Wilkerson scores fourth win of the season
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DENVER, Sunday: It was a hot weekend in Denver for the Mopar Mile-High Nationals and Tim Wilkerson and his Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevy Impala Funny Car were as hot as the temperatures. Wilkerson earned his fourth win out of five final-round appearances and made history as the first fuel winner at 1000 feet. And as Wilkerson climbed up the ladder today, he padded his points lead to 215.
Wilkerson had a strong consistent car as he earned his win, and was able to take out three quarters of Team Force. In the first-round, Wilk took out Ashley Force with a 4.261, he then took out Mike Neff with a 4.322 and in the semi’s he sent Robert Hight to the trailer with a 4.260. This made Wilkerson only the second driver to beat three Force cars in the same day. In the final-round, Wilkerson faced Jack Beckman. Beckman left on Wilkerson, but it didn’t help. Beckman’s 4.661 was no match against Wilkerson’s 4.398 at 262.23 mph.
“It was a great weekend,” exclaimed a jubilant Wilkerson. “We had a good car all weekend, really. It went down the track every run and I thought if I could get the thing to run on eight holes, it would be fast. And sure enough on the last run, what’s it do, it doesn’t drop a hole, so it smokes the tires.
I’m pretty proud of my guys, that’s for sure. They’re doing a terrific job and we’ve got a good maintenance schedule going and the car really reacts to it. My brand new Murf McKinney chassis, obviously there’s nothing wrong with it. That stinking thing just goes right down the track. And I’ve got a new gas pedal and I’m pretty happy with that because when it smoked the tires, I just barely quarter shut the throttle and then stood back in it and it just took right off again. I’m really happy with our new car.
“It was pretty cool going against all the Force cars. Those guys are always tough. You know when you race anything with the name of Force on it that it’s going to be tough. But luckily for us three of the Mustangs went down to our Impala. And then against Jack, I could hear him next to me all the way down the track, so I wasn’t too sure what to expect when I crossed the finish line.
Wilkerson has struggled here on the mountain the last two years, so he came to Bandimere Speedway this year with a different plan of attack.
“We came here a little nervous about the chassis and all the other changes going on,” explained Wilkerson, “but I just decided that I wasn’t going to over think this place for a change. I usually come up here and think I have to do this; I have to do that because we’re running at Denver. I used to try and make this power that I knew I had to have. We’ll this year we didn’t do any of that. We came here and looked at how we ran in Las Vegas, changed the thing a little bit and when I stepped on the gas, it responded.
“It’s good start to the Western Swing for us and we’re excited about going the rest of the way. And we’re excited about running the 1000 feet at the next couple of race tracks. Hopefully, things will continue to be so much fun.”
As Wilkerson heads to Seattle for the second stop on the famed Western Swing, not only is he holding the No. 1 spot in POWERade Championship points, but he regained the lead in the U.S. Smokeless Showdown points standings and still has the lead in the Full Throttle Pit Crew Championship.
<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/t_wilkerson.jpg" alt="t_wilkerson" align="left"borders="0"/>
DENVER, Sunday: It was a hot weekend in Denver for the Mopar Mile-High Nationals and Tim Wilkerson and his Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevy Impala Funny Car were as hot as the temperatures. Wilkerson earned his fourth win out of five final-round appearances and made history as the first fuel winner at 1000 feet. And as Wilkerson climbed up the ladder today, he padded his points lead to 215.
Wilkerson had a strong consistent car as he earned his win, and was able to take out three quarters of Team Force. In the first-round, Wilk took out Ashley Force with a 4.261, he then took out Mike Neff with a 4.322 and in the semi’s he sent Robert Hight to the trailer with a 4.260. This made Wilkerson only the second driver to beat three Force cars in the same day. In the final-round, Wilkerson faced Jack Beckman. Beckman left on Wilkerson, but it didn’t help. Beckman’s 4.661 was no match against Wilkerson’s 4.398 at 262.23 mph.
“It was a great weekend,” exclaimed a jubilant Wilkerson. “We had a good car all weekend, really. It went down the track every run and I thought if I could get the thing to run on eight holes, it would be fast. And sure enough on the last run, what’s it do, it doesn’t drop a hole, so it smokes the tires.
I’m pretty proud of my guys, that’s for sure. They’re doing a terrific job and we’ve got a good maintenance schedule going and the car really reacts to it. My brand new Murf McKinney chassis, obviously there’s nothing wrong with it. That stinking thing just goes right down the track. And I’ve got a new gas pedal and I’m pretty happy with that because when it smoked the tires, I just barely quarter shut the throttle and then stood back in it and it just took right off again. I’m really happy with our new car.
“It was pretty cool going against all the Force cars. Those guys are always tough. You know when you race anything with the name of Force on it that it’s going to be tough. But luckily for us three of the Mustangs went down to our Impala. And then against Jack, I could hear him next to me all the way down the track, so I wasn’t too sure what to expect when I crossed the finish line.
Wilkerson has struggled here on the mountain the last two years, so he came to Bandimere Speedway this year with a different plan of attack.
“We came here a little nervous about the chassis and all the other changes going on,” explained Wilkerson, “but I just decided that I wasn’t going to over think this place for a change. I usually come up here and think I have to do this; I have to do that because we’re running at Denver. I used to try and make this power that I knew I had to have. We’ll this year we didn’t do any of that. We came here and looked at how we ran in Las Vegas, changed the thing a little bit and when I stepped on the gas, it responded.
“It’s good start to the Western Swing for us and we’re excited about going the rest of the way. And we’re excited about running the 1000 feet at the next couple of race tracks. Hopefully, things will continue to be so much fun.”
As Wilkerson heads to Seattle for the second stop on the famed Western Swing, not only is he holding the No. 1 spot in POWERade Championship points, but he regained the lead in the U.S. Smokeless Showdown points standings and still has the lead in the Full Throttle Pit Crew Championship.
