Posted on September 22, 2016
For Immediate Release:
Melanie Salemi and her Buffalo, NY based Melanie Salemi Motorsports Pro Mod team entered the 2016 Shakedown at the Summit with high expectations to take home the richest Pro Mod purse in the history of the class. Summit Motorsports Park Owner Bill Bader Jr. vowed to make the “Shakedown” a race that everyone would place on the schedules for years to come because simply “you just can’t afford not to be there.” With all that being said after only 2 qualifying sessions Melanie Salemi ended up in the 4th slot with a 5.91 at 238 mph during the rain shortened stages of the race. As first round approached on Sunday morning the weather had turned for the better. The rain had gone and sun was shining so it was time to “Put up or Shut up” in true Shakedown lingo. Melanie stomped through the 24 car field with a string of 5.87 second runs taking out RubenT, Bruce Boland, and Billy Harper. She waited until the semi’s to lower the boom on fellow Canadian and friend Wes Goddard with a 5.86 @ 242 mph to Wes’ 5.87 at a fast 252 mph. This set the finals to be a blower vs. turbo final round. Salemi and Kevin Fiscus were almost dead even on the tree in the final round but Fiscus pulled away after Melanie experienced tire shake at the hit and tried to pedal it to no avail. Although it was not Melanie’s day for the win, she showed her skill on the track all weekend and was good on the tree to get by 4 tough rounds of competition. “I am just really excited that I get to race with these guys a lot of them have way more experience than me in these cars and I’m really happy that I can class myself as one of them.” Stated Melanie. “My guys send me down the track with a perfectly prepared car each time and it makes my job that much easier. I don’t know if there is a harder working bunch of guys in this sport. We have had a lot going on the past couple of weeks and I owed it to Jon, Jim, Mike and the rest of our crew to do my job on the tree and go rounds last weekend” Although Melanie didn’t take home the Shakedown 14 title, she took home more experience in the ¼ mile and one of her best racing weekends to date has been put in the books.
Highly valued, Continuous Backing for Melanie Salemi Motorsports comes from AL-LEE Installations, Delta Faucet, Big Sky Motorsports, Quick Drive, MSR Performance, G-Force Race Cars, Resolution Racing Services, Ross Racing Pistons, Motorsports Unlimited, Santos Motorsports, TT Motorsports, Flatout Gaskets, Hoosier Racing Tires and NGK Sparkplugs.
Watch for the Melanie Salemi Motorsports team at their next outing at Virginia Motorsports Park October 21-22 at the 2016 PDRA World Finals.
Posted on February 10, 2016
The Melanie Salemi Motorsports Team is happy with recent on track results utilizing Fueltech EFI FT500 engine management system and Atomizer Fuel Injectors. During a test session / race event in Bradenton, Florida we made several runs in the 3.80’s with the Melanie Salemi driven G-Force Race Cars built 68 Firebird and worked out what it takes to have an EFI system on a supercharged Pro Mod. The FT500 is a complete management system controlling all of the tuning functions of the engine as well as shifting the car. We made a total of 12 runs and it worked flawlessly on all of them.
As always it takes a team effort for a successful venture and we would like to thank everyone involved for a successful trip. This wouldn’t have been possible without, G-Force Race Cars Inc, MSR Performance, Resolution Racing Services, Jeff Pierce, Fueltech EFI, Proline Racing and Atomizer Fuel Injectors. We are really looking forward to the 2016 racing season and expanding on this new and upcoming technology. For more information on Fueltech EFI Set up for all roots blown applications, call Jon Salemi at Resolution Racing Services 716-832-7583
Posted on October 1, 2015
In just her second outing with a new, supercharged MSR ’68 Firebird, Melanie Salemi started from the third position in Precision Turbo Pro Boost with a 3.86 pass at 192.11 mph, then ran like a bracket racer with runs of 3.86, 3.92, 3.86 and 3.86 respectively through Joe Baker, Larry Higgenbotham, Ric Fleck and finally Anthony Disomma to earn her first professional win.
“I’m completely overwhelmed. We’ve had this great vision of everything coming together and this is even better than what I imagined,” the transplanted Canadian from Buffalo, NY, declared. “First and foremost I have to thank my husband Jon, my brother-in-law Jim Salemi and Mike Stawicki, as well as my father, Roger Simmons. He couldn’t be here this week but we won it for him.”
In the final round, Salemi left first with a .047 light while Disomma was dead late at .158 in his twin-turbocharged ’67 Shelby Mustang. Regardless, Salemi also outran her opponent with a 3.86 at 192.63 as he put together a 3.87 at a slowing 123.84 mph.
“I knew I got out on him and I took a quick look over a couple of hundred feet out or so and still didn’t see him, but I was so worried he was going to come flying by me at the finish line,” Salemi described of her final run. “When I got there it just got quiet, but when I looked up and saw the ‘W’ on in my lane I just started celebrating in the car. I couldn’t understand why I didn’t hear from Jon for what seemed like an eternity, but he finally came on the radio and said he got mobbed on the starting line. It was pretty exciting.”
Courtesy of competitionplus.com and Ian Tocher
