Deby
Nitro Member
[coverattach=1]POMONA, Sunday: The 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing season came to a close today at the Automobile Club of Southern California Finals at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. For Tim Wilkerson the day may have been a disappointment but the season was spectacular. In his career-best season, Wilkerson and his talented team landed his Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevrolet Impala SS Funny Car second in the final standings.
Wilkerson’s day ended much too early and was not the way the Springfield, Ill. favorite had hoped for. Wilkerson’s first-round match-up with John Force resulted in a double red light. And even though Wilk outran Force with a 4.161 to a 4.226, his -0.026 reaction time was worse than Force’s -0.024, so Force got the win. A red light is so uncharacteristic for Wilkerson and this was his first one since Dallas of 2004. But this one was lethal as it put an end to Wilkerson’s chance at the championship.
“Getting up there against Force, you know you have to do your deal,” explained Wilkerson, “but my normal concentration got messed up. I go to stage and I can’t get the car to roll and John was already staged and I don’t want to hold him up. So, I’m trying to get the thing to roll as gently as I can and finally I just give it a great big bite and I just got in too deep. I didn’t know I red lit and drove clean down to the end. We were both amped up, I was .026 red and he was .024 red, so we were both out there trying to take it home. Unfortunately for the LRS car we were on the wrong end of two really bad red lights. I’m really upset with myself, and it’s made me pretty emotional. But what can we do about it; it’s all over with now.
“I want to congratulate Cruz (Pedregon) and his guys. They deserve the championship; they did a better job in the playoffs than I did.
“It’s been a terrific year for our team and my group of young guys. They just do a superb job. You can see it in how my car is prepared and I can’t be more proud of them.”
Long time sponsor, Dick Levi also expressed pride in their outstanding job.
“That was tough,” said Levi when he returned from the starting line after watching the run, “and not how I wished it would have ended. But they had a phenomenal year with six wins and four No. 1 qualifiers. I am so proud of the job Tim and the team did and they are champions as far as I’m concerned. I am already looking forward to being with them as they try for it again next year.”
Wilkerson’s day ended much too early and was not the way the Springfield, Ill. favorite had hoped for. Wilkerson’s first-round match-up with John Force resulted in a double red light. And even though Wilk outran Force with a 4.161 to a 4.226, his -0.026 reaction time was worse than Force’s -0.024, so Force got the win. A red light is so uncharacteristic for Wilkerson and this was his first one since Dallas of 2004. But this one was lethal as it put an end to Wilkerson’s chance at the championship.
“Getting up there against Force, you know you have to do your deal,” explained Wilkerson, “but my normal concentration got messed up. I go to stage and I can’t get the car to roll and John was already staged and I don’t want to hold him up. So, I’m trying to get the thing to roll as gently as I can and finally I just give it a great big bite and I just got in too deep. I didn’t know I red lit and drove clean down to the end. We were both amped up, I was .026 red and he was .024 red, so we were both out there trying to take it home. Unfortunately for the LRS car we were on the wrong end of two really bad red lights. I’m really upset with myself, and it’s made me pretty emotional. But what can we do about it; it’s all over with now.
“I want to congratulate Cruz (Pedregon) and his guys. They deserve the championship; they did a better job in the playoffs than I did.
“It’s been a terrific year for our team and my group of young guys. They just do a superb job. You can see it in how my car is prepared and I can’t be more proud of them.”
Long time sponsor, Dick Levi also expressed pride in their outstanding job.
“That was tough,” said Levi when he returned from the starting line after watching the run, “and not how I wished it would have ended. But they had a phenomenal year with six wins and four No. 1 qualifiers. I am so proud of the job Tim and the team did and they are champions as far as I’m concerned. I am already looking forward to being with them as they try for it again next year.”
