Top Fuel racer and drag racing dad Mike Salinas knows the value of encouragement. 

Salinas met Alliana (now 17) and Terralyn Fletcher (9), now Junior Drag Racing sisters, at the 2019 Dodge NHRA Mile High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway while on a family trip with parents Terry and Bobbi. The blue-collar Top Fuel racer immediately took a liking to the sisters and began chatting with them about the virtues of drag racing, and especially his daughters' involvement. 

A gifted used piston sealed the deal. 

"That was in July," Terry told the North Platte Telegraph. "In August, Terralynn came up to me and said, 'Dad, I've been thinking,' and that's where it started. We got her in it, and, of course, Alliana went along."

Initially, Alliana didn't want to drag race, citing reluctance for her parents to spend what would have cost them at least $5,000 per girl to do it. If the saying, "Father knows best," had any credence, it did in this instance. 

Terry gave Alliana no choice. 

"My dad said, 'No, you're going to,' threw me in a car, and it became my passion," Alliana confirmed.

It's the peace and solitude behind the wheel that won Alliana's heart. 

"A lot of people wouldn't say it's peaceful because you're going 85 mph within an eighth of a mile, but it's literally the most peaceful thing I could do, and I just love doing it," Alliana said. "It's a mental game."

Alliana went first, and then Terralynn followed. Credit the sales job at Bandimere from Salinas for sealing the deal for the younger sibling. 

"I knew I could do it from the start, and Mike Salinas told me someday I might get in one of those cars, and here I am in one of these cars," Terralynn confirmed.

Terralynn trained running up and down a seldomly-used street until she was ready to acquire her competition license. The sisters joined the NHRA Summit Racing Jr. Drag Racing League.

Alliana has run as fast as 85 miles per hour, while Terralyn has recorded a best 62. 

The sisters are regulars at Julesburg Dragstrip, an NHRA sanctioned facility in Colorado. Last season, they raced at the NHRA D5 bracket finals, with Alliana reaching the quarter-finals in a 69-car field. Terralynn was a semi-finalist out of 20.

Salinas proudly sponsors the sisters with his Scrappers Racing brand. 

"I'm very proud of them," Salinas said. "I'm very proud of them to be part of our team. They are the future of this sport."

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