[coverattach=1]HOUSTON (March 23, 2009) -- He's up one, he's down one, and he's right in the middle of the mix. Tim Wilkerson, driver of the Levi, Ray & Shoup Shelby Mustang Funny Car, can tell without looking at the numbers that his season is headed in the right direction, and as confusing as those statistical gems can be, he's probably better off trusting his gut, rather than the math, anyway.
In effect, Wilkerson enters this weekend's O'Reilly Spring Nationals, at Houston Raceway Park in Baytown, Tex., ahead of his stellar '08 pace in terms of round wins, but slightly behind in total points accumulated. In addition, he came out of the last race with a first-round victory on his record, but due to the mysteries of math he somehow managed to slip a spot in the points, from 11th to 12th, despite earning the seventh-highest amount of points at the event. Mathematics can be a funny business, and Wilkerson now has the experience to not only disregard it until the numbers become critical, but also to focus on what is truly important in the long run.
"It's still really early, so on Sunday you see people move all over the points sheet because we're just not separated by that much," Wilkerson said. "You can't let it bother you in March, and to tell you the truth I think we learned you can't let it bother you in September, October, or November either. We tried winning the championship by being number one for most of the season, and that didn't work out last year. What you need to be is in the top ten, hopefully up near the top of it, and then you have to get hot at the right time. You actually need to get really hot, at exactly the right time. Just getting hot might not be enough."
Apparently not, as Wilkerson actually won two of the six Countdown races last year, which certainly qualifies as "hot," but he ended up losing the '08 championship on the final day, to Cruz Pedregon who was certifiably aflame at precisely the right moment. Wilkerson's long-term view, however, is clearly the correct approach, as number-crunching in March can lead more toward confusion than satisfaction. As evidence, his '09 campaign, to this point, seems more like a brain-teaser than a clear accumulation of results. With one more round win than at the same time last year, he's still 18 points, or about one round, behind his '08 total after three races. The difference? That pesky one-lap DNQ in Pomona, where 20 first-round points vanished before being counted, and the bonus of a pair of No. 1 qualifying spots at the first two races last year
"You can pretty much drive yourself nuts looking at the points, but we all do it anyway," Wilkerson said. "All that really matters, though, is how the car is running, you know what I mean? If the car is coming around, and the driver does a decent job, we'll win our rounds and get our points. Right now, the car is coming around, so I feel pretty good about what we can do. It's a long season, and if you go to the second round every week, I guarantee you'll move up in the points more than you'll move down. That was just a fluke deal in Gainesville. Mix in a few wins or some semi-finals, and you'll be up there in the top half of the top ten, and then you have to get hot.
"It would be a good thing for us to add a few more rounds to the pile this weekend, and Houston can be a track where you either have to tip-toe, or just throw all the power you have at it, depending on the weather. If it's hot and sunny, it can be a little tricky, but if you get some cloud cover and the track is in good shape, it can be the sort of race where the big hitters go for the downs. To be honest, we're still making progress on that side of the deal, where you're really going for it. We're getting faster, and we made some good strides in Gainesville, but we're not as fast as we will be pretty soon. A fast track in Houston might be exactly what we need to really get going, but if it's a little tricky out there we know we already have a car that will go down the track."
Wilkerson's comments are illustrated by his most recent race, where the LRS Shelby did go end-to-end on five of its six laps at Gainesville Raceway. With the consistency he craves coming into play, Wilkerson can focus on the additional hundredths of a second that would put him near the top of the qualifying sheet in Houston, and he can count on his own numbers, as well as those of his teammate Bob Tasca, to help him fill in the blanks.
"The new car is starting to toss us a bone every now and then, so that's encouraging," Wilkerson said. "In Gainesville, we even held top-speed of the meet at the end of qualifying, and then we put a pretty good lap on the board in round one before we slowed down a little bit in the second round. When it starts to do what you ask, and give you little hints of how quick it can be, you get a little more optimistic. Every one of those good laps gives you a little bit more to tune from. All of a sudden, you look like you got a whole bunch smarter in a hurry, but it's really just having the data to work with.
"This year, working side-by-side with Bob Tasca and his guys, we get to see more data than we could by ourselves. We don't come at the tune-up from the same direction, exactly, but that's not really the key. Even if they're tuning their car differently, we can still see what works for them, what works for us, and what doesn't work. They not only won the last race, they pretty much dominated it, so those are some good numbers to look at. In the end, this deal is designed for both of us to help the other guy, and we all think we'll be better off in the long run."
