Posted by: Team Manager Bob Wilber
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (March 23, 2015) -- Tim Wilkerson is coming off his best outing of the young 2015 season, in which he earned a semifinal finish in Gainesville thanks to an uncanny ability to string together five 4.08s in the seven laps he made. In the end he lost in that semifinal by the smallest possible margin, as recorded by the NHRA timing system. At the track, fans are privy to each elapsed time stretched out to the thousandth of a second, but in the timing room even those microscopic numbers can often end in a tie. The 10-thousandth of a second recording is used to break those, and Wilk came up "short" to Ron Capps by a single one of those sub-atomic 10-thousandths. The indistinguishable margin was .0001 of a second.
Now, after a weekend off to recharge and recalibrate, Wilk and the NHRA Mello Yello Series will descend upon zMAX Dragway in Charlotte for the annual running of the most unusual and unique drag race in the world, the 4-Wide Nationals. As Wilk sees it, it's twice the drama, double the size, but two times the opportunity for more success.
"We've all gotten used to it now, so there's not the crazy feeling of being a little lost doing something you're supposed to know how to do, which is what it was like the first time around," Wilk said, referencing the entirely different scenario of having four cars racing at once instead of two. "That first year, we were all figuring it out on the run, and some of us never figured it out, but now the crew chiefs and the drivers know the drill and we get it all done without too much trouble.
"The key thing here is that consistency can really win you a lot of points, and we've had a really consistent car this year, even when we weren't running 4.08s like that. At the 4-Wides, on Sunday you don't have to be the quickest car in your lap, you just have to be one of the two quickest. If you do that twice, you have a chance to win the whole thing. We're about ready to do that, I think."
In addition to his recent stellar outing at the Gatornationals, history illustrates that Wilk has shown a propensity for finding his way into that final foursome on previous Sundays in Charlotte, as well. In the first five runnings of the 4-Wide Nationals, he's advanced to the final round three times, but has yet to crack into the Winner's Circle or the runner-up position. All three times, he finished outside the top two and was saddled with a semifinal finish.
"We've been able to run well in Charlotte, and getting into those three final rounds tells you that, but we've been too quick to mess up and just make mistakes once we get there," Wilk said. "Right now, one of the key things we're doing better is we're able to read the track a little better and find that good solid tune-up that gets us down there without tipping over the edge.
"I've won a lot of races out here by being smart and being able to just race the lane and put my best number up, but for some reason in Charlotte we've gotten away from that in those three finals. I think we're past that now, and we're used to the format enough that we're not going to let ourselves deviate from the program. It's important enough to race the lane when you're only running against one other car. It's absolutely necessary when you're racing against three. If you let yourself get outside your race-day mode, and you let yourself think 'Man, I've got to beat three cars here' you'll mess it up. Even if there were eight cars running, you still have to race your lane."
Wilk's first order of business will be getting qualified, and with 18 teams entered in Charlotte there will be two going home early. Still, the focus will remain on making consistent laps, with strong numbers, and any team that does that at the 4-Wide Nationals will take home those valuable points. Double the size, but twice the opportunity.
###