JACK OF ALL TRADES: MIKE SALINAS ADDS PM, PSM TO HIS WISH LIST

by Bobby Bennett, Photos by Roger Richards    Tue, 2021-03-09 20:52

 

Top Fuel driver Mike Salinas learned a valuable lesson earlier this week.

One must never grab the brake in a Pro Modified car at the finish line.

Huh?

In his latest quest to be a jack of all trades, and master of them all, Salinas for some reason didn't adhere to the sage advice given to him by his Pro Modified mentor Eric Dilliard.

"Eric was training me this week and he makes it to where it's very understandable," Salinas said.

Evidently, it wasn't good enough in one aspect, because Salinas, at the end of a run grabbed the brake. He quickly learned a lesson, as his centrifically-supercharged 1969 Camaro became a handful.

"We were shutting off at 800 and I touched a brake. The car made a left turn on me and I kept it off the right wall and then the left wall," Salinas said. "I got on the radio. I said, 'I know why you told me not to touch the brake."

Salinas quickly learned how volatile doorslammer racing could be despite running a 5.87 best in the test session at Orlando Speedworld Dragway in Florida.

For Salinas, his affection for doorslammer racing has been a growing attraction for decades. Not that he didn't respect the power of a Pro Modified car, but the Orlando incident ratcheted up his reverence.

Pro Mod is just as fast for the wheelbase," Salinas said. "You respect the speed for the short wheelbase, and they're fun cars. I got a lot to learn in Pro Mod, but we're going to have some fun with it."

Salinas plans to have so much fun that he's having a new 1957 Chevy Pro Mod built for him by Jerry Bickel Race Cars. Once it's done, he's going to put drag radials on the Camaro and go race some Duck X Productions events.

"Going to turn 60 years old, I'm going backwards," Salinas said. "I'm like a 16 year old. I've been wanting to race Pro Modified before any other racing that I was doing, and I'm looking forward to it."

And just like a television infomercial, wait ... there's more.

Salinas plans to also license on a Pro Stock Motorcycle soon.

"I want to race my kids," Salinas admitted. "I'm not going to be the guy that wished I could have done something. So I'm going to get my bike license. I want to race with my children."

And yes, he's considering a Nitro Harley. He just wants to make sure he can handle a Pro Stock Motorcycle first.

Salinas realizes he's ambitious. He's just wanting his family to share in the fun too.

"My kids, wife, and all the girls, they all want to race and have fun and, not my wife, but they all want to race and have a good time," Salinas said.

Apparently, daughter Jasmine will run a Rich McPhillips A/Fuel dragster and try her hand at Pro Modified.

"I don't know anything else except working and racing," Salinas said. "We've worked our whole lives and this is our 41st year in business. Racing is a camping trip for our family. And you know what? We just want to come out, enjoy, have a great time with a lot of great people. So we're going to have some fun this year. And we're going to have all top-notch, top tuners at the top end for what we're doing on all of our projects. So it'll be nice."

When the pandemic hit, Salinas immersed himself in work. However, before the world ground to a halt, Salinas had already made the decision to miss the first four races of the 2020 season.

"I just had a bad feeling about life and business," Salinas said. "So I chose to make sure that I take care of my house at home first, all the business, make sure that we're doing good. And then it just didn't feel right. And then the pandemic came and I gave Alan a call and told him, "We're going to sit this out. All the guys will stay employed. So we brought all the guys to California and they worked all year for us. We got everything ready for the car. Everything was ready to go. So what we did was we were just getting ready for this day. But all my guys, they all came to California. They worked, did a great job in the companies and we kept the team together and we're going to be together for quite a long time."

Salinas returned to Top Fuel this past weekend, and despite being out of the sport for over a year didn't miss a beat as he had the second quickest time in Palm Beach International Raceway with a 3.693, 328.30.

 

 

 

 
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