Elite-level NHRA Top Fuel driver Mike Salinas — along with daughters Jianna in Pro Stock Motorcycle and Jasmine in Top Alcohol Dragster — hasn’t been on the drag strip since last November.
However, his crew has had an unforgettable experience working with him these past few months. And after their latest workout, racing will be a piece of cake.
As the season-opener at California’s Auto Club Raceway at Pomona approached in February, Salinas declared he was opting out of the first four Mello Yello Drag Racing Series events.
With the interruption in racing in mid-March, Salinas made his 10 Alan Johnson Racing crew members an offer they didn’t refuse.
It was all about refuse — with the accent on the first syllable.
Salinas owns Scrappers Racing, a name with a nod to his scrap-metal recycling, garbage-hauling, construction-and-demolition site management, fencing installation and portable-toilet enterprises in San Jose, Calif.
With his planned hiatus extended because of the coronavirus outbreak, Salinas told his Indiana-based crew they could come to California’s Bay Area and work in his non-racing businesses.
“I told my guys, ‘You have been on payroll and you’re still working on the race car. And there’s not much to do over there,’” Salinas told Competition Plus. “I will tell you what — you can come to California and work 15 days. I told them they could work 15 days on, 15 days off.”
The Brian Husen-led band just might feel like they’re on a vacation when they return to the race track, which Salinas said will be Labor Day weekend for the Denso U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis.
“We put them out there doing harsh jobs: driving trucks, parking trucks, loading trucks. We also have them doing toilet deliveries, cleaning toilets . … We own a big port-o-potty business. We also have them dealing with rental fences. These guys are no joke,” Salinas added.
Salinas believes this unique chapter in their relationship will pay dividends on the race track.
“These guys have a good work ethic and we’re going to win races with this group,” he said.
On the opposite coast, two-time NHRA Funny Car champion Matt Hagan was “slinging beef” while managing his CBD oil product line, outdoor store and 2,100-acre cattle farm near Christiansburg, Va.
Hagan has recently devoted 90 acres to growing the commonwealth’s largest hemp crop.
“We’ve been rolling out a new product line with our CBD company (TruHarvest Farms) and getting it up and running,” Hagan said. “It’s been great to see the response from people and changing their lives with the pain medication. And I’ve been slinging beef to people. We opened up Hagan Cattle Co. We were overwhelmed … had no idea there’d be that much outreach for beef and people filling their freezers with beef.”
He also operates Matt Hagan Outdoors, which he opened in 2013 to sell Western gear, fishing tackle, archery equipment, firearms and rustic home décor.
“Normally, when things are super-crazy and busy, I’m on the road, trying to run these companies from a telephone,” Hagan said. “Coming out here to race is a blessing. I’m very passionate about it. But COVID-19 has allowed me to get re-centered back home and be able to be hands-on and efficient and effective.
“Then it also makes you realize how much you miss drag racing as well. You’re so used to getting on a plane, living out of a bag and traveling around that you don’t think there’s anything else because you’ve done it for 15 years. It kind of opens your eyes that there’s other stuff out there, too.”
Out on Long Island, Top Fuel rookie-of-the-year candidate Justin Ashley has had about as much free time as Hagan. At the beginning of the layoff, he temporarily halted his house-flipping business that’s documented on his online TV series “Fix. Flip. Fuel.”
“Once we started again, it was super-busy,” Ashley explained. “We sold one house, finished construction on another, and began construction on a third, all during that period of time.”
Junk food tempted Ashley a little during the quarantine period, so he reacquainted himself with fruits, vegetables, fish and chicken while working out twice a week with a personal trainer and twice more a week by himself.
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