Youthful and quietly feisty between moments of intense focus, Jianna Evaristo is in the midst of her sixth season as a competitor in the formidable Pro Stock Motorcycle ranks. One of four daughters of Top Fuel racer Mike Salinas and wife Monica, Evaristo has steadily displayed a keen commitment to becoming her best self, both as a rider and as a person. A brilliant 204.54 mph pass in Sonoma last season bumped the 27-year-old rider’s stature in NHRA history up as the fastest woman in the class, and she’s continuing to whittle away at mastering the skills required to win races in the fiercely competitive category.
Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in DI #195, the Women of Power Issue, in July/August of 2025.
Aboard a Matt Smith Racing (MSR) V-Twin Buell adorned with Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage branding alongside that of Scrappers Racing and DENSO, Evaristo is proud of her successes, but she’s also eager to continue her education on two wheels.
“I recently had this realization, oh my gosh, this is my sixth year of racing professionally – but it doesn’t feel like I’ve been racing that long,” admits Evaristo, who claimed victory at the 2019 NHRA Finals during her debut season. “It’s crazy, I’m not a rookie anymore, and I’ve gained a lot of really good experience. I’ve come a long way, but I still feel like I have so much to learn.”
There have been a number of setbacks in her still-early career, including a pair of crashes – one in 2022 which took a good deal of recovery – and she’s had to adjust to riding a different style of motorcycle when she made the move from a Suzuki to a V-Twin last year. Through it all, she’s only become stronger, smarter, and more determined.
“The year I started working with Matt and Angie [Smith], that felt like my first year learning how to ride correctly and really race a motorcycle,” she says. “The following year was really good, and we finished fifth in points. Then we made the decision to switch to V-Twin and it was almost like starting over again. Yes, both motorcycles run relatively the same elapsed time and speed, but they are very different to ride. It felt like starting over again.”
But she leaned in and made up ground quickly.
“Last year was one of my most successful in racing, and I genuinely felt like I had a very competitive motorcycle,” she shares. “I lost a lot of rounds being late on the tree and things like that, and that showed me how much more I needed to work on being a racer and not just a rider. It’s definitely been a journey, but now, six years in, I can really take all of the skills I’ve learned and put them together. It’s very difficult to win races when you’re still trying to focus on learning to ride, but now I feel like I have a good bike, I’m riding good, and I’m getting more and more comfortable. This is the first year I can really focus on being a true racer and doing everything I can to be competitive.”
NHRA photo
One of the most important pieces to the puzzle has been finding the right fit with her team. Initially, Evaristo wasn’t sure MSR was for her. The landscape within Pro Stock Motorcycle can be contentious, and the Smith family is known for standing up and speaking out when they believe change needs to be made. The bold vocalization of perceived injustices or seemingly obvious disparity initially made sweetly natured Evaristo a bit uncomfortable.
“I’d never had a full conversation with either Matt or Angie,” says Evaristo. “But I had heard a lot of negative things. I didn’t want to work with them, originally, but I have never been so happy to be so wrong about people. Everything people say about them is wrong. Anyone who really knows them will tell you that they are some of the most honest and hard-working people you’ll ever meet. I genuinely believe that it was the right decision to work with them, and I do not believe that I would be as successful as I am now if I hadn’t made the transition to this team.”
Evaristo said that along with the power provided by MSR, she found a support system. With her father and sister, Top Fuel racer Jasmine, both out of full-time racing at the moment, she has deeply benefitted from the built-in support and friendship.
“It’s been difficult without my family because I feel like that’s our thing; we’ve always raced together,” says Evaristo. “I felt weird, almost like I didn’t have my safety blanket of support anymore, but they check in with me constantly and Jasmine still makes it to some races. Having such a supportive team has made it easier. I can talk to Matt and Angie, and I’m lucky to have a relationship with them that we can sit down and have hard conversations when I’m going through something. I’m an emotional person, and they understand that and don’t expect me to be anyone other than who I am. I know I can rely on them and that they have my back, the same way my family would.”
While the “Fastest Woman in Pro Stock Motorcycle” badge is a great honor, Evaristo still feels as though she has much work to do. What she’s most proud of is her overall journey as a rider and now a racer.
“With what I’ve been through, I think lot of people probably would have given up,” she says. “I’m not saying I’m special in any way, but if anything, that’s what sets a racer apart from a non-racer: seeing failure and struggle as an opportunity. Showing up weekend after weekend, continuing to learn, and putting in the effort to become successful. I have a lot more to learn and so much more I want to achieve, but hard work does pay off. You just have to be willing to make the sacrifices. That’s something I’m able to apply to life in general; if you truly want something bad enough, you have to be willing to repeatedly fail and block out what anyone else says. Keep pushing because you know your goal, and you know it’s worth it.”
