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HOUSTON, Saturday: Tim Wilkerson will take his Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevrolet Impala SS into race day at the O’Reilly Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway Park from the No. 12 qualifying position. And since he won’t have lane choice in his first-round match-up against Ron Capps, Wilkerson will have to conquer the washboard-like left lane at the same time he tries to put Capps on the trailer.
Today Wilkerson didn’t improve on his 4.93 from last night, as he only ran a 5.741, followed by a 5.020. But these numbers didn’t surprise Wilkerson because he knows that losing a fuel pump as he did last night, takes several runs to overcome.
“Unfortunately, after you hurt a fuel pump, it takes a couple of runs to get it dialed back in,” explained Wilkerson. “We can tell it’s not loving life. We got pretty close on our last run but it spun the tire a little bit and put a hole out. So, I’m not too concerned because we were the second fastest car to the 330 foot mark and the third fastest car to half track, so it’s not too bad. So, I’m pretty optimistic about tomorrow, and if we can keep all eight holes in the thing I think we can go some rounds.
“Our car would have been better, if we didn’t have the fuel pump problem. We would have been better last night and I could have chased it a little better today. But when you put on a new pump, the curve is wrong for the first few runs. The pump is so good and it takes a few runs for it to break in. On our first run, it was way off and then on the second run it was a little better. So, tomorrow if I tweak it a little bit more, it should be even closer. And if it keeps the holes lit, it will be fast. It will run a low 4.80, high 4.90, easy. It was mimicking our 4.88 from Gainesville and that’s what we were trying to do.
“The bad part is that we’re going to get the left lane, because nobody is going down that lane. So we’re just going to have to go out there and swing hard and hope Ron goes slower. So, we’ll just go out there and do the best we can do. But this is a queer race track, that’s all you can say. If I was a fan in the stands, I’d want my money back. This place is awful. When you have the best race cars in the country in both Top Fuel and Funny Car and nobody can get down the race track, that’s just awful. What a terrible show that is. I don’t know, maybe we’re all just that dumb; I guess we could be. But it’s pretty embarrassing, I think.
“But I’m still optimistic about tomorrow, hopefully we’ll be able to get down the lane in the first-round and then after that we’ll try to keep lane choice.”
Wilkerson takes the twelfth spot
HOUSTON, Saturday: Tim Wilkerson will take his Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevrolet Impala SS into race day at the O’Reilly Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway Park from the No. 12 qualifying position. And since he won’t have lane choice in his first-round match-up against Ron Capps, Wilkerson will have to conquer the washboard-like left lane at the same time he tries to put Capps on the trailer.
Today Wilkerson didn’t improve on his 4.93 from last night, as he only ran a 5.741, followed by a 5.020. But these numbers didn’t surprise Wilkerson because he knows that losing a fuel pump as he did last night, takes several runs to overcome.
“Unfortunately, after you hurt a fuel pump, it takes a couple of runs to get it dialed back in,” explained Wilkerson. “We can tell it’s not loving life. We got pretty close on our last run but it spun the tire a little bit and put a hole out. So, I’m not too concerned because we were the second fastest car to the 330 foot mark and the third fastest car to half track, so it’s not too bad. So, I’m pretty optimistic about tomorrow, and if we can keep all eight holes in the thing I think we can go some rounds.
“Our car would have been better, if we didn’t have the fuel pump problem. We would have been better last night and I could have chased it a little better today. But when you put on a new pump, the curve is wrong for the first few runs. The pump is so good and it takes a few runs for it to break in. On our first run, it was way off and then on the second run it was a little better. So, tomorrow if I tweak it a little bit more, it should be even closer. And if it keeps the holes lit, it will be fast. It will run a low 4.80, high 4.90, easy. It was mimicking our 4.88 from Gainesville and that’s what we were trying to do.
“The bad part is that we’re going to get the left lane, because nobody is going down that lane. So we’re just going to have to go out there and swing hard and hope Ron goes slower. So, we’ll just go out there and do the best we can do. But this is a queer race track, that’s all you can say. If I was a fan in the stands, I’d want my money back. This place is awful. When you have the best race cars in the country in both Top Fuel and Funny Car and nobody can get down the race track, that’s just awful. What a terrible show that is. I don’t know, maybe we’re all just that dumb; I guess we could be. But it’s pretty embarrassing, I think.
“But I’m still optimistic about tomorrow, hopefully we’ll be able to get down the lane in the first-round and then after that we’ll try to keep lane choice.”
