Championship Drag Racing

Pontiac Excitement NHRA Nationals
Columbus, Ohio
(June 10-13)

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Tim Wilkerson Levi, Ray, & Shoup Monte Carlo Funny Car

Reports: Sunday Saturday Friday Pre-race

Columbus, Sunday: Under sunny skies and warm temperatures, Tim Wilkerson rolled the Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevrolet Monte Carlo to the starting line at the 40th Annual Pontiac Excitement Nationals presented by Summit to take on his first round opponent, Eric Medlen.

Wilkerson got his fuel coupe off the line first and was ahead of Medlen to the thousand-foot mark, but that's when the tables turned. Wilk's 4.901 was no match against Medlen's 4.822.

"We were ahead of him to 1000 feet," explained Wilkerson, "but then the thing started to spin the tires. When it spun the tires it got out if the groove and dropped a cylinder. It wasn't going to go anywhere so I shut it off early. If I would have legged it through there, it probably would have gone an 86 or 87 and knocked the blower off or something stupid and we wouldn't have won anyway. Today's weather conditions were completely different from anything all weekend. We didn't do anything stupid; we just over powered the track. But we're getting tired of getting beat first round. Our 4.90 would have beat all but four cars in that round. Medlen and his team made a good run and our hat's off to them."

Columbus, Saturday: Tim Wilkerson improved upon his Friday night qualifying run today but the Levi, Ray & Shoup Monte Carlo slid down the ladder from the No. 3 spot to the No. 7 position as qualifying came to a close at the 40th Annual Pontiac Excitement Nationals presented by Summit.

On today's first pass, Wilkerson dropped a hole at the hit and aborted the run, crossing the finish line in 10.721 seconds at 88.53 mph. But then it was on the last qualifying pass that Wilkerson laid down his best run of the weekend, thundering down the track in 4.829 seconds at 318.54 mph.

"We didn't get after it enough on our first pass," said Wilkerson. "It put a hole out at the step and when it did that it shook and got out of the groove, it did everything it wasn't suppose to do. But the second run was a step in the right direction, even though we weren't near aggressive enough. It was a nice slow easy front half of the race track. Then we hauled on the back half, which is something we traditionally struggle with. So we're trying to put two and two together tomorrow and see if we get four instead of seven. Hopefully we can do that for our friends at Summit."

Wilkerson, who made his two best runs in the right lane, will have lane choice over his first round opponent, Eric Medlen. But the lanes aren't a concern to Wilkerson.

"We don't think there's any difference in the lanes," said Wilkerson, "we just made mistakes each time we were in the left lane. So were just going to go out there tomorrow and not worry about who we're racing. We're going to say okay, first we went 85, then 82 so let's see if we can go an 80, that's the plan."

Columbus, Friday: After a day of sitting around and watching rain drops, the weather cleared and the professional classes were able to complete two rounds of qualifying at the 40th Annual Pontiac Excitement Nationals presented by Summit. Funny Car pilot, Tim Wilkerson sits in the No. 3 spot at the close of the day.

On his first pass, Wilkerson could only muster 8.877 seconds at 91.26 mph out of the Levi, Ray & Shoup Monte Carlo. But then on the second attempt, Wilkerson demonstrated how it should be done, by running 4.858 seconds at 315.86 mph, the second quickest pass of the session.

"I'm really proud of the guys today," said Wilkerson. "We sat around all day long and then they come and want you to run in an hour. That's really tough and it caused us some trouble on our first run. But we made it look a little better on our second pass. On that one, I felt it shutter just a hair and with the way the weather is around here I got off and on the gas pedal just a little. That probably cost us low E.T., I bet. It's okay, because it was a good run for the conditions and now it gives us something to work on for tomorrow. Now we can try to make the car go down the track without me having to do that."

Columbus, pre-race: The time between races during the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing season is a very busy time for the teams and the drivers. For Tim Wilkerson and his Springfield, Ill. based Levi, Ray & Shoup Funny Car team the ten days between the O'Reilly Summer Nationals and the upcoming 40th annual Pontiac Excitement Nationals presented by Summit were packed with long days of work, traveling and appearances.

With the next three races on the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing tour being back-to-back a lot had to be done in the two and one half days that the transporter was at the race shop after Topeka before it had to take to the road again. The race car had to be unloaded and serviced. Then the trailer had to be loaded with extra engines, clutch packs and enough parts to last for three races. Then some work had to be done to the car, so there was a stop on the way to Ohio at Murf McKinney's shop in Otterbein, Ind.

Then this past weekend when most teams were able to take a breather before heading off the National Trail Raceway, Wilkerson and his truck and racecar where star attractions at the 12th annual Super Summit car show in Tallmadge, Ohio. Super Summit XII is a day of fun full of show quality street machines, hot rods, racecars customs, sport compacts, an autograph session and a manufacturer's midway all held at the Summit Racing Equipment Retail Store. The Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevrolet Monte Carlo along with Wilkerson's shiny new tractor and 53 foot trailer were prominently on display the entire day. In fact Stu Lubbert, pilot and chief caretaker of the rig received the Best Prepared Semi award. Wilkerson himself presented the trophy to Lubbert. And one of Wilkerson's sponsors, White Night rear lighting systems, which are available through Summit, had their booth set-up in front of Wilkerson. Super Summit XII hosted a two-hour GM Racing autograph session during the afternoon, in which Wilkerson also participated.

At the close of the day, Lubbert and the transporter stayed in Ohio in preparation for the Pontiac Excitement Nationals presented by Summit this weekend, while Wilkerson returned home to Springfield, Ill. Wilkerson will use the three days at home to spend some time with the family, get some work done at Wilkerson's Service Center and pack before returning to Ohio. On Wednesday, June 9, 2004, the transporter and Wilkerson will be participating in another autograph session, this time at Dave Gill Pontiac.

"We had a great time at the Summit show," said Wilkerson. "There were some awesome cars on display. We signed a lot of autographs and talked to a lot of nice people. We always have fun doing that. It looked like a good time for our friends at White Night. We saw a lot of people going home with a rear lighting system. I drove home from Ohio Saturday night because we had several family functions on Sunday. And then this week I need to get my payroll taxes done for the business and we're reorganizing the shop since everything's out of it. Then I have to get back to Ohio Wednesday for the autograph session for GM at Dave Gill's Pontiac."

With the points standings being so tight and ever changing starting on Thursday, Wilkerson will focus his efforts on preparing his Levi, Ray & Shoup Monte Carlo to be a star in the highly competitive Funny Car ranks at the Pontiac Excitement Nationals presented by Summit.