TEAM WILKERSON RACING LEVI, RAY & SHOUP NHRA Nitro Funny Car Contact: Bob Wilber -- [email protected] FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE WILKS SIGHTS STILL SET HIGHER AS BRAINERD LOOMS BRAINERD, Minn. (August 12, 2014) -- Tim Wilkerson entered the fabled Western Swing in 11th place on the NHRA Mello Yello points sheet for the Funny Car class. His Levi, Ray & Shoup Shelby Mustang had just suffered through a three-race stretch of frustrating first-round losses, and Jack Beckman had overtaken him for the 10th (and final) spot in the Countdown playoff group. Wilk then managed to go 4-3 on the Swing, to reclaim 10th place from Beckman, and the general consensus was that this was going to be a two-man fight for the final spot in the post season. The only problem with that consensus is that Wilk never subscribed to it. He is still looking on moving up and out of the al spot. Entering this weekends tussle in the woods of central Minnesota, at Brainerd International Raceway, Wilk is 30 points up on Beckman, which represents two rounds of racing with eight rounds left to contest before the playoff field is set, but hes also just 33 points behind Del Worsham, after having picked up four rounds on the DHL driver during the Western Swing. In addition, Wilk picked up a valuable round on Cruz Pedregon, who sits eighth, on the Swing and is now 79 points behind him. Not factoring in bonus or qualifying points, thats four rounds of racing. Jack and I did a top-end TV interview during the Swing and I think I surprised him a little when I didnt play along with the me against him story, Wilk said. I said I thought we could both make the playoffs, and I still think that. Were both running pretty strong right now, and more importantly were at least winning the first round, so were heading into Brainerd with that sort of mindset, that the single most important round in any race is the first one. Both of us winning in the first round at Denver and Seattle is why were still so close. Then, when Jack went out in the second round in Seattle we had a chance to make some hay, but Gary Densham beat me by an inch or so. We did get an extra round out of that, but not the way we wanted to get it. The extra round Wilk referred to came in the form of a 10-point penalty handed to Beckman after his second-round loss, when he detonated a motor and shredded the body off his car. When the Safety Safari had to roll trucks to clean up the mess, Fast Jack was docked the aforementioned 10 points, altering Wilks lead from one round (20 points) to two (30 points). Now, heading into the Land of 10,000 Lakes, Wilk is simply looking for more of those 20-point increments. He doesnt focus on any additional head-to-head match ups with Beckman, because the whims of the drag racing ladder give him no say in that matter. The two hadnt faced each other all year until Denver, but they then faced off two races in a row, with Wilk taking both head-to-head wins. Still, as Wilk sees it, the battle isnt necessarily with Beckman and his team. The goal is ninth place at least, and eighth if possible. It will take a string of good runs to accomplish that. Were running well enough for me to envision it, and now we just have to make it happen, Wilk said. Weve had some history in Brainerd, and weve done some really big things in Indy. The best thing we have going for us is that its up to us. If we win rounds, well be in good shape. If we have to start relying on other teams to lose, that means were not in the drivers seat. I prefer to be in the drivers seat, so thats the focus. Just win rounds. We focus on each lap like its the only one in the world, and frankly Im not going to concern myself with how anyone else is doing. I cant control who wins or loses. I cant even control that in my own rounds, and if you want some examples of that just look at my race against Densham, or my race against Ron Capps in Epping (where Wilk ran low e.t. of the day but lost by six-thousandths of a second). All you can do is focus on making good laps, not worry about who is racing who, and try to win rounds. Its a complicated sport, but that part of it is pretty simple. Just win rounds. Sounds easy, but even a cursory glance at any typical Funny Car ladder shows how tough it can be. For Wilk and his LRS crew, the goal is to focus on each lap as if its the only race that matters. And in the end it will all settle itself. ### ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Team Wilkerson Racing NHRA Nitro Funny Car timwilkerson
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 21:14:52 +0000
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