Wilkerson encouraged by immense local support
MADISON, Prerace: Hailing from nearby Springfield, Ill. makes Funny Car pro, Tim Wilkerson the local favorite. Having extra family and friends around for support always makes Wilkerson feel good. With sponsor, Levi, Ray & Shoup, Inc. (LRS) being headquartered in Springfield also, the support for Wilkerson at this weekend's O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals will be inspiring.
Dick Levi and his staff will host one of the biggest three day parties held at Gateway International Raceway in order to cheer on Wilkerson in his beautiful LRS Funny Car. Over the course of the weekend, there will be over 800 LRS guests coming to the races to root for Wilkerson and his team. On Saturday, there will be a company outing with about 400 employees and their families, all cheering for Wilkerson. Besides that group, Levi has invited around 125 of his closest friends, including Springfield mayor, Tim Davlin.
"We're always excited to be in St. Louis," said Wilkerson. "We have a great time with the LRS group. They are all such nice folks. Their enthusiasm and encouragement is contagious, and that might just be the medicine we need to help us. A couple of years ago we went to the finals here, and it was an emotional day, and we need to do that again. It builds up the confidence of the team, first of all, and then we need to do it for the sponsor. We need to keep everybody happy. This will be the first race Dick has been able to make this year, which is unusual because he usually attends a handful of races. It will be great to have him join us. He is so supportive and that makes us feel good."
Levi is a huge Tim Wilkerson and drag racing fan and tries to attend several races each year. But owning one of the top software companies in the world has made it tough for the high profile executive to fit racing into his busy schedule.
"I am really excited about attending my first race this year," said Levi. "I'll be bringing the Springfield mayor again (brought him year before last) along with two of his brothers and four additional friends of mine. The mayor loved the race two years ago and he's excited about attending again this year. The rest of the group has never been before and I especially enjoy watching the faces of those who've never attended a race when they see Tim and the car in action. I not only enjoy racing, I also enjoy seeing others enjoy it. I have a long list of family and friends that always look forward to this event. And we'd all love to see Tim put a win under his belt this weekend."
Wilkerson enjoys a long and rich history at the quarter-mile facility, starting with his bracket racing days when the track went the opposite direction, up to his runner-up finish in 2005.
"I'm sure the Friday night qualifying session is going to be just like it always is," said Wilkerson. "It's going to be the only run when you can do anything decent. And if you miss that, you don't make it in the show. So, we're going to need to have our junk together and make sure it hauls butt down there on Friday night, obviously. Hopefully we'll hit it dead on and the car will be fast and we can be in the show. Dick knows that our deal isn't about performance but still at the same time with how hard everybody works at it we don't like to go out there and not qualify or not go rounds. So, the first order of business is to get in the show, the second, to learn to run our car better and the third, to have a good time with Dick, our LRS guests and all our friends and family that come out to support us."
