Winter was study-time for Tim Wilkerson to prepare for NHRA 2018
Posted by: Kelly Topolinski
SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS (February 6, 2018) – Tim Wilkerson will ride his Levi, Ray & Shoup Ford Shelby Mustang into the 2018 season of NHRA's Mello Yello Drag Racing Series with No. 8 on the window, marking the 13th time that the seasoned Funny Car driver has finished in the top 10. When the 2018 battle begins at this weekend's Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Wilkerson plans to be prepared to challenge for a championship that he has been chasing since making his debut in 1996. He has finished as high as the No. 2 spot (2008), but nobody knows better than Wilk that the game is tougher than ever.
Last season, he was one of just two independent drivers to finish in the top 10 alongside multi-car teams that had the benefit of mountains of shared data and plump budgets.
"The problem right now is that these cars are so fast," said Wilkerson, whose career best elapsed time is a 3.844-second pass with a best speed of 333.74 mph. "I could honestly tell you that three years ago, I was one of the fastest cars all the time. Now everybody has kind of caught up to me, and I'm in the top five most of the time when I do it right. If I miss it, I end up in the back of the field, and that's the problem with our racing anymore. You don't have a lot of chances. You get the one good run, and you can't screw it up. I went through a phase in 2012 and 2013 where I played a lot of catch-up. That didn't make me happy, so I worked really hard and fixed it. We were good in 2014, 2015, and 2016, but now they're all making me look bad again."
Wilkerson experienced an uncharacteristic year in 2017 and walked away winless despite a couple of final-round finishes. As one would expect, he is planning to rectify the situation and has targeted where to begin.
"I think my biggest challenge is consistency, but last year I would get off-track trying to be real fast," said Wilkerson. "If I can get back to being focused on taking it round-by-round and run-to-run, I'll do a better job. I was sitting at my desk staring at runs all winter, and I could see a trend on what I did wrong. It was really interesting to look at it that way.
"I don't know if I'm just getting older, but I've gotten to the point that it's more important for me to do it right than it used to be. I used to have this crazy drive of just being able to do it, but now I want to be able to do it right all the time. It bothers me when I don't. The good thing is that I have a lot of friends out here, and we talk. If I ever get upside down or lost, I can get advice from anybody I ask, and that makes me feel good. Especially because this is going to be the toughest year we've had in a long time. There are a lot of full-time cars now, and they're all quality cars. I'm real excited for this year. I think we have something to prove."
Tim Wilkerson
Levi, Ray & Shoup Ford Shelby Mustang
Car No.: FC8
Career Stats heading into the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals
(Race 1 of 24 in the 2018 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series)
469 races
784 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)
Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals
Auto Club Raceway at Pomona
Pomona, California
February 8-11, 2018
Run Schedule (all times PT)
Thursday – Sportsman qualifying 8:15am
Friday – Sportsman eliminations 8:15am, Pro qualifying 12:00 & 2:30pm
Saturday – Pro qualifying 12:15 & 3:30pm
Sunday – Eliminations 11am
Television Schedule (all times ET)
Friday – Friday Night Nitro Live 6-7pm on FS1
Sunday – NHRA Race Day 1-2pm on FS1
Sunday – Eliminations 5-8pm on FS1
Photo credit: Auto Imagery