spot. How are we supposed to settle on just one to feature on the cover? After some spirited discussions, the editorial team decided to highlight Erica Enders on the cover to recognize the fan-favorite driver’s third NHRA Pro Stock world championship season. Enders and her Richard Freeman-owned Elite Motorsports team were on top of the Pro Stock world for two consecutive seasons a few years ago. They went through a period of struggles only to band together and fight their way back to the top spot this season. When Enders prevailed in a pressure-packed, Hollywood script-level, first-round battle with long- time rival Greg Anderson at the NHRA Finals in Pomona, she essentially locked up her third DRAG ILLUSTRATED cover. One round later, she clinched her third world championship. Enders first appeared on the cover in Septem- ber 2012 with her first NHRA Pro Stock Wally in hand just a couple months removed from breaking through at the Route 66 Nationals in Chicago. Just over two years later, she returned to the coveted cover spot as the first female NHRA Pro Stock world champion. As she’ll explain later in this is- sue, the path and accomplishments that led to this third cover mean as much to her as those first two major achievements. By gracing the cover for the third time, Enders joins a very select list of cover stars who we think pretty highly of here at DI. Just three people have appeared on the cover more than two times, and they’ve each been on it three times, though Enders is the only one of those three whose actual face has been on the cover all three times. Stevie “Fast” Jackson – also a 2019 world cham- pion featured in this issue – ap- peared three times – though he was strapped into the infamous “Shadow” about 7 feet off the racing surface at Valdosta when he was on the cover of the 2016 Photo Annual. Out- law eighth-mile Pro Mod hero and former PDRA co-owner Jason Scruggs’ third appearance was as a cartoon character, along with a handful of other drag racing series leaders, on a unique State of Drag Issue cover. A long, wide-ranging list of champions joins Enders on the pages of this issue. It’s our largest, most diverse Champions issue yet. Sure, we’ve got your Robert Hights, Megan Meyers and Jim Halseys of the world, but we’ve also searched far and wide to find the champions who don’t get the praise and recognition they deserve for outlasting their competitors to win a title this year. We’re talking about racers like Mary Reep, who joins her husband, Larry, as an Outlaw Fuel Altered Asso- ciation champion, or Danny Nelson, who won his first NHRA Top Dragster world championship in a car he built himself. As we do each year, we hope this issue serves as a permanent reminder of not just the ultimate achievements these champions reached, but also a record of the paths they took to get there. Nate Van Wagnen Editor-in-Chief 8 | Drag I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com Feel free to email me at nate@dragillustrated.com and follow me at facebook.com/nitronate1320 and nitronate1320 on Instagram and Twitter. JT Hudson Sales Executive 660.341.0063 jt@dragillustrated.com Van Abernethy Senior Staff Writer & Field Subscription Sales 828.302.0356 van@dragillustrated.com Josh Hachat Editor-at-Large 660.988.2313 josh@dragillustrated.com Caroline Fox Customer Service / Office Manager 660.988.2313 caroline@dragillustrated.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Ian Tocher, Ainsley Jacobs, Kelly Wade, Bobby Bennett, Brandon W. Mudd, Tommy D’Aprile, Will Hanna, Sadie Glenn PHOTO DEPARTMENT: John Fore III, Van Abernethy, Rick Belden, Tara Bowker, Shawn Crose, Jason Dunn, Paul Grant, Chris Graves, Ron Lewis, Will McDougle, Joe McHugh, Gary Nastase, Mark J. Rebilas, Roger Richards, Cole Rokosky, Chris Sears, Jason Sharp, James Sisk, Ian Tocher ADVERTISING SALES: 615.478.5275 SUBSCRIPTIONS & CUSTOMER SERVICE: 660.988.2313 customerservice@dragillustrated.com DRAG ILLUSTRATED MEDIA, LLC 902 Kings Road, Kirksville, MO 63501 P: 660.988.2313 F: 660.665.1636 www.dragillustrated.com Copyright © 2020 by Drag Illustrated Media, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Drag Illustrated is a registered trademark of Drag Illustrated Media, LLC. Printed and mailed by Royle Printing in Sun Prairie, WI. All statements, including product claims, are those of the person or organization making the statement or claim. The publisher does not adopt any such statement or claims as its own, and any such statement or claim does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the publisher. Issue 152 C Will Mandell Senior Sales Executive 615.426.0465 will@dragillustrated.com

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