Today’s racing action at the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals got off to a late start due to morning rain. And even though things were delayed, Tim Wilkerson’s day ended much too early.
Wilkerson’s Levi, Ray & Shoup Monte Carlo was one hot Funny Car this weekend. And they had hoped to continue their strong performance to the end of the day. But in the first-round Wilkerson ran into some tire shake and then had a brake caliber fall off during the run, which added to his problems. He could only muster a 5.993 at 158.82 mph, and handed the win to his opponent, Mike Ashley.
“The track conditions were a little worse after that rain, ” said Wilkerson, “and we got after it a little bit, so it shook the tires when it tried to put the timing back into it. I really didn’t think it would because I thought I had it weak enough but it drove out of the groove just a little bit to the left as I hit the gas, and then when it tried to put the lead back in, it shook. Then I had a caliber bolt break on it and it got a hold of the back tire, and that didn’t help matters at all. It got kind of ugly after that. The thing skidded to a stop down there and we couldn’t even get it to move.
“But things are good. It’s showing some promise, and if we can figure out how to make it not shake, we’ll be better off. So, now we’ll head to Phoenix and try our best ”
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