There they stood at the starting line, Victor Cagnazzi and Bob Tyler. It was the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis, the class final of the Factory Stock Showdown, and their COPO Camaro drivers — Dave Connolly and Todd Patterson, respectively — were going for the title.
 
“We got to talking about Erica [Enders-Stevens], and I told Victor I felt she’s someone that should be out there,” Tyler said. “She’s so good for the sport. Of course, we’re always interested in getting more exposure for Husky Liners.”
 
The next day or so, these competitors became business partners in Pro Stock racing — and Erica Enders-Stevens was back in business in the National Hot Rod Association’s Countdown to the Championship, with primary sponsorship from Tyler’s Husky Liners.
 

Image courtesy NHRA/National Dragster

“After a few texts back and forth,” Tyler said, “we struck this deal. I think it’s going to be great.”
 
His hunch was right.
 
He was looking at only a six-race stint, but he’s in the thick of a championship chase, especially after Enders-Stevens won the St. Louis race. She had a semifinal finish in Husky Liners’ debut at Charlotte, then she led the field the next week at Dallas. This past Sunday, she got a holeshot victory in the final against reinstated points leader Mike Edwards.
 
“We came back swinging,” she said after matching husband Richie Stevens with her career sixth victory that lifted her to fourth in the standings, just 50 points out of first.
 
Enders-Stevens said that at team strategy meetings, “we agreed we’re going to have fun. You never know when it’s your last race. We just agreed we’re going to make no mistakes. This [was] a make-it-or-break-it weekend in St. Louis. We made it. And we’re three rounds out of first.

“We’ve got three races left, and we’re going to do our best and let God do the rest and see what happens,” Enders-Stevens said.
 
“We’re swinging for the fence. This is our championship, and they’re going to have to take it from us. That’s the attitude that we have to have. We have to remain positive and optimistic. And I’m excited about it. I really am.”
 
Enders-Stevens counted this new marketing partnership a blessing. Tyler regarded it as the perfect platform to showcase his Winfield, Kansas-headquartered company that manufactures custom-fit floor and cargo liners and related automotive aftermarket accessories.

 
“Honestly, I just feel really blessed to have the opportunity be out here. It was really tough to sit at home and watch,” Enders-Stevens said. “We missed out on testing and seat time for me as a driver, but to be back out here for Husky Liners is great. I went from thinking we were going to sit out the Countdown to now, where we’ve got a real shot to chase the championship. I’m hungry and going after it.
 
“It really gives you time to think when you’re at home watching instead of being out here competing, knowing you have a great team standing behind you.

Image courtesy NHRA/National Dragster

“We’ve got great horsepower, thanks to Stevie Johns and Kevin Wideman at the Cagnazzi Racing engine shop in Mooresville [N.C.],” she said. “We’re so blessed to have Husky Liners on the side of the car. This has given us new life.
 
“I encourage everyone that supports drag racing and my team to go to HuskyLiners.com and check out their products. And when they order something, tell them thanks for the support. Sponsors are so hard to get, and I want to make sure these guys get their money’s worth from us,” Enders-Stevens said.

Image courtesy Geiger Media

Tyler, too, was charged up about the alliance.
 
“This is very exciting for us. To have Erica and Cagnazzi Racing promoting our line of Made In America products now is just an unbelievable opportunity for us,” he said.
 
Enders-Stevens missed six of 18 regular season races — literally one-third of the so-called “regular season” — because of sponsorship struggles. However, she had been such a strong presence in the ultra-competitive Pro Stock class that she still qualified for the 10-driver Countdown field.
 
She was fourth in the standings, thanks to career victory No. 5 at Phoenix and three runner-up showings, when funding ran out after her runner-up finish in June at Bristol, Tenn. But thanks to Tyler, she didn’t have to forfeit her place in the championship chase.
 
