Jim Widener , Melanie Salemi , Blake Copson and more win 27 ^th World Street Nationals at Orlando By Josh Hachat

Orlando Speed World Dragway isn ’ t a particularly easy one for Melanie Salemi and her team .

But it ’ s hard to argue with the results once Salemi and the Eddie Whalen-owned ’ 19 Camaro arrive . For a second straight year , Salemi impressed at the World Street Nationals in Orlando , November 13-15 , taking a wire-to-wire victory in Radial vs . the World . Last year , she won in her class debut and in 2020 , Salemi and company were even better , qualifying No . 1 and going a weekend-best 3.575-seconds at 209.75 mph in the final round against David Reese .

“ It ’ s like the most awesome feeling coming home with that trophy , coming into the parking lot and everybody from the shop is there cheering . It ’ s a pretty cool feeling ,” Salemi says . “ It was the best possible outcome that could have happened . It ’ s not just me , but all of our sponsors and teammates who help make this happen . Everyone has a hand in a weekend like this .”

Other winners from the 27th annual race included Jim Widener in Pro Mod , Blake Copson in Outlaw 10.5 and Eric Dillard in Pro 275 .

For Salemi , it was as picture-perfect as a weekend could get , giving her a thrilling late-season win that can jolt a team through the offseason .

The team may decide to race at Bradenton in December , but regardless , Salemi is ending the year in style for a second consecutive year .

As big as last year ’ s victory was , beating Stevie “ Fast ” Jackson in her RvW debut , this one was just as significant considering the unprecedented nature of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic .

But apparently Salemi racing well in Orlando

is a certainty these days , and she ’ ll gladly take that amidst all the chaos .

“ We were pretty confident going into [ Orlando ] that we were going to run fast , but you can ’ t ever expect a weekend like that ,” Salemi says . “ There ’ s definitely been a lot of ups and downs

for everyone this year and that includes our team . But we were able to constantly learn and make improvements . As a team , we ’ ve proven we can conquer anything we do . There ’ s a really solid group of people behind us , starting with Eddie Whelan , and he backs us on everything we do .”

PHOTOGRAPHS BY BRYAN EPPS