Wilk Hopes For a Less Explosive, More Conventional Atlanta
Posted by: Team Manager Bob Wilber
COMMERCE, Ga. (May 11, 2015) -- One year ago, when the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series visited Atlanta Dragway for the Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals, words like "bizarre" and "spectacular" were tossed about with careless abandon, as difficult weather, tricky traction, and multiple engine explosions not only wreaked havoc on the parts and pieces, but also caused what was already a long and wet weekend to stretch through Monday. Tim Wilkerson, owner/tuner/driver of the Levi, Ray & Shoup Mustang Funny Car, played a major part in all the spectacular wackiness, although not by design. He exploded a motor when its camshaft broke, completely demolishing a nearly-new Mustang body during qualifying, and then on Monday beat John Force in a pedal-fest before losing to Robert Hight, who sat at the starting line for an inexplicable 1.4 seconds before hitting the throttle. It was a strange weekend, as well as a very explosive and expensive one.
This year, Wilk would like to arrive, participate, and depart in much less spectacular fashion, unless the "spectacular" moments are simply four consistent round-wins and a trip to the Winner's Circle. No need for detonations, pedaling jobs, or bizarre losses where the opponent sat at idle for an eternity but then zipped by after Wilk's Levi, Ray & Shoup Mustang smoked the tires. Just a nice, boring, run-of-the-mill race with good results.
"Last year was one of the more memorable races in a while, and it cost a bunch of us a lot of money, so I'm fine with a nice standard race where we just compete and then go home, with everything in one piece," Wilk said. "We had our untested window vents in the car for that lap when it blew up, and the one on my left actually worked. We saw photos of the explosion where the vent was flipped up and the flames were shooting straight out, horizontally. The one on my right, though, couldn't take the blast and the whole right side of the car disappeared. I see it a lot on promotional videos, that's for sure.
"In the session after we blew it up, my guys thrashed like mad to get the car fixed and the other body on it, but we smoked the tires. It's probably a good thing, though, because Jack Beckman was in the other lane and he shredded the body off his car with another huge explosion. Then we tried to run on Sunday night, after a long day of rain, but it was just way too loose, so we came back on Monday and finally got it in. I don't need any of that drama this time around."
Wilk certainly doesn't need the drama, but he could clearly use a shift in his fortunes when it comes to catching a break. When it comes to close losses, his year of agonizing frustration continued at the most recent race, in Houston, when he put yet another solid qualifying effort in to land fifth, but unexpected qualifying issues for Courtney Force left her 12th. Force and her team straightened out their car and tune-up just in time to edge Wilk by a foot in round one.
"So far, 2015 has been a head-scratcher and I'm hoping the tide turns a little on that as soon as possible," Wilk said. "Give me an inch here and a foot there and we'd be right in the middle of the top 10 and people would be talking about what a great car we have. Instead, we have a great car but we're 12th. Same car, same good runs, but a very different scenario when it comes to points and position.
"I'm not hoping for luck. It's not about winning rounds because the other drivers red-light or cross the center line, and I don't even expect anyone to smoke the tires against us, but it would be nice to keep making these good laps and get rewarded for them. We always keep our heads up and say things like 'That's drag racing, and it will all even out' but sometimes you start wondering when. I don't want it to even out when I'm 65, and I would hope the folks at LRS and Summit Racing Equipment feel the same way. I want to run great and win some rounds this weekend. If we keep at it, we'll finally force the issue and just beat some people. I'm all for that."
Boring, run-of-the-mill, nothing spectacular. Just round wins. That would work just fine for the LRS team and Wilk's Warriors everywhere.
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