Top Fuel drag racer Clay Millican figured if the NHRA's Pep Boys Call-Out event was essentially like Street Outlaws on nitro, they might as well go in all the way. Friday's Pep Boys Call-Out ceremony was television-quality entertainment. 

That's why when Millican, as the No. 8 seed, was called out by the top runner Brittany Force, he challenged her to a $1000 side bet. Judging by Force's reaction, the move caught her off-guard. 

Millican, satisfied with that belief, made sure before he threw the side bet out there that he didn't catch his wife Donna by surprise. 

"The truth is the whole truth and nothing but the truth; right before I walked out on stage, I called Donna to make sure it was okay. I did that because I've never paid a bill in my life," Millican admitted. "I've never balanced a checkbook, and I have no idea how much money's in the bank. So I had to call her to see if it was okay for me to do that."

With Donna's blessings, Millican made the challenge. 

"I think it caught everybody off guard and got a chuckle out of the crowd, so it was fun," Millican said. "At the end of the day, either way, if we win or lose, the money's going to charity, so it was just fun to do it."
 
Millican might have made the first bet, but Mike Salinas made the largest. Justin Ashley called out Salinas, who made a memorable moment during the ceremony. He challenged Ashley to a $5000 race. 

"This is 100 percent to make it exciting for the fans; make it exciting for my crew and my guys," Salinas explained. "I was going to do $10,000, but I didn't want to act like a big shot. 

"Hopefully, we can build on it for the future. What I would like to see is, when we go up for qualifying, people betting on the starting line and get betting into this association and what we're doing because it'll bring a different group of people so that way we make the sport more exciting. I'm going to open up a casino at the track myself."

Make no mistake; Salinas says every bit of this is real. 

"I'm going to carry the money with me," Salinas said. "If I lose on the other end, I'm going to give him his $5,000. I got it in cash."

Maybe this was why Ashley had the deer in the headlights look with Salinas' challenge. 

"I wasn't expecting it," Ashley admitted. "I should have gone in more prepared that if I knew we were going to call out Mike Salinas, there might have been a side bet that was thrown around. So he caught me off guard a little bit. But when you're out there in front of people, and he's going to throw a side bet out there, you're not going to say no. It's good for the fans. It makes it that much more exciting. So already a lot on the line, a lot of money on the line, so throw a little bit more on top of it."

It's almost like grudge racing, Top Fuel style. At least, this is how Ashley sees it. 

"It reminds me of, like, you see these drag radial deals where they throw grudge racing wagers on it," Ashley said. "I haven't raced before with betting money on the line, but hey, I'm all for it. I didn't need any more motivation, but now I do."