One race into the 2011 Countdown playoffs, Tim Wilkerson is still in the 10th place slot in which he began the post-season, but that number is a bit deceiving. By winning his opening round last weekend in Charlotte, the Levi, Ray & Shoup Funny Car driver closed the gap considerably on many of the drivers directly ahead of him in the standings, and he will enter this weekend’s AAA Texas Fall Nationals only 30 points out of 6th place, a spot currently held by Ron Capps. Immediately ahead, Bob Tasca is now just 3 points up on Wilk, while John Force is 11 ahead, and Jeff Arend is 13.
Leapfrogging multiple drivers is a difficult endeavor, and it often is the byproduct of a little bit of racing luck, but Wilk is looking at a potential move up the standings one step at a time, and the first step was completed in Charlotte. This weekend, at the Texas Motorplex near Dallas, the weather forecast promises to level the playing field in a big way, as the Lone Star State continues to bake and swelter at the end of one of the hottest, and driest, summers on record. Most forecasts call for three days of sun and temperatures in the mid to upper 90s.
“It was a little disappointing to come out of Charlotte still in 10th, but that round win was big and it put us within shouting distance of a nice move up the chart,” Wilkerson said. “It would’ve been nice to go a few more rounds, and it would’ve been great to win the race, but that first round was really a pretty big deal and pretty tense. We were all talking about how it really felt like the playoffs, not just another race, so it was good to get a win under our belts and it was good to see my guys so charged up and excited.
“Last week is history, though, and we raced under some conditions there that you just would almost never expect for North Carolina in September. It was cool and the track was very stout, but this weekend we’re going to be broiling and we’ll probably see track temperatures get back up to where they were in Indy, where it got up to 135-plus a few times. When you’re running on tracks that hot, nobody is going to run away and set records like they did in Charlotte. It turns into a finesse game, instead of a power game.”
Although stereotypes can often be misleading and out of date, Wilk has long been known as a “hot track expert” and 2011 has mostly been no different in that regard. His ability to walk the fine line between power and traction on broiling track surfaces has been one of his strong suits for years, and he’s looking forward to duking it out with the rest of the Funny Car class in Big D.
“Earlier this year we went through a weird little period where we were kind of backwards, compared to our reputation,” he said. “For a while there, we were running really good on cool tracks and struggling just like everyone else on the hot ones. Later in the summer, though, we got our hot weather tune-up back and we ran pretty strong on the hottest days in Indy.
“We picked up four bonus points in Indy, running pretty consistently on a steaming hot track, so we’re all excited to get on the track in Dallas to see what we can do. It’s a little different at the Motorplex, because it’s all-concrete so you’re not having to deal with the transition to asphalt on a really hot day. You still have to find a way to negotiate 1,000 feet of track without spinning the tires too much, and that’s not easy to do, but picking up some bonus points in Dallas would be a very good thing. The little points mean more than ever right now, in the playoffs.”
One key ingredient in the battle for the championship has been the late-season emergence of a couple of teams that did not make the Countdown. Johnny Gray and Melanie Troxel have been running very strong, and both of them are fully capable of taking out any driver in the playoff group, including the front runners. When that’s the case, bigger jumps in the standings are possible.
“When the first round has a lot of the top playoff cars racing part-time teams that just squeak into the field, that’s tough to overcome,” Wilk said. “It helps a little when two playoff cars are facing each other, because one has to lose, but even then you know one of them is going to advance and you have to keep pace with them. The best scenario is the one we have right now, with Melanie and Johnny. They can both beat anybody, us included, so that throws a twist into things and makes it a little more interesting.
“And on top of that, Big Jim Dunn has Paul Lee’s car running good right now, and Tony Pedregon and Jim Head have the experience to knock off any team out here, so there are plenty of legitimate spoilers involved in this, and that’s good for the fans and good for any team trying to move up from 10th place. We’re a bit of a spoiler too, because we got in 10th and we still have absolutely nothing to lose. We’re going for it every way we know how.”
Going for it on a hot track will be on the agenda this weekend, and that’s something Tim Wilkerson typically knows how to do.
| 
|