Melanie Salemi Storms Through PDRA World Finals

Melanie Salemi had a couple of objectives to focus on as her team rolled through the gates of Virginia Motorsports Park for the final race of the PDRA season. First and foremost was to continue the strong performances that her G-Force Race Cars built 68 Firebird has been known for. Secondly was to capitalize on the great atmospheric conditions that this event continually produces year after year. That was taken care of as she staged her Resolution Racing Services tuned ‘Purple Reign’ Pro Boost entry and ripped right from A to B on its first test run with a staggering 3.64 at 205 mph run. That set the stage for what was going to be an epic race for the team based in Buffalo, New York. Melanie would also produce another 3.64 but this time at 206 mph to close out Thursday testing.

As qualifying run number 1 approached, Salemi would have her one slip up at this event. Husband and tuner Jon Salemi stated, “I just missed the tune up on Q1. The car was too slow early and it set the car to the right and when the lock up came in it forced the car into a huge power wheelie and was close to the wall so Melanie was forced to lift subsequently, giving up the top spot in qualifying. As conditions through qualifying changed the MSM team made low ET runs for each session of the race in every round.

Salemi’s 3.66 at 206 ended up #2 on the sheet and then she systematically removed each opponent with an onslaught of runs between 3.66 and 3.62 all between 204 to 206 mph. In round 2 Melanie blasted to a national Pro Boost record of 3.624 @ 206.20 mph. She then went on to win the event which couldn’t have been a better way to close out the 2018 PDRA season.

Brother in-law and chassis builder Jim Salemi said, “I’ve been racing for 30 years and this has been the most satisfying race of my career. We have a great team and about 95% of it is done in house. There is something to be said for that. We control every aspect of our car and it’s only going to get better. This just gives us more spark to keep pushing and moving forward”. Look for the MSM team in two weeks to close the season at Orlando Speed World for the 25th World Street Nationals November 8-11.

A sincere thank you, to all of our marketing partners who help make this possible!
AL-LEE Installations, Big Sky Motorsports, Quick Drive, Strange Engineering, New Era Cap Company, Liberty’s Gears, G-Force Race Cars, MSR Performance, Resolution Racing Services, RS Performance, FuelTech, Hammer Superchargers, LAT Racing Oil, Atomizer Racing Injectors, Ross Racing Pistons, Motorsports Unlimited, TT Motorsports, Flatout Gaskets, NGK Sparkplugs, MVM by Galot, Kinetic Engineering, R&R Racing Products, VP Racing Fuels, Central Fire Protection & Hoosier Racing Tires.