Chandler, AZ - Tim Wilkerson has never really been known as a fast starter when it comes to racking up round wins early in the season. His tight budget does not allow for the same sort of repetitive preseason testing done by his competitors, forcing Wilk to hit the ground running at Pomona without a lot of fresh data. This year, with two rookie crew members and a third playing "out of position" the Levi, Ray & Shoup team was only able to make a couple of shakedown runs prior to the season opener, but now after two races they sport a 2-2 record, are in seventh place in the Mello Yello points, and have a priceless amount of experience earned "under fire" to build on. The two round wins were earned today, as Wilk and his young group advanced to a semifinal finish in cool and windy Phoenix.
For the second consecutive race, Wilk found his qualifying stride on Saturday after swinging and missing during the first two qualifying sessions. He was outside the field when he pulled to the line for Q3, but was solidly in after posting a 4.179. In Q4, he upped the ante one more time with a 4.110 that landed him in the same No. 8 spot from which he started in Pomona. All in all, it's been a pair of solid qualifying efforts for a team that could count all of its 2013 laps on one hand entering Pomona.
With sunshine predicted for the entire Phoenix weekend, the big variables in terms of conditions had to do with wind and temperature. Gone were the high 60s and low 70s, replaced instead by a thermometer that struggled to reach the high 50s on Sunday. Along with the chilly drop in temperature came a relentless wind in the 15-20 mph range, and when a drag strip is located in the desert a strong wind like that will bring unfavorable things with it, including dust, dirt, and sand. From the time the teams arrived at the track just after the crack of dawn, it was clear that the howling wind and cold track were going to be a challenge.
"I know there are people in places where there's tons of snow and really cold temperatures right now, and they probably think we're sissies when we talk about how cold it was here, but you add in that wind and the fact we're not really dressed for it, I mean we're wearing sweatshirts not snowmobile suits, and it was cold," Wilk said. "Trust me, we've got some Minnesotans on our team, and if they're cold it's legitimately cold out. With that wind blowing all the dust and dirt around, I think we all knew we'd have our hands full down track, once you get past the end of the grandstands, and we were right.
"The starting line stayed okay, and even though the right lane was clearly the better one it was not a strict one-lane track. There were a few good runs made in the left, so it could be done. But once you got down there past the grandstands, the traction was a little harder to come by, because there was just no way to keep it completely sticky down there with the wind howling. We're probably lucky we didn't have any timing issues with hot dog wrappers tripping the beams, so I guess we should thank the fans for helping us out there."
To experience more than one trip down the Firebird track, Wilk had to win his first round of the year and to do so he'd need to defeat the always tough Del Worsham. Taking the favored right lane thanks to his No. 8 position, Wilk powered much of the way down the 1,000-foot racing surface before hazing the tires at the windswept top end, while Worsham had traction problems early in the run. With the win lights on in his lane, Wilk put his first notch in the "W" column and he moved on to face Robert Hight in round two.
Hight's trip to the second round was one of the more bizarre scenarios on a day full of wacky performances. Hight struggled in qualifying, and just limped into the field in the 16th spot. Facing No. 1 qualifier Johnny Gray in round one, the disparity in performance was impossible to ignore, but so were the conditions, and both cars were up in tire smoke very early. A wild pedal-fest was soon underway, with both drivers attempting to corral their untamed beasts, and when Gray managed to steer his machine across the finish line first the teams back at the starting line figured they knew the score. Gray's team smiled and clapped, while Hight's team began the trudge back to the pit. Hight had also come extremely close to crossing the center line. But then, announcer Alan Reinhart informed the masses that Gray had actually touched the wall, so his run was thrown out. Hight had come close, but did not actually cross the line, so he was awarded the win.
In round two, Wilk took the right lane again and saddled Hight with the left. Traction problems again plagued Hight, while Wilk shot to the other end with his quickest run of the weekend, clocking in at 4.102 to advance to the semifinals.
"The biggest challenge to get past, just to be there to win that round, was our crew having to make the full service in the allotted time," Wilk said. "Like I've said, you can't really practice what it's like to have the clock ticking and people staring at you, and if you panic you'll make mistakes. They get a little quicker every time they do it, but this time there was no room for error. I'm proud of them for getting it done."
After beating Hight in round two, the team needed to do a standard engine swap, not due to damage but due to the number of laps on the motor that was in the car. Under even more pressure to get back up to the lanes for the semifinals, the young group was firing the new motor 44 minutes after crossing the finish line in round two. It was a well earned, but stressful, turn-around.
Unfortunately, the machine that is Ron Capps in his NAPA car was up next, and this time Wilk did not control lane choice. In the left lane, Wilk smoked the tires at the hit of the throttle while Capps tore down track on another massive run. Capps would go on to win the race with runs of 4.061, 4.059, 4.037, and 4.064 on one of the trickier tracks in recent history.
"We broke a clutch lever and never had a chance, but even if we hadn't I don't think we had enough to beat Ron's car today," Wilk said. "That was a heck of a day they had, on a track that wasn't handing anything out for free. We would've loved to have raced in the finals, but we'll take the semifinal and move on to Gainesville in a few weeks, where hopefully it will be nice and warm. My guys learned a lot today, and they'll be better for it. We can do some good out here, and we aim to do that."
