Wilkerson stands firm in the No. 5 spot
TOPEKA, Saturday: Even though he made two clean runs today, Tim Wilkerson was not able to improve on yesterday's pass. But the good news is that his Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevrolet Impala SS stayed in the No. 5 qualifying position heading into race day action at the O'Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals Heartland Park Topeka.
Since the track conditions were hot, Wilkerson decided to run his new superchargers today. He knows they don't work the way he would like and his numbers prove it. Wilkerson posted a 5.059 at 295.27 mph followed by a 5.029 at 291.38.
"We used our two brand new blowers today," said Wilkerson, "and they certainly are not as good as our good old one. I'm sure there's a way to use them and tune around all that, but jiminy Christmas, I'm going to have to change the whole way I run the car.
"I ran them last week in testing and they acted about the same way, but the air is so much worse here that they don't work. They'll work okay, I think, but I just have to change my whole fuel curve. They won't be fast. They're never going to be a 4.75 blower.
"The runs we made in testing really helped us out here, I'll guarantee you that. Our run last night was a pretty nice run. And I was really optimistic about the blowers after testing. I thought they might be okay but after the first run we made with the old one and then we put the new ones on it, it's like wow! We still have night and day. That doesn't mean they're junk, that just means that they're different. You'd think new would be better. I'm a little discontented with them, but I've been talking to some people out here that can make them better. Maybe that's what I need to do."
Before Wilkerson decides what to do with his superchargers, we needs to handle the task at hand, race day. In the first-round, Wilkerson has lane choice over Jerry Toliver.
"I haven't decided what blower to run tomorrow," explained Wilkerson. "I've got four I need to drag behind the suburban on the way home, and one good one. But I'm a little afraid of running the good one, because the track isn't going to be that good. First round may be okay, but after that, it may not want a good blower. And with these new blowers, if I get the fuel curve right it will go between 88 and 90. And that's going to win a lot of rounds here tomorrow. This place is not that good. A weak tune-up is what you're going to want, if the sun is out. I'll think about it tonight and make a decision for tomorrow. Hopefully we'll we may just have something for those guys, and a few more after them."
