Wilkerson slips and slides down the quarter-mile
Indianapolis, Friday: The first round of Funny Car qualifying at the 52nd annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals was held in the cool evening temperatures. The great conditions made for track-record setting runs. Springfield, Ill based, Tim Wilkerson would have liked for his Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevrolet Monte Carlo to be one of those record breaking hot rods, but will have to wait for tomorrow to get that task accomplished.
Wilkerson left the starting line like a rocket ship but began to slip and slide down track. He first started to head toward the centerline and then made a sharp move toward the wall, causing Wilkerson to shut off early. He posted a 5.570 at 174.41 mph, which currently puts him in the No. 17 spot.
"I really thought we would make it down all the way down through there," explained Wilkerson. "And when we got down to the other end, they told us that we oiled the track. Well my son Dan backs me up and he said there was oil on the track before we ran. So, I'm not sure that we didn't get into some of that, because it shouldn't have done that. It's a shame too because it was running pretty good early. It was faster than we've been early in a long time. It was four hundreds quicker to 330 feet than our 4.77. It was trying to go 73 or 74. So, we just have to get it under control.
"Hopefully we'll get our other four runs this weekend. I feel pretty confident that if the weather holds out and we get four more tries, we'll have it in the show for Monday. Tomorrow for the first pass, I'll slow it down a little, go 80 flat, and then get after it tomorrow night and at least run a 77 or 78. Then on Sunday we'll worry about Monday."
