Wilkerson takes on race day from the No. 12 qualifying position
PHOENIX, Saturday: Tim Wilkerson wasn't able to get his Levi, Ray & Shoup Monte Carlo Funny Car to improve today at the Checker Schuck's Kragen NHRA Nationals at Firebird International Raceway. So, the talented tuner and driver will go into race day action sitting in the No. 12 qualifying position.
On his first pass, Wilkerson had what looked to be a good pass, but only posted a 4.942 at 273.00 mph.
"It broke a head off a valve on that run," Wilkerson explained. "So, it put a hole our real early when it did that, and that's why I shut it off. It was going backwards out there; it didn't feel real good. I decided to shut it off because it could have been ugly."
Wilkerson knowing that he was in the show decided to go for it on the last qualifying attempt, but tried a little too hard. He smoked the tires early in the run and coasted across the finish line in 12.231 seconds at 80.17 mph.
"We just got after it just a little too much," said Wilkerson. "We knew we were in the field, so we were going to try and see how fast we could go early there and it was just a little too much for it. Gary Densham peeled the track when he ran in front of us, and we tried to scoot over into a different spot, but we peeled it up too. I'm just afraid that's really, what got us. But it was the first time this year we've smoked the tires when we hit the gas, so maybe that's behind us, and we can figure out how to go down the track tomorrow."
For the second race in a row, Wilkerson's first-round opponent will be Mike Ashley. In their last meeting, the outcome was not in Wilkerson's favor, but he would like to change that this week.
"We have to face Ashley another weekend," said Wilkerson, "but hopefully we can even up the score tomorrow."
