NHRA Arizona Nationals - Tim Wilkerson Racing - Notes and Quotes
Posted by: Kelly Topolinski
Notes:
- Tim Wilkerson set his career best elapsed time in Phoenix last season with a 3.844-second pass in the first round of eliminations
- Wilk drove the Levi, Ray & Shoup Ford Shelby Mustang nitro Funny Car to the quarterfinals in Phoenix last year. He won the race in 2016.
- Wilkerson, the driver, tuner, and team owner of the LRS Funny Car, is an independent driver and one of just two single-car teams in the category to finish in the top 10 in 2017
- The NHRA Arizona Nationals will be the 471st race of Wilkerson's career as a nitro Funny Car driver
Quotes:
"We've made some good runs in Phoenix, and hopefully it's all 'kosher pickle' when we get there. We'll see how it goes – we're still working on getting a few new guys on our team comfortable, but we know we're going to be okay. In a couple of races, everything will be back to normal, and things will be good. We're lucky to have the people we have, and everybody worked real hard in Pomona. The fact that we tested in Phoenix could help us at the race, but the problem is that everybody else tested there, too. We'll have to see, but we ran good there last year. It would sure be nice to go there and do the same thing."
Wilkerson in Phoenix
1 win in 1 final round in Phoenix
Won 2016 (defeated John Force)
No. 1 in 2008
In 2017: Qualified No. 5, defeated by Matt Hagan in the quarterfinals
Tim Wilkerson
Levi, Ray & Shoup Ford Shelby Mustang
Car No.: FC8
Career Stats heading into the NHRA Arizona Nationals
(Race 2 of 24 in the 2018 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series)
470 races
786 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)
34th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals
Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park, Phoenix
February 23-25, 2018
Run Schedule (all times local)
Friday, February 23
8:00 a.m. - Sportsman qualifying
1:30 p.m. - Pro qualifying session 1
4:30 p.m. - Pro qualifying session 2
Saturday, February 24
8:00 a.m. - Sportsman eliminations
1:30 p.m. - Pro qualifying session 3
4:00 p.m. - Pro qualifying session 4
Sunday, February 25
11:00 a.m. - Eliminations
Television Schedule
Friday, Feb. 23, FS1 will televise one hour of LIVE qualifying coverage at 7 p.m. (ET).
Saturday. Feb. 24, FS1 will televise one hour of qualifying coverage at 11 p.m. (ET).
Sunday, Feb. 25, FS1 will televise three hours of finals coverage starting at 6:30 p.m. (ET).
Photo credit: Auto Imagery