NHRA News: Wilson enters next phase of his career with raised expectations (11/19/2002)

Wilson enters next phase of his career with raised expectations

By Rob Geiger, NHRA.com
11/19/2002

"I never dreamed I'd come to the NHRA and have such a start."
– Gene Wilson

Pro Stock driver Gene Wilson stepped out of the shadow of his famous father for good when the Automobile Club of Southern California named him the recipient of its Road to the Future award last week in Hollywood. It was a double-coup for Wilson, the son of fishing legend Orlando Wilson, as for the first time in history the Road to the Future award officially recognized NHRA Drag Racing's Rookie of the Year.

Consequently, Wilson not only joins the prestigious list of former Road to the Future honorees like Tony Pedregon, Ron Capps, Doug Kalitta, Antron Brown, and GT Tonglet, but his name will also be linked with former Rookie of the Year drivers like Larry Dixon, Gary Scelzi, Jeg Coughlin Jr., Darrell Russell, Scotty Cannon, Matt Hines, and many others.

"Just to be listed among this year's finalists was special to me," Wilson said of fellow nominees JR Carr, Thomas Miceli, and Andrew Hines. "I've had the good fortune to meet and hang out with all these guys and I can tell you they are genuinely good people, both on and off the racetrack.

"When they called my name at the awards ceremony it was such an honor. Since they've combined the Rookie of the Year award with the Auto Club of Southern California Road to the Future award it's made it where you only have one chance to win this deal. It sure makes it special.

"I never dreamed I'd come to the NHRA and have such a start. Being in the running for this award never even crossed my mind until someone told me I was one of the finalists."

A quick study
Despite beginning the season late in Gainesville, Fla., Wilson managed to race his colorful Mopar Parts Dodge Neon R/T to a remarkable ninth-place finish in the POWERade points on the strength of his respectable 16-13 elimination-round record. He made it to three final rounds, taking runner-up honors each time.

Gene Wilson didn't take control of David Nickens' Mopar Parts Dodge Neon R/T until Gainesville but he still managed to garner Rookie of the Year honors.

Wilson's third runner-up finish of the year at the season-ending Auto Club of Southern California NHRA Finals sealed the Rookie of the Year voting and secured a favorable 31-26 elimination-round record for team owner David Nickens' two-car Mopar Parts operation, which also featured three-time champion Darrell Alderman.

"Darrell has helped me in so many different ways I couldn't even tell you in one story," Wilson said. "He's so laid-back and easy-going when you talk to him but on raceday he's one of the most serious drivers I've ever seen. His focus and his ability to do all the little things it takes to win is his strong suit. He's flat-out awesome and I learned so much from him.

"I grew up idolizing Darrell. He was one of my boyhood heroes. It was unreal when I was hired to be on the same team with him and when he tells me something I take it to heart. We've become very close and I know I'm a much better driver and I'm able to handle my job all the way around much more professionally because of Darrell Alderman."

A diamond in the rough
It was Nickens who first eyed the potential within this young driver, hiring him after two races of the season had already taken place to fill the vacancy left by the departing Mark Osborne. From the moment he watched Wilson take his first try-out pass during a secret test session at Houston Raceway Park, Nickens knew he had a winner.

"We needed a driver and we didn't feel like we had a long time to search for one," Nickens said. "All we knew of Gene initially is that he'd won the IHRA Pro Stock title pretty convincingly and that he was their Rookie of the Year for 2001. The cars over there are quite a bit different but we flew him in for a trial just to see how he'd react.

Wilson raced to three runner-up finishes and one low qualifier honor in his first season.

"His first lap was a 6.8-something at 200-plus mph, and that was in a car made for someone else. We knew right then we had a winner. I consider him a big part of the success we had developing this Hemi program for Mopar. Without question, he helped our two-car team win nearly twice as many elimination rounds (70 to 39) as the other 10 teams campaigning Dodges combined over the past two seasons.

"He's a true champion off the track with the fans, the sponsors, and with his family. He's a great young man and a heck of a driver. I'm sad to see him go but I can tell you he'll be a champ wherever he lands."

Nickens remains perplexed by Mopar's decision to take its Pro Stock program in a new direction after just two full years with his Houston-based operation. The longtime engine builder and former racer has been the leader of the recent Mopar resurgence, which featured, among other things, six Hemi-powered Dodges making the field in Sonoma, Calif. – a feat that hadn't been equaled since the late 1970s – the first all-Dodge final in six years when Nickens' drivers Alderman and Osborne squared-off for the title of the 2001 Seattle race, and the sport's fastest Pro Stock pass of all-time, a 204.35-mph blast Osborne carded in Reading, Pa., last fall.

"I've really grown to like David and his entire team," Wilson said. "He's a great guy and a great guy to work for. I sure appreciate him taking a chance on me. It's meant a lot to my career. He's the one who gave me the chance I needed and I'll never forget that. I'm forever thankful to him."

Turning the page
Mopar's new plan calls for Wilson to join the team of another Dodge-sponsored engine builder, Larry Morgan, who, despite his struggles of late, managed to pull off a surprise victory at this year's Fram-Autolite Nationals, capping Dodge's memorable weekend in California's wine country.

"Larry Morgan is another one of the great guys in this sport," Wilson said. "Obviously, he's somebody Mopar choose to carry on its racing program and I couldn't be more excited to be joining his team in 2003.

"He's been around this sport for a long time. He's a great driver and a great engine builder. Trust me, anyone who can put together a 500-inch motor and go out and win a race with it like Larry did in Sonoma is no dummy. His record over the last few years sure doesn't reflect the guy's ability. The facts are you can't do it all by yourself. Now that he has better funding from Mopar and has hired the right people, I truly believe this team will skyrocket. Mark my words on that one."

Wilson's mentor Alderman will now drive for Allen Johnson, who rose from relative obscurity to an eighth-place finish in 2002, a 13-place improvement from the previous year. Like Nickens and Morgan, Johnson owns his own engine shop.

"Darrell and I talked about the new deal," Wilson said. "We won't be on the same team per se, but we are together under the Mopar umbrella and all of us have the same goal in mind, and that's to bring a Pro Stock championship to Mopar."

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