Mike Salinas isn’t kidding around. Even when he was just getting his feet wet in the Top Fuel pool and few knew who he was, the San Jose, Calif., businessman would speak politely and respectfully if he had to talk at all. He’d concentrate on the conversation, but his surface-to-surface missile-like eye contact signaled that he was ready any second to get back to the comfort of and the demands of his dragster. From the beginning, he hired the right tuning consultant, made sure his team knew what to do, and acquired the best parts.

People know who Mike Salinas is now, all right. And he still is intense, still driven to be the best. And as he made his comeback to the sport after more than a year, at preseason testing last weekend at West Palm Beach, Fla., he was just 14-thousandths of a second from being the absolute best among the elite racers on the property at Jupiter, Fla. He surely had that burning desire to grab the No. 1 qualifying position this weekend. But Saturday, all that vanished for him. All that mattered was that his daughter Jasmine was safe.  

Top Alcohol Dragster racer Jasmine Salinas was taken to a Gainesville, Fla., hospital Saturday morning for further evaluation after she took a frightening flight over the left guard wall during her third and final qualifying pass.

Amazingly, she sent word from the hospital that she had “a few bruises here and there but feel fine otherwise.” And before the day was finished, she was standing at the starting line back at the racetrack, watching her sister Jianna and their father in their quests to qualify.

Track workers reported immediately via radio and the NHRA later confirmed that Salinas, 29, had crawled from her heavily damaged race car on her own power. She was evaluated by emergency medical personnel on-site before being transported to nearby UF Health Shands Trauma Center at Gainesville.

The NHRA issued a statement that said Salinas’ “dragster stood up and blew over before coming to a stop” in the class’ final pairing of the session.

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Scrappers Racing team public-relations representative Melanie Johnson said in a prepared statement that Salinas “shook the tires early in the run, let the car calm down, and attempted to pedal [feather the throttle, trying to regain traction]. As she got back on the throttle, the front wheels lifted and surpassed the strength of the wheelie bar. The car went completely airborne and settled on the embankment outside of the guard wall on the left side of the track.

“Moments later,” Johnson said, “Salinas exited the car under her own power and spoke to the NHRA Safety Safari members that were first to the scene.”

Salinas sent word to her team from the hospital: “I will be out of here as soon as possible. I have a few bruises here and there but feel fine otherwise.”

What was foremost on her mind was returning to the racetrack to support her family. Jianna Salinas also escaped serious injury in 2019 after she tumbled from her bike near the end of her high-speed run during eliminations at Joliet, Ill.

The clocking system, as expected, gave Jasmine Salinas no time for her ill-fated pass but listed her as No. 2 in the order with a 5.177-second elapsed time at 279.50 mph from Friday. She will not race Sunday.

Neither will her sister, who missed the Pro Stock Motorcycle cut.

But Mike Salinas took the No. 7 starting spot in Top Fuel and will meet No. 10 Antron Brown in the opening round of runoffs.