In his quarterfinal Top Fuel victory over Clay Millican at Sunday’s Lucas Oil Nationals at Northern Minnesota’s Brainerd International Raceway Mike Salinas rocketed his Valley Services Dragster to the third-fastest pass in class history at 328.26 mph. It is the fastest this entire year.
Salinas lost to eventual winner Antron Brown, who said Salinas “dropped a bomb in that last round” after advancing past Salinas into the final. Salinas’ top speed is third on the performance list behind two of Brittany Force’s late-2022 marks (338.94 at Pomona Finals last November and 338.43 last October at St. Louis). Eight Funny Car passes among four different drivers have been faster.
Salinas also set low elapsed time of the meet at 3.654 seconds on the 1,000-foot Brainerd International Raceway course.
Contributing Editor
Susan Wade has lived in the Seattle area for 40 years, but motorsports is in the Indianapolis native’s DNA. She has emerged as one of the leading drag-racing writers with nearly 30 seasons at the racetrack, focusing on the human-interest angle. She was the first non-NASCAR recipient of the prestigious Russ Catlin Award and has covered the sport for the Chicago Tribune, Newark Star-Ledger, and Seattle Times. She has contributed to Autoweek as a freelance writer since 2016.
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