Also, for the record, on the day Danica Patrick had the media in a tizzy as she started from the pole in the Daytona 500, the Pro Stock class champion in Phoenix was Erica Enders. Of course, in the world of NHRA, she's just another very good driver in an enormously competitive class.
From: Bob Wilber
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For the second consecutive race, Wilk found his qualifying stride on Saturday after swinging and missing during the first two qualifying sessions. He was outside the field when he pulled to the line for Q3, but was solidly in after posting a 4.179. In Q4, he upped the ante one more time with a 4.110 that landed him in the same No. 8 spot from which he started in Pomona. All in all, it's been a pair of solid qualifying efforts for a team that could count all of its 2013 laps on one hand entering Pomona.
With sunshine predicted for the entire Phoenix weekend, the big variables in terms of conditions had to do with wind and temperature. Gone were the high 60s and low 70s, replaced instead by a thermometer that struggled to reach the high 50s on Sunday. Along with the chilly drop in temperature came a relentless wind in the 15-20 mph range, and when a drag strip is located in the desert a strong wind like that will bring unfavorable things with it, including dust, dirt, and sand. From the time the teams arrived at the track just after the crack of dawn, it was clear that the howling wind and cold track were going to be a challenge.
"I know there are people in places where there's tons of snow and really cold temperatures right now, and they probably think we're sissies when we talk about how cold it was here, but you add in that wind and the fact we're not really dressed for it, I mean we're wearing sweatshirts not snowmobile suits, and it was cold," Wilk said. "Trust me, we've got some Minnesotans on our team, and if they're cold it's legitimately cold out. With that wind blowing all the dust and dirt around, I think we all knew we'd have our hands full down track, once you get past the end of the grandstands, and we were right.
"The starting line stayed okay, and even though the right lane was clearly the better one it was not a strict one-lane track. There were a few good runs made in the left, so it could be done. But once you got down there past the grandstands, the traction was a little harder to come by, because there was just no way to keep it completely sticky down there with the wind howling. We're probably lucky we didn't have any timing issues with hot dog wrappers tripping the beams, so I guess we should thank the fans for helping us out there."
To experience more than one trip down the Firebird track, Wilk had to win his first round of the year and to do so he'd need to defeat the always tough Del Worsham. Taking the favored right lane thanks to his No. 8 position, Wilk powered much of the way down the 1,000-foot racing surface before hazing the tires at the windswept top end, while Worsham had traction problems early in the run. With the win lights on in his lane, Wilk put his first notch in the "W" column and he moved on to face Robert Hight in round two.
Hight's trip to the second round was one of the more bizarre scenarios on a day full of wacky performances. Hight struggled in qualifying, and just limped into the field in the 16th spot. Facing No. 1 qualifier Johnny Gray in round one, the disparity in performance was impossible to ignore, but so were the conditions, and both cars were up in tire smoke very early. A wild pedal-fest was soon underway, with both drivers attempting to corral their untamed beasts, and when Gray managed to steer his machine across the finish line first the teams back at the starting line figured they knew the score. Gray's team smiled and clapped, while Hight's team began the trudge back to the pit. Hight had also come extremely close to crossing the center line. But then, announcer Alan Reinhart informed the masses that Gray had actually touched the wall, so his run was thrown out. Hight had come close, but did not actually cross the line, so he was awarded the win.
In round two, Wilk took the right lane again and saddled Hight with the left. Traction problems again plagued Hight, while Wilk shot to the other end with his quickest run of the weekend, clocking in at 4.102 to advance to the semifinals.
"The biggest challenge to get past, just to be there to win that round, was our crew having to make the full service in the allotted time," Wilk said. "Like I've said, you can't really practice what it's like to have the clock ticking and people staring at you, and if you panic you'll make mistakes. They get a little quicker every time they do it, but this time there was no room for error. I'm proud of them for getting it done."
After beating Hight in round two, the team needed to do a standard engine swap, not due to damage but due to the number of laps on the motor that was in the car. Under even more pressure to get back up to the lanes for the semifinals, the young group was firing the new motor 44 minutes after crossing the finish line in round two. It was a well earned, but stressful, turn-around.
Unfortunately, the machine that is Ron Capps in his NAPA car was up next, and this time Wilk did not control lane choice. In the left lane, Wilk smoked the tires at the hit of the throttle while Capps tore down track on another massive run. Capps would go on to win the race with runs of 4.061, 4.059, 4.037, and 4.064 on one of the trickier tracks in recent history.
"We broke a clutch lever and never had a chance, but even if we hadn't I don't think we had enough to beat Ron's car today," Wilk said. "That was a heck of a day they had, on a track that wasn't handing anything out for free. We would've loved to have raced in the finals, but we'll take the semifinal and move on to Gainesville in a few weeks, where hopefully it will be nice and warm. My guys learned a lot today, and they'll be better for it. We can do some good out here, and we aim to do that."
Also, for the record, on the day Danica Patrick had the media in a tizzy as she started from the pole in the Daytona 500, the Pro Stock class champion in Phoenix was Erica Enders. Of course, in the world of NHRA, she's just another very good driver in an enormously competitive class.
From: Bob Wilber
More...
