NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Jasmine Salinas made her first launches behind the wheel of a Top Fuel dragster on Monday afternoon at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park. The 31-year-old daughter of NHRA Top Fuel driver Mike Salinas will work to obtain her NHRA Top Fuel license as she prepares to compete full time beginning in 2024.

During Monday’s test session, Salinas made a total of three launches and made it successfully to the 330-foot mark behind the wheel of one of the race team’s Top Fuel dragsters. Salinas will continue her testing at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in April, where she intends to make her first full passes. 

“My initial reaction was, ‘I know I didn't even make a full pull and the power of these cars is absolutely incredible.’ “ she said. “And at that moment, right there is where I realized I want to spend this entire year taking my time because it gave me even more respect for these cars and the power that they have. I want to respect it so much and take my time with it because the horsepower and how fast it was. I've 100% fallen in love with it, and I'm ruined, and I'll be even more ruined when I make my first full pass.

“My dad, he was a hot mess all day. I think they even had to ask him to leave the pit because he was trying to help with everything to the point where I was like, ‘You're not being helpful so just go stand over there and look at something else.’ And then my mom I think was crying all day long. And then she was like, ‘Are you sure you want to do this? You know, you could step out any time.’ But she stayed for all my rides. And it was special because, you know, my routine from when I’m getting suited up and everything, I always hug my mom before I get in my race car. And she was there even for these runs. So, nothing changed. And it felt like I was still doing everything that I've been used to with my racing, and I loved it.”

Salinas has competed in the Top Alcohol Dragster ranks since 2019 and has earned three victories in her career. She is competing for the 2023 championship in the series while spending as much time as possible testing the Top Fuel dragster in preparation for 2024.

Salinas began racing at the age of 15 in the Jr. Dragster division. After college, Salinas began working for her family’s Top Fuel team, Scrappers Racing, as a Floater and Supercharger Assistant. She currently serves as the team’s General Manager and handles all day-to-day operations of the team.

“When I woke up, I was very shocked because I thought I wasn’t going to sleep and be sick to my stomach like I was going into Pomona for the Finals,” she said. “I remember Pomona when we were going into Saturday night before Sunday’s finals. I was up at 3 a.m. crying hysterically because I was like, ‘I don't know if I can do this. I don't know if I'm ready for a championship.’ I was just so stressed out about it.”

“But in comparison to this time around, I think the difference was that there were no expectations. For me, there's nobody that had put any expectations on me. That I have to make so many passes. I have to go this far. I didn't put any expectations on myself except to just show up and hit the throttle. And just taking all of that pressure off of me, I was just really grateful and appreciative that I have this opportunity to take it at my own pace. 

“So my stress levels when I woke up this morning, I was feeling great. And I was so excited. And it wasn't until I was basically getting suited up where I was like, ‘OK, I'm actually pretty stressed right now. I'm a little anxious and nervous.’ And I was sitting in my car, and I was like, ‘OK, I'm just going to pretend I'm in my A/Fuel [Top Alcohol] car.’ I kept noticing I was doing that throughout the day, just pretending I was in my A/Fuel car. And there's definitely some huge things that were very different. But after I got my first pass out of the way, it was a very short launch because we're still adjusting some things with my helmet and literally only went 100 feet. And then the second time I went past the 330 [-foot] mark and I was like, ‘God, this is incredible.’ I understand, I'm barely going anywhere, and I'm already hooked, and it's also great because I was kind of expecting the absolute worst.”

“Honestly, I was trying to mentally prepare myself, and based off everything that I've heard from other people's experiences, I was compiling all the worst-case scenarios into one pass. Things like, ‘I'm going to black out and everything's going to get blurry. I'm going to have no idea where I'm at on the track,’ and it's just being prepared for the worst. And I usually try to be very positive, but for some reason was trying to, like, to be so prepared for anything because I just didn't know what to expect. 

“And I think that was the thing that was the scariest is just not knowing what to expect and not knowing how I am going to react to this experience that's so unique. But then knowing that everybody else that I've talked to about their journeys leading up to stepping on the gas in a Top Fuel car has been very different than others. It's just been interesting to see, I guess, where I'm at in comparison to all those other stories that I've heard so far.”