With a two-weekend lag between the close of a two-race Western Swing and the pair of contests that end the “regular” season of NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series competition, teams are testing as much as they can to prep for Brainerd International Raceway’s Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals next weekend and the Big Go, the 70th annual Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park over the long, Labor Day holiday weekend.
Elite Motorsports, the largest Pro Stock team in NHRA’s pits – actually the largest 2024 professional team in straight-line racing – has another idea in mind as it preps for the Countdown to the Championship playoffs that decide Pro Stock’s titleholder at the close of a 20-race season. Seven of Elite Motorsports’ Pro Stock racers will compete this weekend in NHRA’s Division 5 National Open Double Header at Rock Falls Raceway in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The Division 5 event began Thursday, August 8 and continues through Sunday, August 11. It sure doesn’t hurt that Wisconsin and next week’s race at Brainerd aren’t terribly far from one another.
This NHRA Double National Open event takes place on Friday and Saturday, August 9-10, and will include Pro Stock entries from six-time reigning champion Erica Enders, three-time 2024 national event winner Aaron Stanfield, six-time world champion (five times in Pro Stock) Jeg Coughlin Jr., his nephew Troy Coughlin Jr., who won this year’s New England NHRA Nationals at Epping, N.H., second-year racer Jerry Tucker, together with David and Fernando Cuadra Jr.
While there are nine different Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series competing for cash prizes on both Saturday and Sunday, each Pro Stock entry has two qualifying opportunities on Friday together with three rounds of eliminations on Saturday.
Enders enjoys going to races of this nature and relishes another opportunity to get behind the wheel of her Chevrolet Camaro race car. “Getting to race at Rock Falls is always a good time,” she said. “It gives us a chance to show a market we don’t usually race in, what Elite Motorsports is all about. It’s really perfect timing for us, too. With just two races left before we start the NHRA Countdown to the Championship, getting some extra runs is helpful. The guys always have a blast too,” she said of her team.
Rock Falls Raceway is owned by Jim Greenheck, a Wisconsin businessman who is a championship racer in Lucas Oil’s Competition Eliminator class. He’s also the owner of CTech Manufacturing, which provides Elite Motorsports with all of its custom aluminum cabinets and toolboxes, both at the workshops in Wynnewood, Oklahoma and in the trailers the team uses to transport its cars and parts. While it’s apparent Elite Motorsports is coming to the Eau Claire track primarily to prep for its next two races, “For us to be able to come out to an event at Jim’s racetrack and support him, it’s important and we love doing it,” Enders stated. “There’s no bad days when you’re at a racetrack!”
On both Friday and Saturday, gates at Rock Falls Raceway open at 8am with racing starting an hour later. The Elite Motorsports Pro Stock cars make their Friday qualifying runs at 3 and 5PM CDT, while eliminations are scheduled for 3, 5 and 7PM on Saturday afternoon/evening. Not only will fans get to see Elite’s stars race, but they can watch the teams service cars between runs, warm up those 1,500-horsepower racers and meet the drivers on this team. Adult tickets are only $25 per day; children 12 and under have free entry.
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