Pomona, Prerace: : It’s that time again. The 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing season is upon us and the teams are converging at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona for the season opener, the 48th annual, CARQUEST Auto Parts Winternationals. As the anticipation for the start of the new year mounts, Springfield, Ill. Funny Car favorite, Tim Wilkerson is hopeful that it will be a good year for his Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevrolet Impala SS.

Wilkerson ended last season on a strong surge, earning a couple of No. 1 qualifying spots, numerous round wins and several awards given for outstanding performance. Wilk and his talented team showed that they had his fuel coupe in top shape and a force to be reckoned with. But it’s a new year with new rules and requirements, and Wilkerson knows that things change quickly in his split-second world. However, he is anxiously anticipating the new season with optimistic enthusiasm.

“I’m hoping we can start the new season, the way we left off last year, winning a few rounds of racing,” said Wilkerson. “We had a good chance to win that last race in Pomona last fall, but just came up one round short. So, we’re optimistic for this year. We’ve got a new guy on the team, so the first thing we’re going to do is get him settled in where the car is consistent again.”

One of the rules changes for the fuel cars for 2008 is a return to allowing them to run 90% nitromethane. Several years ago when the teams ran 90%, Wilkerson had a firm handle on his 7000 horsepower machine, and he’s hoping that handle will return.

“There’s going to be a little transition due to the change in the percentage,” explained Wilk. “I can see some downfalls and some hiccups getting accustom to that again, but everything should work out. Hopefully it will save us some carnage in the engine department. At least that’s what we’re looking for.”

Wilkerson attended his annual pre-season test session in Phoenix two weeks ago, and he came away from the weekend with an overall positive outlook, but it is sprinkled with a few reservations.

“Phoenix worked out well for us,” said Wilkerson. “The car had a lot of power. It smoked the tires a lot, which I didn’t like. We had just gotten it to quit doing that, but hopefully it won’t be a problem this year. The track was really bad out there and everybody was smoking the tires. We were one of two cars that made it down the track a couple days in a row. So, that makes me feel a little good. But you know me with that car. I’m always a little pessimistic about it, because it tends to throw me a bone and then takes it away from me pretty hard. But it did show us that it had a lot of power. We had the fastest 60-foot times on every run, so the car has a lot of power still. Everybody was going 0.90’s and we were going 0.880’s, so it was plenty fast. It had a lot of tire speed, but the track wasn’t very good.

“So, we’re going to focus on doing what we did there towards the end of last year, which was more going down the track than anything. Hopefully it will work out for us. That’s my prognosis for the year. I’m optimistic about how it’s going to be and real excited about being back out there again and with a little luck the year will be better for us than last year. The problem we face is that there used to be 14 good cars in the country and we were sixth or seventh. And, now we have 20 good cars and we’re 12 or 13. Well, that’s not acceptable and we’re going to try and fix that. But it’s not going to be any easier out there, it’s going to be harder. We know it’s not going to be a picnic but we’re going to go out there and sure try to shake it up and perhaps it will work.”

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