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ENGLISHTOWN, Sunday: Tim Wilkerson captured his eighth Funny Car career win and the third of his spectacular season today at the Lucas Oil Supernationals. It was Wilkerson’s first at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park. With this win, Wilkerson expanded his POWERade Championship lead by 132 points over Ashley Force. But there was no joy in the day’s accomplishments for the Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevrolet Impala driver and his team. There was a dark shadow hanging over the day because yesterday, friend and fellow competitor, Scott Kalitta was killed in a horrific crash in the final round of qualifying.
“After Scott’s crash yesterday, it was like someone turned down the volume all around here,” expressed Wilkerson. “Nobody wanted to be here but knowing Scott the way I knew Scott I know he would have wanted us to keep racing today. We came to the track this morning with the intention of winning because that’s the only way you get through these kinds of things. We put our heart and soul into it and hoped for the best and it all worked out. But it got harder to do with every round win. I invited the whole DHL crew to join me in the winner’s circle and gave them all a big hug."
And after all the hugging in the winner’s circle, Wilkerson paid honor to Scott by giving the team his trophy.
"For all fathers, today was a tough day but whoever said that life goes on was absolutely right,” said Wilkerson. “We all reflect on how tough and how fragile life is. I called my son, Daniel last night and told him how much I love him. He’s just starting his Funny Car career, so I wanted to make sure he understood how dangerous this can be.”
Wilkerson had a strong, consistent car today. He first took out Bob Tasca III with a 4.887 at 316.01 mph. He then beat Gary Densham with a 4.902 at 312.35. He then ran a 4.933 at 303.50 mph against Del Worsham in the semifinal round. And just like his last win in Madison, Wilkerson faced the Ford driven by Mike Neff in the finals. And just like that time, Wilkerson was the victor with his 4.877 at 319.29 against Neff’s 4.883. Wilk left on Neff and never looked back.
“We had a good car today,” said Wilkerson. “We we’re the quickest car in every round, except the first one and there we were the second quickest. Actually, the car has made me look good all year long. Everybody asks me what I attribute our good year to, and my answer is that it’s just a lot of hard work. We’ve been lucky enough this year to make calls at the right time that actually had some validity to them, and the car shows it. It runs well and I’ve been fortunate enough to do okay driving the thing. But it’s a team effort; believe me – a serious team effort. My guys do a tremendous job. I can’t say enough about them. I think if I lost any one of them, you’d see us stumble. And our alliance with Don Prudhomme Racing has helped us a lot. We just hope we can keep this up and if we get to have another win let’s hope we won’t have such heavy hearts.”
Wilkerson’s third win is bittersweet
ENGLISHTOWN, Sunday: Tim Wilkerson captured his eighth Funny Car career win and the third of his spectacular season today at the Lucas Oil Supernationals. It was Wilkerson’s first at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park. With this win, Wilkerson expanded his POWERade Championship lead by 132 points over Ashley Force. But there was no joy in the day’s accomplishments for the Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevrolet Impala driver and his team. There was a dark shadow hanging over the day because yesterday, friend and fellow competitor, Scott Kalitta was killed in a horrific crash in the final round of qualifying.
“After Scott’s crash yesterday, it was like someone turned down the volume all around here,” expressed Wilkerson. “Nobody wanted to be here but knowing Scott the way I knew Scott I know he would have wanted us to keep racing today. We came to the track this morning with the intention of winning because that’s the only way you get through these kinds of things. We put our heart and soul into it and hoped for the best and it all worked out. But it got harder to do with every round win. I invited the whole DHL crew to join me in the winner’s circle and gave them all a big hug."
And after all the hugging in the winner’s circle, Wilkerson paid honor to Scott by giving the team his trophy.
"For all fathers, today was a tough day but whoever said that life goes on was absolutely right,” said Wilkerson. “We all reflect on how tough and how fragile life is. I called my son, Daniel last night and told him how much I love him. He’s just starting his Funny Car career, so I wanted to make sure he understood how dangerous this can be.”
Wilkerson had a strong, consistent car today. He first took out Bob Tasca III with a 4.887 at 316.01 mph. He then beat Gary Densham with a 4.902 at 312.35. He then ran a 4.933 at 303.50 mph against Del Worsham in the semifinal round. And just like his last win in Madison, Wilkerson faced the Ford driven by Mike Neff in the finals. And just like that time, Wilkerson was the victor with his 4.877 at 319.29 against Neff’s 4.883. Wilk left on Neff and never looked back.
“We had a good car today,” said Wilkerson. “We we’re the quickest car in every round, except the first one and there we were the second quickest. Actually, the car has made me look good all year long. Everybody asks me what I attribute our good year to, and my answer is that it’s just a lot of hard work. We’ve been lucky enough this year to make calls at the right time that actually had some validity to them, and the car shows it. It runs well and I’ve been fortunate enough to do okay driving the thing. But it’s a team effort; believe me – a serious team effort. My guys do a tremendous job. I can’t say enough about them. I think if I lost any one of them, you’d see us stumble. And our alliance with Don Prudhomme Racing has helped us a lot. We just hope we can keep this up and if we get to have another win let’s hope we won’t have such heavy hearts.”