The numbers can be up, or the numbers can be down. All that really matters is how the car is running, and right now Tim Wilkerson likes his chances. If the Levi, Ray & Shoup Shelby Mustang keeps improving, his stats might just get a big bump out of Baytown.
In effect, Wilkerson enters this weekend's O'Reilly Spring Nationals, at Houston Raceway Park in Baytown, Tex., ahead of his stellar '08 pace in terms of round wins, but slightly behind in total points accumulated. In addition, he came out of the last race with a first-round victory on his record, but due to the mysteries of math he somehow managed to slip a spot in the points, from 11th to 12th, despite earning the seventh-highest amount of points at the event. Mathematics can be a funny business, and Wilkerson now has the experience to not only disregard it until the numbers become critical, but also to focus on what is truly important in the long run.
"It's still really early, so on Sunday you see people move all over the points sheet because we're just not separated by that much," Wilkerson said. "You can't let it bother you in March, and to tell you the truth I think we learned you can't let it bother you in September, October, or November either. We tried winning the championship by being number one for most of the season, and that didn't work out last year. What you need to be is in the top ten, hopefully up near the top of it, and then you have to get hot at the right time. You actually need to get really hot, at exactly the right time. Just getting hot might not be enough."
Apparently not, as Wilkerson actually won two of the six Countdown races last year, which certainly qualifies as "hot," but he ended up losing the '08 championship on the final day, to Cruz Pedregon who was certifiably aflame at precisely the right moment. Wilkerson's long-term view, however, is clearly the correct approach, as number-crunching in March can lead more toward confusion than satisfaction. As evidence, his '09 campaign, to this point, seems more like a brain-teaser than a clear accumulation of results. With one more round win than at the same time last year, he's still 18 points, or about one round, behind his '08 total after three races. The difference? That pesky one-lap DNQ in Pomona, where 20 first-round points vanished before being counted, and the bonus of a pair of No. 1 qualifying spots at the first two races last year
"You can pretty much drive yourself nuts looking at the points, but we all do it anyway," Wilkerson said. "All that really matters, though, is how the car is running, you know what I mean? If the car is coming around, and the driver does a decent job, we'll win our rounds and get our points. Right now, the car is coming around, so I feel pretty good about what we can do. It's a long season, and if you go to the second round every week, I guarantee you'll move up in the points more than you'll move down. That was just a fluke deal in Gainesville. Mix in a few wins or some semi-finals, and you'll be up there in the top half of the top ten, and then you have to get hot.
"It would be a good thing for us to add a few more rounds to the pile this weekend, and Houston can be a track where you either have to tip-toe, or just throw all the power you have at it, depending on the weather. If it's hot and sunny, it can be a little tricky, but if you get some cloud cover and the track is in good shape, it can be the sort of race where the big hitters go for the downs. To be honest, we're still making progress on that side of the deal, where you're really going for it. We're getting faster, and we made some good strides in Gainesville, but we're not as fast as we will be pretty soon. A fast track in Houston might be exactly what we need to really get going, but if it's a little tricky out there we know we already have a car that will go down the track."
Wilkerson's comments are illustrated by his most recent race, where the LRS Shelby did go end-to-end on five of its six laps at Gainesville Raceway. With the consistency he craves coming into play, Wilkerson can focus on the additional hundredths of a second that would put him near the top of the qualifying sheet in Houston, and he can count on his own numbers, as well as those of his teammate Bob Tasca, to help him fill in the blanks.
"The new car is starting to toss us a bone every now and then, so that's encouraging," Wilkerson said. "In Gainesville, we even held top-speed of the meet at the end of qualifying, and then we put a pretty good lap on the board in round one before we slowed down a little bit in the second round. When it starts to do what you ask, and give you little hints of how quick it can be, you get a little more optimistic. Every one of those good laps gives you a little bit more to tune from. All of a sudden, you look like you got a whole bunch smarter in a hurry, but it's really just having the data to work with.
"This year, working side-by-side with Bob Tasca and his guys, we get to see more data than we could by ourselves. We don't come at the tune-up from the same direction, exactly, but that's not really the key. Even if they're tuning their car differently, we can still see what works for them, what works for us, and what doesn't work. They not only won the last race, they pretty much dominated it, so those are some good numbers to look at. In the end, this deal is designed for both of us to help the other guy, and we all think we'll be better off in the long run."
The numbers can be up, or the numbers can be down. All that really matters is how the car is running, and right now Tim Wilkerson likes his chances. If the Levi, Ray & Shoup Shelby Mustang keeps improving, his stats might just get a big bump out of Baytown.
