Wilkerson ready to hit his stride at Englishtown's NHRA Summernationals
Posted by: Kelly Topolinski
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (June 7, 2017) – Tim Wilkerson is hanging tough in the top 10 in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Funny Car standings, but he and his focused Levi, Ray & Shoup Shelby Ford Mustang team are ready to break through with their first win of the season. This weekend, the NHRA tour makes its second stop in a four-in-a-row Eastern swing, and Team LRS will be looking for victory on Sunday at the 48th annual NHRA Summernationals at historic Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.
Wilkerson enters the event with one previous win at Raceway Park, earned in 2008. In his career, the independent team owner, driver, and tuner has accumulated 20 nitro Funny Car victories. So far this year, he has reached the final round once – in Atlanta – and would very much like to grab a coveted Wally trophy and sew up a spot in the Traxxas Nitro Shootout, a competition that pits the first seven drivers to win in a season (plus one selected by fan vote and lottery drawing) against one another in a high-dollar bonus event at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. There are still three spots left for event winners in the shootout.
Although Wilkerson was ousted in Epping when a clutch flow valve stuck open and caused him to overpower the track fiercely and with great immediacy in the first round, the unusual malfunction is well behind him.
"I'm terribly optimistic about our program, and the problem that we had at Epping isn't something that you could foresee," said Wilkerson, who is No. 9 in the Funny Car standings heading into Englishtown. "I think we might have bumped onto what we need to do to make everything work, so that gives you a little confidence."
During qualifying last weekend, Wilkerson and Team LRS made their best run of the weekend on the final pass before the field was set. It was a smooth, straight, and very efficient gallop down to the 1,000-foot mark that infused them with encouragement.
"We still have to figure out how to run in the 3.8's again, but I think we know why we haven't, and we're working on getting that back," said Wilkerson, who believes that the biggest issues they've faced lately have been clutch-disk related. "It's a long time before Indy yet [the last race of the regular season where the Countdown to the Championship field is set], so I feel okay. These guys all work real hard, and like I always say, we're not a team that gives up. We're excited to get to the next race and give it another shot."
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**Full results posted throughout the weekend at DragRaceCentral.com**
Tim Wilkerson
Levi, Ray & Shoup Ford Shelby Mustang
Car No.: FC9
Wilkerson in Englishtown
Won 2008 (defeated Mike Neff)
Last year: Qualified No. 11, lost in the second round to Jeff Diehl
Race Info
48th annual NHRA Summernationals
Old Bridge Township Raceway Park
Englishtown, New Jersey
June 8-11, 2017
Photo credit: Auto Imagery.