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INDIANAPOLIS, Saturday: The second day of qualifying at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals turned out to be a good day for Tim Wilkerson. The Springfield, Ill. favorite only moved up to the No. 15 qualifying position, but it was the way his Levi, Ray & Shoup Impala SS Funny Car performed that pleased Wilkerson.
In the first qualifying session, Wilkerson laid down the third quickest pass of the session at 4.902 at 319.52 mph. Then on the night run, Wilkerson brought the crowd to their feet as he ran 4.825 at 313.95. But it wasn't the number Wilkerson ran that got everyone's attention. It was the fact that with that run, Wilkerson bumped the legendary, John Force out of the show.
"The car is coming around," said Wilkerson. "It's running good and has been for the last several races. It's all looking good and the guys are working hard. The whole LRS team is coming around and I'm proud of them.
"If it wouldn't have broke that valve yesterday, it would have been fine and then we could have tuned it up better for tonight. Our new clutch disc is acting a little funny, but that's okay. It didn't wear enough tonight, so we'll see if we can get her fixed for tomorrow and make her wear a little more. The thing is that the way it is now it should be good for a hot track, so I'm really not sure if I want her to wear more. We'll have to fiddle around with it and see how it works out. Tomorrow we'd like to get the car to run in the mid-80's, and if we can do that, I think we may have something for them on Monday, if we're still in the show. It's going to be tough, but with a little luck, I think we'll be there."
Wilkerson is pleased with his two good runs
INDIANAPOLIS, Saturday: The second day of qualifying at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals turned out to be a good day for Tim Wilkerson. The Springfield, Ill. favorite only moved up to the No. 15 qualifying position, but it was the way his Levi, Ray & Shoup Impala SS Funny Car performed that pleased Wilkerson.
In the first qualifying session, Wilkerson laid down the third quickest pass of the session at 4.902 at 319.52 mph. Then on the night run, Wilkerson brought the crowd to their feet as he ran 4.825 at 313.95. But it wasn't the number Wilkerson ran that got everyone's attention. It was the fact that with that run, Wilkerson bumped the legendary, John Force out of the show.
"The car is coming around," said Wilkerson. "It's running good and has been for the last several races. It's all looking good and the guys are working hard. The whole LRS team is coming around and I'm proud of them.
"If it wouldn't have broke that valve yesterday, it would have been fine and then we could have tuned it up better for tonight. Our new clutch disc is acting a little funny, but that's okay. It didn't wear enough tonight, so we'll see if we can get her fixed for tomorrow and make her wear a little more. The thing is that the way it is now it should be good for a hot track, so I'm really not sure if I want her to wear more. We'll have to fiddle around with it and see how it works out. Tomorrow we'd like to get the car to run in the mid-80's, and if we can do that, I think we may have something for them on Monday, if we're still in the show. It's going to be tough, but with a little luck, I think we'll be there."
