Atlanta, Prerace: Tim Wilkerson heads to Atlanta Dragway for the upcoming Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals as the most recent Funny Car winner. Wilkerson captured the Funny Car title in Las Vegas after a long drought. And knowing that he and his team can get the Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevrolet Impala SS into the winner’s circle gives them a boost of confidence they have not felt for a long time.

“The guys are still pumped up,” said Wilkerson, “I’ve noticed it in their demeanor and the way they approach their jobs at the shop. For twenty years I’ve said that the attitude of the pit is determined by the E.T. slip and believe me a win is the best attitude booster you can get. But as for me, I’ve already put it behind me and am focusing on Atlanta.”

To get ready for Atlanta and beyond, Wilkerson spent time last week at Don Prudhomme’s shop working on his superchargers.

“We took our whole pile of blowers to Prudhomme’s shop during the week and put them on the blower dyno,” explained Wilkerson. “We tried to get them all to match. Because having blowers that are the same should help me tune the car and help our performance.”

Wilkerson may be going into the Atlanta race as a champion, but being the hardworking tuner that he is, he’s looking at his next challenge just as he does every race he attends.

“I’m going into Atlanta just like it’s any other race,” said Wilkerson. “I plan to take it one step at a time. Step one is to qualify. Step two is to win the Full Throttle Pit Crew Challenge. Step three is to win round one. Hopefully, we won’t get step three in front of step one, because that won’t work. But seriously, I need to take it one step at a time because we’re planning to continue our rage of terror. I know there is more in the car and we’re looking to be a thorn in the sides of our competition. We’re going to be getting into the hot weather which makes for tricky track conditions. But I think Las Vegas was a good testing ground for our hot weather performance. And if we can keep it up, I think we have a good chance of seeing a lot more round wins and even race wins.”

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