Jasmine Salinas Takes Next Step Toward NHRA Top Fuel Class
Jasmine Salinas has taken another step toward a full-time run in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Top Fuel class.
Salinas, 31, on Monday made three practice launches to the 330-foot mark in a nitro-powered Top Fuel dragster at Wildhorse Pass Motorsports Park in Chandler, Arizona. Salinas hopes to join her father, eight-time NHRA Top Fuel winner Mike Salinas, in the Top Fuel class in 2024.
Jasmine Salinas currently competes in the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Top Alcohol class, where she finished third in that series' championship last season. She's working to secure her Top Fuel license.
The Top Fuel dragster experience in Arizona, she said, meant more than just strapping in and hitting the right buttons.
“Honestly, I was trying to mentally prepare myself based off everything that I've heard from other people's experiences," she said. "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 I was trying 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."
Salinas said that even in her brief three-launch test, she gained a new level of respect for the Top Fuel dragsters.
“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 percent fallen in love with it and I'm ruined, and I'll be even more ruined when I make my first full pass.”
“And then my dad, he was a hot mess all day. I think they even had to ask him to like 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.’ "
Stepping out is not in Salinas' plans.
Salinas began racing at the age of 15 in the Junior 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 teams’ general manager and handles day-to-day operations of the team.
Salinas' next scheduled Top Fuel test is set for The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in April. There she intends to make her first full passes.
Looking Back
In 2021, Jasmine Salinas survived a wild ride in her Top Alcohol dragster during the NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville where her car went airborne. Here's another look back on that run:
