TEAM WILKERSON RACING
LEVI, RAY & SHOUP NHRA Nitro Funny Car
POST-EVENT REPORT
Amalie Oil Gatornationals
Gainesville Raceway
Gainesville, Fla
QUALIFYING
Tim Wilkerson - No. 12 (4.131 seconds)
ELIMINATIONS
Tim Wilkerson
Lost to Del Worsham in round one
COMMENTS
WILK'S GATOR BITES EARLY
As any swamp denizen can attest, sometimes you get the gator and sometimes the gator gets you. On this weekend in Gainesville, Tim Wilkerson made a couple of solid wrestling moves, but in the end he fell victim to the sharp teeth and strong jaws of the Gainesville track, departing after a first-round loss to Del Worsham.
Getting to that first round was an exercise in "hit or miss" qualifying that frankly bedeviled the entire Funny Car class. Like a teasing demon, the Gainesville track was at times good enough to provide world-class times and performances while simultaneously refusing to give up less-than-perfect runs. If a race track's "performance edge" is a narrow sliver within the universe of tuning combinations, this was one razor thin. Yet, at the same time, when the tuners got it right there could be a bonanza of quick times to be reaped.
Throughout two brilliantly perfect days during qualifying (morning chill notwithstanding), Wilk and his special-edition Diversified Yacht Services Shelby Mustang were on again / off again in that familiar hit or miss fashion, making one good run each day and staying solidly in the middle of the pack. Unfortunately, when one particular session gives up the best chance to wrestle the gator, and your car instead makes its best runs during a pair of the lesser sessions, it's not likely you will race from the top half. That's exactly what happened to Wilk, as he connected in Q1 and Q3, but missed during Q2, when much of the top half was set. In the end, he settled into the No. 12 position, and was matched up with Worsham for the second consecutive race.
"I guess the first thing you'd ask for is to run strong in all four qualifying sessions, but if you can't do that the next thing you probably want is to run well right out of the box, in Q1," Wilk said. "You like to get that first solid hit out of the way, and when you run solidly in the first session it seems to take the pressure off the rest of the way. For some reason, though, we couldn't back it up and make a good one on Friday afternoon, and maybe that cost us a little.
"It's no secret that we've been dealing with clutch wear issues for quite a while, and sure enough we went up there in Q2 trying to run well, but we weren't trying to rotate the earth or set a record. Instead, we got no cooperation from the clutch and blew the tires off like were trying to throw the whole kitchen sink at it. That set us back a little, and put us in the bottom half."
On Sunday, fog descended on Gainesville with a surprisingly thick blanket of white, keeping the track cool until just before eliminations. In terms of lanes, while there had been some favored status for either side of the track in qualifying, the consensus was that wins could come from either side on Sunday. With lance choice, Worsham and his DHL team chose the left side of the track, and at the flash of amber they were off. Not much longer after that, it was clear this was not going to be a side-by-side low elapsed time battle to the finish line, as tire smoke first appeared from Wilk's car before Worsham's mount suffered the same fate. A pedal-fest ensued.
This time, the gator got Wilk while Worsham avoided a major bite. With a 4.689 Worsham outlasted Wilk's valiant effort, taking the win light over the "yacht car" in what is expected to be its final cruise.
"Hit or miss, hit or miss, that was the story of the weekend, I guess," Wilk said. "I've won races when we never felt we made a good qualifying run, and I've lost in the first round after making four great ones, so you just never know. You go up there hoping you're smart that day, instead of a knucklehead, but it's a sometimes you are - sometimes you aren't, kind of thing. Today, that big old gator chomped right down on us and spit us out.
"All we can do is pack it up and keep working at it. If we ever get some consistency in our clutch wear, we'll be hard to beat. Until then, we're pretty good at beating ourselves so we have to figure out how to stop that. Off the track we'll keep plugging at it, and we really appreciate the great support from Dick Levi, who not only was here this weekend but also celebrated a birthday, along with everyone at Levi, Ray & Shoup and Diversified Yacht Services. It was fun to run that body, but now it moves on to its next life as an LRS Shelby."
After having two weeks off between Phoenix and Gainesville, the Mello Yello tour now takes another two-week break before reconvening on the opposite side of the country, in Las Vegas. At that point, the racers will need to buckle in for a wild ride as the season enters a stretch of four races in five weeks. No gators, however, are expected to be seen.
More...
LEVI, RAY & SHOUP NHRA Nitro Funny Car
POST-EVENT REPORT
Amalie Oil Gatornationals
Gainesville Raceway
Gainesville, Fla
QUALIFYING
Tim Wilkerson - No. 12 (4.131 seconds)
ELIMINATIONS
Tim Wilkerson
Lost to Del Worsham in round one
COMMENTS
WILK'S GATOR BITES EARLY
As any swamp denizen can attest, sometimes you get the gator and sometimes the gator gets you. On this weekend in Gainesville, Tim Wilkerson made a couple of solid wrestling moves, but in the end he fell victim to the sharp teeth and strong jaws of the Gainesville track, departing after a first-round loss to Del Worsham.
Getting to that first round was an exercise in "hit or miss" qualifying that frankly bedeviled the entire Funny Car class. Like a teasing demon, the Gainesville track was at times good enough to provide world-class times and performances while simultaneously refusing to give up less-than-perfect runs. If a race track's "performance edge" is a narrow sliver within the universe of tuning combinations, this was one razor thin. Yet, at the same time, when the tuners got it right there could be a bonanza of quick times to be reaped.
Throughout two brilliantly perfect days during qualifying (morning chill notwithstanding), Wilk and his special-edition Diversified Yacht Services Shelby Mustang were on again / off again in that familiar hit or miss fashion, making one good run each day and staying solidly in the middle of the pack. Unfortunately, when one particular session gives up the best chance to wrestle the gator, and your car instead makes its best runs during a pair of the lesser sessions, it's not likely you will race from the top half. That's exactly what happened to Wilk, as he connected in Q1 and Q3, but missed during Q2, when much of the top half was set. In the end, he settled into the No. 12 position, and was matched up with Worsham for the second consecutive race.
"I guess the first thing you'd ask for is to run strong in all four qualifying sessions, but if you can't do that the next thing you probably want is to run well right out of the box, in Q1," Wilk said. "You like to get that first solid hit out of the way, and when you run solidly in the first session it seems to take the pressure off the rest of the way. For some reason, though, we couldn't back it up and make a good one on Friday afternoon, and maybe that cost us a little.
"It's no secret that we've been dealing with clutch wear issues for quite a while, and sure enough we went up there in Q2 trying to run well, but we weren't trying to rotate the earth or set a record. Instead, we got no cooperation from the clutch and blew the tires off like were trying to throw the whole kitchen sink at it. That set us back a little, and put us in the bottom half."
On Sunday, fog descended on Gainesville with a surprisingly thick blanket of white, keeping the track cool until just before eliminations. In terms of lanes, while there had been some favored status for either side of the track in qualifying, the consensus was that wins could come from either side on Sunday. With lance choice, Worsham and his DHL team chose the left side of the track, and at the flash of amber they were off. Not much longer after that, it was clear this was not going to be a side-by-side low elapsed time battle to the finish line, as tire smoke first appeared from Wilk's car before Worsham's mount suffered the same fate. A pedal-fest ensued.
This time, the gator got Wilk while Worsham avoided a major bite. With a 4.689 Worsham outlasted Wilk's valiant effort, taking the win light over the "yacht car" in what is expected to be its final cruise.
"Hit or miss, hit or miss, that was the story of the weekend, I guess," Wilk said. "I've won races when we never felt we made a good qualifying run, and I've lost in the first round after making four great ones, so you just never know. You go up there hoping you're smart that day, instead of a knucklehead, but it's a sometimes you are - sometimes you aren't, kind of thing. Today, that big old gator chomped right down on us and spit us out.
"All we can do is pack it up and keep working at it. If we ever get some consistency in our clutch wear, we'll be hard to beat. Until then, we're pretty good at beating ourselves so we have to figure out how to stop that. Off the track we'll keep plugging at it, and we really appreciate the great support from Dick Levi, who not only was here this weekend but also celebrated a birthday, along with everyone at Levi, Ray & Shoup and Diversified Yacht Services. It was fun to run that body, but now it moves on to its next life as an LRS Shelby."
After having two weeks off between Phoenix and Gainesville, the Mello Yello tour now takes another two-week break before reconvening on the opposite side of the country, in Las Vegas. At that point, the racers will need to buckle in for a wild ride as the season enters a stretch of four races in five weeks. No gators, however, are expected to be seen.
More...
