The Scrappers Sisters, Jasmine Salinas and Jianna Evaristo, delivered impressive performances to start the year when the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season kicked off at the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals last weekend at Gainesville Raceway. Despite unpredictable weather, team shakeups, and a marathon of delays, both drivers showed grit and determination to leave Gainesville with career milestones and momentum.
After a few delays during qualifying Friday, Jasmine’s first attempt was cut short when her dragster’s safety box failed, preventing her from making a run. Undeterred, her team regrouped for the second qualifying attempt, delivering a strong lap of 3.759 seconds at 331.61 mph to secure the No. 10 spot. Jianna powered her Valley Services Scrappers Racing Buell to a solid run of 6.839 at 200.77 to land in the No. 6 qualifying position. Persistent rain on Saturday forced NHRA officials to cancel the remaining qualifying sessions, locking in the fields for Sunday’s eliminations.
On race day, Jasmine delivered a career-best performance in Top Fuel, advancing to her first-ever semifinal appearance. She opened eliminations with a commanding win over Shawn Reed, running a 3.753 at 330.23 against his 4.100 at 275.79. In the quarterfinals, Jasmine lined up against Dan Mercier. Despite Mercier getting a slight starting line advantage, Jasmine outpaced him by the time they passed the tree and kept her lead all the way to the stripe to advance to the semifinals behind the wheel of her 12,000-horsepower Valley Services Scrappers Racing machine.
Facing Shawn Langdon in the semifinals, Jasmine put up a good fight against the former Top Fuel world champion, but her run of 3.777 at 328.94 was not enough for Langdon’s 3.727 at 332.84. Nevertheless, it was a stellar start to Jasmine’s sophomore season in Top Fuel. She’s leaving Florida with a fourth place points standing and a spot in the upcoming Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, where she’ll get a rematch against Langdon in Phoenix.
“I’m very proud of our team this weekend,” said Jasmine. “We came into the season with a smaller crew including two new members who had never worked on a race car before. Everyone stepped into new roles, and we also had some outside help from Joe Diasio, who was part of Austin Prock’s 2024 championship team. Together, Rob Flynn, Troy Fasching and Adem Cave worked incredibly hard to get this group functioning as a team.
“After only going four rounds in 19 races last season, to go three rounds in our first race of 2025 really shows that we’re moving in the right direction. We know there’s still a lot of work ahead, but this weekend proved that all the challenges we faced last year were worth it.”
In Pro Stock Motorcycle eliminations, Jianna delivered a strong opening-round win against Marc Ingwersen with a stellar 6.809-second pass at 199.88 mph. In the quarterfinals, she launched off the starting line with a lightning-quick .004-second reaction time against her teammate and mentor, Angie Smith, but her 6.872 pass wasn’t quite enough to hold off Smith’s quicker 6.810.
“I think we had a really strong weekend,” Jianna remarked. “Of course, I would have loved to go more rounds, but overall, this was a solid start to the season. My team and I brought competitive bikes to the track and I believe we proved that this weekend. If anything, this was just the beginning for us—we have a long season ahead, and I know we’re ready to kick some butt. Now, with six weeks until our next race, we have valuable time to fine-tune our program, make improvements, and come back even stronger.”
While Jianna won’t return to competition until the NHRA Four-Wides in Charlotte at the end of April, Jasmine is focused on carrying her momentum into the NHRA Arizona Nationals in Phoenix next week.
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