Tim Wilkerson Racing Rally’s To Compete With New Funny Car
Posted by: Nicole Erickson
Sonoma, CA (August 2, 2016) – Tim Wilkerson’s crew had a busy week leading up to the NHRA Sonoma Nationals. They had to transport a new car to Sonoma, strip the old car, put the new car together and have it ready for competition by Friday.
The team not only got everything done in time, when Wilkerson ran the new Levi, Ray & Shoup Ford Shelby Mustang for the very first time on Friday afternoon it went 3.984 seconds at 321.27 mph. He went on to make three more sub-four second runs on Friday and Saturday. Wilkerson ended up qualifying seventh with a 3.902/325.77 run.
On race day, Wilkerson faced Chad Head in Round One. With a reaction time of .038 seconds Wilkerson had the jump on Head at the starting line and was in the lead until the tires lost traction. Head took the win with a 4.011/325.14 to Wilkerson’s 4.221/249.90.
“It was a spectacular effort by everyone on the team. As hard as we work, as good as the car ran, I just got greedy first round there; I really didn’t think it would do that. Most everybody ran low 90’s so I figured I could go out there and run a 90 also. But I think sitting there so long, that track got hot and it went up about seven or eight degrees after all those cleanups we had in round one and that’s what got me,” Wilkerson said. “I got a great car, everybody’s working hard, it’s running good and we’re not tearing anything up.”
Wilkerson and the team are now looking to rebound and finish out the Western Swing at the Protect The Harvest NHRA Northwest Nationals this weekend at Pacific Raceways. After such a hectic two weeks, Wilkerson hopes the next few days will give his team a chance to recharge.
“We’re going to head up to Seattle and try to do a better job of racing. Like I said, I do such a good job qualifying – but I’m doing a terrible job racing. I think if I can get myself reeled back a little bit and stop being so greedy, I’ll probably do okay there,” said Wilkerson. “The car’s running good the guys are working hard; now we’re all gonna take three or four days here and take a couple deep breaths. They’re going to play on a boat and I’m going to ride up the coast and we’ll have a little fun.”
Wilkerson is currently ninth in the Funny Car points standings. Racing for the Protect The Harvest NHRA Northwest Nationals begins Friday at 3:00.
PROTECT THE HARVEST NHRA NORTHWEST NATIONALS RACING SCHEDULE
Friday, August 5, 2016: Nitro Qualifying – 3:00 & 6:00 p.m. (PT)
Saturday, August 6, 2016: Nitro Qualifying – 1:30 & 4:30 p.m. (PT)
Sunday, August 7, 2016: Nitro Eliminations begin at 11:00 a.m. (PT)
TV SCHEDULE (All Times Eastern)
Friday, August 5: Qualifying Coverage 8 - 9 p.m. (FS1)
Sunday, August 7: Eliminations LIVE on FOX Network: 4:00 -7:00 p.m.
Follow Tim Wilkerson Racing on Social Media:
Twitter: @TimWilkerson_FC
Facebook.com/timwilkersonracing
Instagram: @TimWilkersonRacing