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.