Wilkerson hopes he has the experience to conquer Norwalk

NORWALK, Prerace: The upcoming Inaugural Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals will be the first time the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series will be competing at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park. But Springfield, Ill. Funny Car favorite, Tim Wilkerson, has experience at the Norwalk, Ohio facility, as he has matched raced his Levi, Ray & Shoup Funny Car at a gala Fourth of July celebration the past several years.

However, the question still remains – will the team's experience on the Norwalk quarter-mile help in their quest for a strong performance?

"Norwalk is a good race track but I don't know what to expect this weekend because we've never run it when it was hot," explained Wilkerson. "It's always been nice because we've always run there at night."

Wilkerson enjoyed a good outing last week in Englishtown. His hot rod continued to make good runs and he won his first-round, which advanced him into the No. 13 spot in the point standings.

"We're optimistic with the way our car has been running and going down the track," said Wilkerson, "so we'll see what happens this weekend. We'll go out there and try to run down the track. And first off, hopefully we'll get in the show and second-off, we'll do what we did last weekend in Englishtown; win a round and move up in points."