Tim Wilkerson Racing Notes and Quotes - NHRA St. Louis
Posted by: Kelly Topolinski
Tim Wilkerson
Levi, Ray & Shoup Ford Shelby Mustang
Car No.: FC9
Wilkerson in St. Louis
1 win in 2 final rounds
Won 2008 (defeated Mike Neff)
Runner-up 2005 (Ron Capps)
No. 1 in 1998, 2008
Last year: Qualified No. 4, lost in semifinals to Tommy Johnson Jr.
Updated Career Stats heading into NHRA Midwest Nationals
(Race 21 of 24 and the third race of six in the 2017 Countdown to the Championship)
No. 9 in Funny Car standings
465 races
778 rounds
20 wins
19 runner-up finishes
39 overall final rounds
19 No. 1 qualifier awards
Career best e.t.: 3.844 (2017 Phoenix)
Career best speed: 333.74 (2016 Topeka)
Wilkerson quotes:
"When we started this Countdown deal, I said that I didn't want to be the victim of my own circumstances. Last weekend we did a pretty good job with that, going down the track five out of six runs. That's a good feeling going into St. Louis, and we traditionally do well there – but it's going to be a different St. Louis. It's not going to be hot like it was last weekend in Reading. It's going to be cold at night and in the 70s during the day, and I bet it'll be hero time.
"We're going to have to figure out how to make our car run like it did at the beginning of the year in Phoenix. I really haven't got that back since I lost it, and that's kind of irritating me. I've only run a handful of 80s [3.8-second passes] since I did it every darn run in Phoenix. It looked like I knew what I was doing there, but somewhere along the way, I bumped my head and lost that. I'm just going to have to go back and see if I can find the dent where I bumped my head and fix it. Hopefully, I can get the Levi, Ray & Shoup Ford operating like it did before. It's coming around, but making it run a lot of 90s and making it run a lot of 80s is a different story. The rest of those boys out there on the big teams have it figured out, and I don't – but I've been doing a lot of homework.
"We're real excited for this weekend, and it'll be a big race for LRS with Dick Levi there and his whole family and lots of friends. We love having all those folks out there with us. It'll be a lot of fun. Hopefully, it turns out how we want it to."
NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series
Funny Car Standings
(after Reading, Countdown to the Championship race 2 of 6)
1. Ron Capps, 2,273
2. Robert Hight, 2,265
3. Courtney Force, 2,234
4. Matt Hagan, 2,183
5. Jack Beckman, 2,173
6. Tommy Johnson Jr., 2,159
7. J.R. Todd, 2,135
8. John Force, 2,116
9. Tim Wilkerson, 2,098
10. Cruz Pedregon, 2,065
Race Info
Sixth annual AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals
Gateway Motorsports Park
Madison, Ill.
September 29-October 1, 2017
Run Schedule (all times ET)
Friday, September 29
8:00am – Sportsman eliminations
4:15pm – Pro qualifying session 1
6:30pm – Pro qualifying session 2
Saturday, September 30
8:00am – Sportsman eliminations
1:15pm – Pro qualifying session 3
3:45pm – Pro qualifying session 4
Sunday, October 1
11am – Eliminations
Television Schedule (all times ET)
(As displayed on NHRA's Media Fact Sheet, September 26, 2017)
Friday, Sept. 29, FS1 will televise an hour of LIVE qualifying coverage at 6 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 1, FS1 will one hour of qualifying coverage at 2 a.m.
Sunday, Oct. 1, FS1 will televise three hours of LIVE finals coverage starting at 2 p.m.
Photo credit: Auto Imagery