Deby
Nitro Member
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ATLANTA, Sunday: Tim Wilkerson may not have won today at the Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals, but it was far from being a disappointing weekend for the talented tuner and driver of the Levi, Ray & Shoup (LRS) Funny
Car and the dedicated team that are committed to working for the Springfield, Ill. favorite and his beautiful hot rod. Rain delayed the start of the day’s activities, but when it stopped an exciting day of racing went on as planned.
For Wilk it was a shorter day than he would have liked, but it still was a day that highlighted the amazing performance he’s shown this year. In the first-round he easily took out his opponent, Gary Scelzi with a nice looking 4.887 pass. But he lost lane choice to John Force, his next opponent. The two friends met and had the fans on their feet watching a great side-by-side race. But Wilkerson came up short with his 4.857 at 317.87 mph against Force’s 4.822 at 317.12.
“Both of our runs today were basically flawless,” said Wilkerson. “The car ran just what I told it to. The guys asked me what I thought we’d do against John and told them I thought it would run .85 in that lane and it did. We couldn’t have done any more on that run; it was a good old drag race. If we would have run anyone else in that round we would have won.”
For the second time this season, Team Wilkerson won the Full Throttle Pit Crew Challenge. Based on qualifying consistency and final position, it rewards the good work of the team.
“I’m really proud of the job my guys did this weekend,” said Wilkerson. “They did a great job and that’s what the Full Throttle Challenge is all about. And winning it again is really saying that they’re doing just what they ought to be doing.
“We had a lot of LRS guests on Saturday and I hope they had a good time. We wanted to perform well for them, but we did some testing. Even with testing we won the Full Throttle award, so that really makes us feel good.”
“We had a lot of good times this weekend, there’s no doubt about that,” expressed Wilkerson. “We just keep going down the racetrack collecting valuable points and staying in the hunt. We’ve got a really great race car. We didn’t hurt anything all weekend, no blocks, no heads, nothing mechanically and we’re happy about that.”
Since Wilkerson was the No. 1 qualifier, which meant he had the quickest Funny Car at Atlanta Dragway, he moved to third in the U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Showdown point standings. By winning the Full Throttle Pit Crew Challenge, the team expanded their points lead. And as they roll into Gateway International Raceway for next week’s O’Reilly Midwest Nationals, the hometown favorite is still sitting in the No. 2 position in NHRA POWERade Championship points.
Wilkerson adds Atlanta to his spectacular season
ATLANTA, Sunday: Tim Wilkerson may not have won today at the Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals, but it was far from being a disappointing weekend for the talented tuner and driver of the Levi, Ray & Shoup (LRS) Funny
Car and the dedicated team that are committed to working for the Springfield, Ill. favorite and his beautiful hot rod. Rain delayed the start of the day’s activities, but when it stopped an exciting day of racing went on as planned.
For Wilk it was a shorter day than he would have liked, but it still was a day that highlighted the amazing performance he’s shown this year. In the first-round he easily took out his opponent, Gary Scelzi with a nice looking 4.887 pass. But he lost lane choice to John Force, his next opponent. The two friends met and had the fans on their feet watching a great side-by-side race. But Wilkerson came up short with his 4.857 at 317.87 mph against Force’s 4.822 at 317.12.
“Both of our runs today were basically flawless,” said Wilkerson. “The car ran just what I told it to. The guys asked me what I thought we’d do against John and told them I thought it would run .85 in that lane and it did. We couldn’t have done any more on that run; it was a good old drag race. If we would have run anyone else in that round we would have won.”
For the second time this season, Team Wilkerson won the Full Throttle Pit Crew Challenge. Based on qualifying consistency and final position, it rewards the good work of the team.
“I’m really proud of the job my guys did this weekend,” said Wilkerson. “They did a great job and that’s what the Full Throttle Challenge is all about. And winning it again is really saying that they’re doing just what they ought to be doing.
“We had a lot of LRS guests on Saturday and I hope they had a good time. We wanted to perform well for them, but we did some testing. Even with testing we won the Full Throttle award, so that really makes us feel good.”
“We had a lot of good times this weekend, there’s no doubt about that,” expressed Wilkerson. “We just keep going down the racetrack collecting valuable points and staying in the hunt. We’ve got a really great race car. We didn’t hurt anything all weekend, no blocks, no heads, nothing mechanically and we’re happy about that.”
Since Wilkerson was the No. 1 qualifier, which meant he had the quickest Funny Car at Atlanta Dragway, he moved to third in the U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Showdown point standings. By winning the Full Throttle Pit Crew Challenge, the team expanded their points lead. And as they roll into Gateway International Raceway for next week’s O’Reilly Midwest Nationals, the hometown favorite is still sitting in the No. 2 position in NHRA POWERade Championship points.
