Las Vegas, Prerace: Tim Wilkerson and his Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevrolet Impala SS Funny Car have not done well the past few years at the SummitRacing.com Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway but he feels that will change this weekend. Enjoying the best early season performance he has had for several years, Wilkerson looks for his successes to continue, thus changing his Las Vegas luck.

“We always have problems in Vegas, but this year I’m optimistic,” expressed Wilkerson. “We’ve got a pretty good car and I think we can keep it straightened out. All our parts are working good together now, so we’ll see. I’m looking forward to seeing how things will work out.”

With four races of the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series season under his belt, Wilkerson has earned back-to-back No. 1 qualifying berths, and has made a semi-final round appearance. He is currently enjoying high rankings in all the NHRA point standings categories. Wilkerson sits No. 8 in POWERade Championship Points, fifth in U.S. Smokeless Showdown Points and No. 1 in the Full Throttle NHRA Pit Crew Championship Point Standings.

And apparently Wilkerson’s improvement hasn’t gone unnoticed, with the Las Vegas oddsmakers giving him 15 -1 odds to win the event. This may not seem that great, but for the past several years, they have not even recognized Wilkerson.

“You know, I’m not a betting man and I don’t put much stock in that kind of stuff,” said Wilkerson, “but it does make me feel like we must be doing something right; especially when you get the same odds as Del (winner of the O’Reilly Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway Park). So, I’m looking forward to getting out there and having another great weekend.”

Back to 2008 Press Releases