Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

News

Top Fuel’s Mike Salinas Rewards Team With Harley-Davidson Motorcycles At NHRA Four-Wide Nationals

It was another impressive weekend for Top Fuel driver Mike Salinas, who qualified No. 1 and set the track record at zMAX Dragway during the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals.

While the Scrappers Racing team owner didn’t earn his second win of the season on his birthday weekend, his crew members did leave the weekend with new Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

As a reward for helping Salinas to his first career NHRA Top Fuel victory earlier this month in Las Vegas, Salinas rewarded each member of his crew with new Harleys. The announcement and presentation came during pre-race ceremonies on Sunday in Charlotte, and it was something Salinas had planned since the moment he won.

“Each one of my guys gets a brand new one because they all did a great job helping me get my first win,” Salinas said. “I give credit where it’s due and these guys have done some amazing stuff. We’re not going away and this car is going to be good all year long.”

Salinas worked with Harley-Davidson and NHRA on when to surprise his team, and that moment came Sunday. As could be expected, his crew was stunned with the incredible gesture.

“They were ecstatic, but the day I won (in Las Vegas), I knew what I was going to do,” Salinas said. “It was a gesture I wanted to do and they were pretty surprised and pretty happy. But we’re a close-knit group and spend a lot of time together, so this is something I wanted to do.”

It figures to be a huge motivator for Salinas’ talented team, which is led by standout minds like Alan Johnson, Brian Husen and Arron Cave, and they again delivered a strong car for Salinas this weekend in Charlotte.

Salinas bowed out in the second quad of the Four-Wide Nationals, but he remained fourth in points after the sixth of 24 events during the 2019 NHRA season and once again showed the type of performance befitting of a championship contender.

He earned six bonus points during qualifying, setting the tone on Friday with an impressive blast of 3.687 at 327.43 mph to set the track record. That easily held up and Salinas added another strong run of 3.728 at 327.43 on Saturday for the quickest run that day.

Salinas went 3.768 at 324.90 in the first round to advance, though he slowed to a 5.423 a round later when a last-minute lane swap pushed him into the far lane. Still, Salinas likes where he team is at a quarter of the way through the 2019 season.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

“We’re positive people and we’re happy to be here,” said Salinas, who now has three career No. 1 qualifiers. “We know we have something. We broke the track record, qualified No. 1, so everything is all good with this team. You’re going to have some good runs and bad runs, but we’ve got a really fast car.”

It won’t take long for Salinas to try for his second win of 2019, as the Scrappers Racing team travels to Atlanta next weekend for the Arby’s NHRA Southern Nationals, May 3-5 at Atlanta Dragway.

Salinas celebrates with his team after earning his first career Top Fuel win earlier this month in Las Vegas. He surprised his team with Harley’s in Charlotte as a token of appreciation.

This story was originally published on April 28, 2019. Drag Illustrated

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You May Also Like

News

It’s been four years since Jack Beckman turned a tire at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and 18 since last he hoisted...

News

MAVTV – the world’s premier media platform for passion-fueled motorsports, powersports and automotive programming – announced today an all-new original series, Racers Roundtable, set to...

News

Three weeks after a mechanical issue took him out of contention in the Texas Fall Nationals, Austin Prock resumes his drive to drag racing...

Exclusive

Scott Taylor, a fan-favorite and frontrunner in No Prep Kings (NPK), has become one of the most popular faces in drag racing, capturing attention...

Since 2005, DI has informed, inspired and educated drag racers from every walk of the racing life - weekend warrior and street/strip enthusiasts to pro-level doorslammer and Top Fuel racers. From award-winning writing and photography to binge-worthy videos to electric live events, DI meets hundreds of thousands of racers where they live, creating the moments that create conversations.