Wilkerson hangs onto No. 16 spot

BRAINERD, Minn. (8/11/06) -- Funny Car pro, Tim Wilkerson made two soft passes today at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway, putting the Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevrolet Monte Carlo in the No.16 qualifying position.

On his first pass, Wilkerson ran a 5.465 at 197.02 mph. Then on the evening pass, Wilk improved but it cost him an engine. He only ran a 5.070, which put him on the bump spot.

"Everything's new, so we're trying to figure what to do with it," said Wilkerson. "On our first run, it did just about what I thought it would, but it was just too weak. On the second pass, the new fuel pump we put on it broke and it didn't have any gas in it at the top end, so it burned it up. It made a heck of a mess of the motor. So, we've got the pump all apart and we're looking at it, trying to figure out what happened. It was on a nice pass early, but it put a hole out and then the pump broke. But hopefully we'll get it fixed and go out there and try again tomorrow."

With rain in the forecast for tomorrow, Wilkerson and his crew may have plenty of time to get the fuel pump repaired in order to take on the challenges of race day.