Tim Wilkerson entered Saturday at the Arizona Nationals outside the top 12, meaning he and five other Funny Car drivers had made attempts on Friday but on the scoreboard it was as if they were never there.
On Saturday, copying his line of attack in Pomona from one week ago, he put the gremlins and tire smoke behind him and made two solid runs. The first was a 4.179 that moved him solidly in the field, but in the bottom half. He then came back in Q4 to put a 4.110 on the board, easing his way into the No. 8 spot for his second consecutive top-half start.
He will face Del Worsham in round one on Sunday.
"That's better, huh," Wilk said. "We just messed up in the clutch department yesterday and we got a lot better at it today. You try not to think about the fact you're not in the field and just go out there and do your thing, but your brain would have to be turned completely off to not let it creep in there a little. What you really want is to get a solid run out of the way in Q3, so that it's not all on the line for the last one. So many crazy things can happen in this sport that aren't even performance related, you never enjoy needing to pound it in the field on the last one.
"So, two weeks in a row we're in the top half but two weeks in a row we're number eight. The competition out here is so tough, you have to be nearly perfect to get up any higher in the top half, but if we keep making progress maybe we can do that as we get further into the season. That'll be the plan and the goal, for sure. Right now, the goal is to make a good solid lap in round one and if do that, we'll have a chance."
Round one pairings for Funny Car:
(1) Gray vs (16) Hight
(2) Hagan vs (15) Burkart
(3) C. Force vs (14) Lesenko
(4) C. Pedregon vs (13) Arend
(5) Capps vs (12) T. Pedregon
(6) J. Force vs (11) DeJoria
(7) Tasca vs (10) Beckman
(8) Wilkerson vs (9) Worsham
From: Bob Wilber
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On Saturday, copying his line of attack in Pomona from one week ago, he put the gremlins and tire smoke behind him and made two solid runs. The first was a 4.179 that moved him solidly in the field, but in the bottom half. He then came back in Q4 to put a 4.110 on the board, easing his way into the No. 8 spot for his second consecutive top-half start.
He will face Del Worsham in round one on Sunday.
"That's better, huh," Wilk said. "We just messed up in the clutch department yesterday and we got a lot better at it today. You try not to think about the fact you're not in the field and just go out there and do your thing, but your brain would have to be turned completely off to not let it creep in there a little. What you really want is to get a solid run out of the way in Q3, so that it's not all on the line for the last one. So many crazy things can happen in this sport that aren't even performance related, you never enjoy needing to pound it in the field on the last one.
"So, two weeks in a row we're in the top half but two weeks in a row we're number eight. The competition out here is so tough, you have to be nearly perfect to get up any higher in the top half, but if we keep making progress maybe we can do that as we get further into the season. That'll be the plan and the goal, for sure. Right now, the goal is to make a good solid lap in round one and if do that, we'll have a chance."
Round one pairings for Funny Car:
(1) Gray vs (16) Hight
(2) Hagan vs (15) Burkart
(3) C. Force vs (14) Lesenko
(4) C. Pedregon vs (13) Arend
(5) Capps vs (12) T. Pedregon
(6) J. Force vs (11) DeJoria
(7) Tasca vs (10) Beckman
(8) Wilkerson vs (9) Worsham
From: Bob Wilber
More...
