Wilk in Familiar Territory at U.S. Nationals
Posted by: Team Manager Bob Wilber
INDIANAPOLIS (August 26, 2014) -- Tim Wilkerson is more than simply familiar with Indianapolis, Lucas Oil Raceway, and the U.S. Nationals. With the venerable venue being just 190 miles from his Springfield, Ill. shop, he has visited the historic track as many times as he's been to any facility on the NHRA Mello Yello tour, and he's even visited the Winner's Circle once, after he defeated Johnny Gray in the 2003 U.S. Nationals final round.
On top of that, though, Wilk has also found ways to do dramatic things at the U.S. Nationals, especially since the inception of the Countdown playoff system. Battling the multi-car teams is never easy for a one-man show, and Wilk has generally found his way into the playoffs by clinging to one of the final spots in the playoff field. Most famously, in 2012 he entered the "Big Go" outside the Top 10, along with Matt Hagan, but the two of them were within two rounds of both Jeff Arend and Bob Tasca. Four teams were battling for two spots, and it all had to go right for Wilk to overcome the odds. He managed his historic "late inning rally" to land one of those two precious playoff berths by advancing all the way to the Indy final.
This year, Wilk enters the U.S. Nationals clinging to the 10th spot in the playoff hunt, but Jack Beckman is on his heels and only one round behind, with 832 points to Wilk's 848. Both drivers are still within distant reach of Del Worsham, who holds the ninth spot with 900 Mello Yello points. Qualifying well, and winning rounds, will be the key points on Wilk's agenda once again. Indeed, familiar territory.
There's more on the plate than the U.S. Nationals, however, and since Indy is Indy and everything about this race is bigger and more grand, Wilk also will once again leave his fate in the Traxxas Funny Car Shootout to the whims and vagaries of 100 ping-pong balls in a lottery machine. The Traxxas "race within the race" special event pays $100,000 to the winner, and will be held in conjunction with Sunday's qualifying sessions, but to win that 100-grand Wilk needs to be in the field, and the only way he can do that is to win the lottery.
Wilk's Warriors, clearly one of the most loyal and fervent fan bases in the sport, once again stepped up for their hero during a nine-day online voting period, handing Wilk 38 percent of the vote and therefore 38 ping-pong balls in the hopper. The same Jack Beckman who is nipping at Wilk's heels for a playoff berth will also be giving him the most competition for the Wild Card spot in the Traxxas event, after he received 29 percent of the vote. Del Worsham finished third with 13 percent, followed by Matt Hagan at 10 percent, and both Bob Tasca and Tony Pedregon at 5 percent each.
"There's a lot on the line and a lot going on, but we've been here before so none of this is a mystery to us," Wilk said. "When you're battling these multi-car teams, you just have to figure that you're going to have a fight on your hands to make the playoffs, and we seem to have that in front of us every year. At least we're ahead, coming into this one, so if we just do what we have to do we can be okay. We're fighting some really talented people who have very fast cars, though, so we have to be on our game, for sure.
"The Traxxas thing could include a lot less drama if we'd just win a race at some point, because we wouldn't have to go through the fan vote and the lottery deal if we did that. I'm really honored and proud of our fans once again, though, and they need to know how much we all appreciate the support. Even when it comes to a vote, we're still battling some teams with huge fan bases and far bigger social media reach than we have, but our Warriors just don't give up. They vote, they get their families to vote, and so many of them get on Facebook and do the campaigning for us, it's pretty impressive. I can't tune the lottery machine, though, so it'll be a matter of luck. At least we're leading in that deal, too."
Of course, with Indy being Indy, all of this suspense and drama will be stretched out in a marathon of unique proportions, starting with a Fan Fest in downtown Indianapolis on Wednesday, where the Traxxas lottery will take place, followed by four days of racing instead of the standard three, and five qualifying sessions instead of the standard four. It's the U.S. Nationals, and that's how it always plays out. Final eliminations will take place on Monday, Labor Day, as per usual.
"It's Indy, and it's a big old race to begin with, but this year is the 60th annual U.S. Nationals, so I bet it all gets bigger and the hoopla is crazier," Wilk said. "I do my best to keep focused and not get caught up in that stuff, but you get pulled in a lot of directions to do other things, and you can't help that. By the time Monday night rolls around you're about worn out but if we can make some hay and win some rounds, it's a good feeling. We're going to do our best, because that's all we can control.
"With it being the 60th annual, I'm sure the festivities will be pretty neat, and the legends will all be there walking among us. It's one of my favorite things about this sport, because so many of the true legends who put NHRA on the map are still around. Heck, you still have Big Jim Dunn and Connie Kalitta in uniform tuning cars out here, but everyone comes to Indy and the stories will be flying. I hope the biggest story is us winning the race."
Ping-pong balls, playoff berths, round wins, and the most prestigious trophy in the sport. It's all on the line at Indy, at Tim Wilkerson knows his way around all of it. The story just needs to unfold, in that standard familiar fashion.
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