Wilk Aims To Finish Eastern Trifecta With Strong Bristol
Posted by: Team Manager Bob Wilber
BRISTOL, Tenn. (June 16, 2015) -- This gaggle of three consecutive races on the NHRA Mello Yello tour doesn't have a universal nickname like the fabled Western Swing in late summer, but it clearly challenges the the professional teams as much as any grouping on the docket. With Englishtown, Epping, and Bristol all falling on consecutive weekends, the teams traverse miles of the eastern quarter of the continent, and they race at three very different venues.
For Tim Wilkerson and his Levi, Ray & Shoup Mustang Funny Car team, the sole object at this point is to finish the trifecta with a strong performance at Bristol Dragway, after having lost in the first round at both of the previous races. Wilk had reached a high point in his season heading into this triple-header, but the pair of first-round losses have been a stumble, and he now holds the 10th position in the Mello Yello points standing.
"Coming out of Topeka, we weren't doing much wrong but this sport always has a way to keep you humble," Wilk said. "We'd won Atlanta and then only lost by a little bit in round two at Topeka, and everything was good with the world. Then we ran pretty good in Englishtown but missed the set-up in round one. I never say we deserved a better result, because there's so many good cars out here everyone deserves some rewards but only half the teams get them each round. It's hard to win.
"In Epping, I felt like we took a step sideways and lost the handle on it a little. We were dropping cylinders all weekend, until we finally fixed that in round one and making the extra horsepower with all eight lit drove it right into tire spin. It was pretty frustrating, but Bristol wraps this up and I've always loved Thunder Valley. It treats me well, and I can usually get my act back together when we get there."
Wilk has never won the Bristol event, but he has been the runner-up there twice, including last season when he qualified second with what was then a career best (a 4.013 that was bettered by the 3.971 and 3.984 he posted this year in Topeka). The season that best exemplified a major upswing in performance beginning in Bristol was 2010, where Wilk lost in the final round when the safety system on his LRS Ford malfunctioned and turned the motor off. He may have lost that race, but he then went on to win Norwalk and Seattle back-to-back.
"Last year and 2010 in Bristol were both launching points for us," Wilk recalled. "Last year we'd slipped clear out of the top 10 and the runner-up got us back in and we stayed there for the rest of the season. In 2010, we'd won Gainesville and then were just kind of sputtering around winning a round here or there, but the Bristol runner-up really got us going. I don't know if we would've beaten John Force had the car kept running, but we could have and that might've been three wins in a row instead of two. You can see why I like racing in Bristol.
"The facility is a typical first-class Bruton Smith stadium, and the setting is as unique as anything you'll ever see, but the fans are what really make it special. That's racing country down there, no matter if we go straight or if they go around in circles, and with Bristol Dragway sitting just across the parking lots from the big circle track, it's a pretty neat deal. The fans come out strong and they eat it up, all day long. It's always a treat to race there, and I can't wait to get going this weekend."
Wilk's two-race "slump" is actually not as bad as it appears, considering he ran in the thick of things during qualifying at both E-Town and Epping, but Bristol often provides solid evidence of just how well the LRS owner/tuner/driver is doing. Wilk hopes 2015 might finally be the year he breaks through to the Bristol Winner's Circle.
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