When she arrived at Charlotte, home of Cagnazzi Racing’s shop, for the start of the Countdown, she had Husky Liners and newfound hope for a championship. She and her team didn’t carry themselves or perform like folks who had tumbled five places in the standings.

“Everyone knows we’ve got a great team and a great car and really good horsepower,” Enders-Stevens said. “Everyone in the class knows what we’re capable of doing and at the same time we know what it takes to compete at this level. We all kind of feel like we need to make a statement.”
 
They made it loudly and clearly. This Husky Liners Camaro team means business.
 
They reclaimed three of those five lost places in the standings with a semifinal finish at Charlotte and the No. 1 qualifying position and two rounds of eliminations at Dallas.
 
However, she said, “We’ve got a good car, and it’s consistent. We’ve got to do our best every single time we pull up to the waterbox. We know that and I’m confident in my team.”

 
Enders-Stevens didn’t hesitate for even a split-second to say she and her team are championship material.

“We are, for sure,” she said. “I’ve got the best guys in the business, and they’ve stood behind me from Day One, as I have for them. We’re a great team, and we work really well together. Chemistry is important in this sport, and we’re lucky to have a great group of friends who work well together. That’s a little bit of our edge, honestly.”

Image courtesy NHRA/National Dragster

She calls herself the underdog, but she’s quickly becoming top dog. And in a sense, she has one of the largest teams, if one counts the fans. While she sat out, fans volunteered names of friends and colleagues who might be able to help her secure sponsorship. She followed every lead and said she can’t estimate how many there were because “I can’t count that high! I’ve made cold calls. I’ve chased every lead in the book.
 
“It’s been very humbling to get the e-mails and the Facebook messages and the Tweets [with possible leads],” Enders-Stevens said. “Fans are offering to send checks, $100 here, $1,000 here . . . ‘Can we do a fundraiser?’ I’ve had great support, and I’m glad to be here.”
 
Enders-Stevens wasn’t completely idle this summer. ADRL Pro Modified team owner Keith Haney invited her to drive his second nitrous-powered Camaro in that series, and she competed in the RacingJunk.com / Lucas Oil entry at Memphis and Rockingham, N.C., and plans to race in the Oct. 19-20 ADRL finale at Houston.

“Seat time is priceless,” she said.
 
That car is vastly different from her NHRA Pro Stock Camaro. “It’s a completely different animal,” Enders-Stevens said. “It has 1,000 more horsepower and four kits of nitrous. It’s a beast.” But the procedures are the same, and she said that helped her stay in racing shape: “You’re doing burnouts, backing up. It’s the same visualization and track prep.”
 
Haney said bringing Enders-Stevens into the ADRL arena “is good for the sport. It’s good for Keith Haney Racing. It’s good for our sponsors. The crowd loved her. She sold out all of her hats, and we sold out of T-shirts. Plus, it’s good for the ADRL.” League co-founder Kenny Nowling offered the team free entry and free testing for Enders-Stevens’ appearances there.
 
So going from sidelined to in-demand is no problem for her.
 
“I would rather be so busy I can’t sit down than be sitting at home, wishing and hoping that we were out here,” Enders-Stevens said. “We’re blessed to be out here, and we’re going to give it our all. You’ve got my word on that.”
 
She said she has no idea why Corporate America hasn’t caught onto her yet.
 
“That’s the two-and-a-half-million-dollar question,” Enders-Stevens, a marketing major from Texas A&M University, said. “We certainly have a lot of value to offer somebody. We’re 10 percent of a NASCAR budget, and our sport is the most fan-friendly sport on the planet. It’s a great venue to showcase your products. We didn’t expect it to be easy, but it’s a little baffling somebody hasn’t taken advantage of being on our team. We could totally drive sales and revenue for them.
 
“Bob Tyler and the guys at Husky Liners saw the opportunity, and hopefully we please them this year and it can extend into something in the future,” she said. “We want to make them proud.”
 
A championship definitely would do that.