Championship Drag Racing

CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals
Chicago, Ill.
(Sept. 30-Oct. 3)

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

Reports: Sunday Saturday Pre-race

Chicago, Saturday: In an unusual turn of events, Springfield, Ill. favorite, Tim Wilkerson and his Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevy Monte Carlo Funny Car will not be part of race day action at the 4th annual CARQUEST Auto Parts Nationals.

Wilkerson waited until the last qualifying attempt to lay down his best, 4.876 second 318.62 mph pass. By the end of the session, this was only good enough for the No. 17 position, in the quickest field in Funny Car history.

It was 40 races ago in Las Vegas at the SummitRacing.com Nationals since Wilkerson didn't make a show. Since that time Wilkerson has achieved three No. 1 qualifying positions, six final-round appearances with four wins, and ten semifinal round appearances. So, for Wilkerson not to be part of Sunday's program is surprising to his friends, family, fans, sponsors and competitors.

"We had an awful time getting started," said a disappointed Wilkerson, "and then the weather got us. We just got behind. We made a good run this afternoon, but it just wasn't enough. Once you get in the position that you only have one chance left, you have to make a good decision. So, you can't go out there swinging it over your head like you're swinging for the fence. You have to go down the track. It did just what I thought it would. Fred (Mandoline) asked what did I think it would run, and I said 85 or 86 and it went 87, so it was right on the money. Then when you have a record field, it's even tougher. That's part of it. You should never get behind and that's what happens when you get behind. You get back there and things just don't work out the way they should.

"We'll lick our wounds and go to Reading and hopefully we can fix the thing and go down the track some more. You know, that was the first time we haven't gone down the track two runs in qualifying, and it shows that when you do that you make desperate, dumb moves. But I guess it wasn't a dumb move, it was a good move, but it just wasn't quite as fast as it needed to be."

Chicago, Friday: The rain put an early end to today's racing action at the 4th annual CARQUEST Auto Parts Nationals. Tim Wilkerson would have liked to have another pass in order to get the Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevy Monte Carlo in the show.

On the day's only pass, Wilkerson suffered hard tire shake and had to abort the run, coasting across the finish line at 10.936 seconds.

"Nothing went right on that run," said Wilkerson. "It put a hole out at the step and went into tire shake as soon as it did that. We found out what was wrong with it though, and it would have been okay tonight. It would have been good enough to get into the 80's, but Mother Nature isn't cooperating with us. We would have liked to get to run and be well in the show so tomorrow we could tune it up. But now we're behind the eight ball and we're going to have to pussyfoot around tomorrow, so we'll have to see how it goes."

Chicago, pre-race: Springfield, Ill. resident, Tim Wilkerson plays many roles on the Levi, Ray & Shoup (LRS) Funny Car team. Not only does Wilkerson own the team and drive the fuel coupe, but also has a complete understanding of all the mechanical aspects and therefore, with the advice of Fred Mandoline, he makes the tuning decisions.

Going into this weekend's fourth annual CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway, the home of Wilkerson's first Funny Car career win, he is in a quandary and is wearing his tuner's hat as he makes a serious decision.

One of the new mechanical advances that many of the teams are using on their racecars is the set-back supercharger. Wilkerson has tested it twice recently, both times at Route 66 Raceway and was happy with its performance and promise. Then he ran it this past weekend at the O'Reilly Fall Nationals and was disappointed.

"The LRS Monte Carlo showed a little promise with the set-back in Dallas," said Wilkerson. "But it's not as terrific as it looks like it should be. We're not sure if we're going to run it in Joliet or not. It depends on how we feel. I have to think about it a little bit and make an evaluation of whether we're doing the right thing or not.

"After we tested with it in Joliet, we thought we should give it a chance. But I really don't know if it's a big benefit. We've been running it trying to see if there's any magic in it and it really doesn't seem that there is. There is supposed to be this magic in that cylinders stay the same and blah, blah, blah. Well we're still chasing the idle all over the place. We have a lot of family and friend and LRS guest coming to Joliet this weekend and we'd really like to run good for them, so I have to decide what we're going to do."

So, the questions still stands, will he or won't he? We'll just have to wait to find out the answer when the LRS Monte Carlo rolls up to the starting line for the first qualifying session on Friday afternoon.