For the second consecutive race, Tim Wilkerson will be piloting his special-edition “Big Website Makeover” Shelby Mustang, in support of LRS Web Solutions and their charitable program of the same name, when he hits the track in Las Vegas this weekend at the Big O Tires Nationals. The makeover theme, however, will not be strictly confined to the ongoing public vote that will select a Central Illinois charity in need of a website upgrade. It will also cover Wilk’s desire to put the most recent race (Phoenix) behind him as he focuses on making a move up the points list before the season ends on November 13, in Pomona. Such an accomplishment would allow him to do a makeover on the number that will adorn his car in 2012.
At sizzling Phoenix, Wilk showed why he is roundly considered to be one of the best hot-weather tuners in the game, stringing four straight solid qualifying passes together on a track that reached 135 degrees, on days that topped the 100-degree mark in terms of air temperature. Then, on race day, Paul Lee strapped a .002 reaction time on Wilk before tire smoke at half-track ended his day far too early.
“I’m not going to even talk about racing luck, because I’ve been wearing that theme out all year, but that first round in Phoenix was a bit mind boggling,” Wilkerson said. “I can’t control what the other driver does, so the .002 light is just part of the game and it’s something we’ve all been bitten by at one time or another, but the tire spin was something I could’ve controlled, I guess, and that’s what bugged me the most.
“It was really tough there, and almost impossible to get to the other end without dropping at least one cylinder. So, we put four good laps on the board but we did drop a hole on each one. Then we go out on Sunday and finally manage to keep all eight lit, and that extra power stayed with the motor right at the same spot where we’d been dropping holes for two days. Wham, instant tire spin. Sometimes fixing the problem leads to another one, and by being smart enough to avoid the dropped cylinder, we were dumb enough to smoke the tires.”
Wilk’s goal, heading into the final races of the 2011 Countdown, has been to “change the number” on his car. Having run a “10” decal on his Levi, Ray & Shoup Ford all year, in reference to his 10th place finish in the points last season, he and his team are focused on moving out of that same 10th spot before this season ends, and they would’ve done that had the aforementioned issues not caused the first-round loss in Phoenix. Now, his mission needs to be completed in the two final races, starting with this weekend’s Halloween bash in Vegas.
“The first round in Phoenix is the one we’re thinking about now, because it’s the most recent bad thing, but we’ve had other chances to move up and now we have to do it because we’re running out of time,” Wilkerson said. “We have two races left to move up out of 10th, and we have no reason to do anything other than throw everything we have at it to make that happen. It’s a modest goal, to just have a single digit on the car next year, but it’s a goal we have and we’re trying to make it happen.
“I just took a look at the weather forecast, and right now it looks spectacular. At its worst, Vegas can be just like Phoenix but they’re calling for highs only around 80 all weekend, so we ought to have a very competitive race on our hands. I’ve won a lot of races in hot weather and on slippery tracks, but it’s better for everyone, and especially for the fans, when the conditions are good enough for the whole class to run hard. I think we’ll see some great laps this weekend, and I plan to make more than a few in the LRS Big Website Makeover Ford, because the better we run, the more laps we have a chance to make and the more people we’ll motivate to vote for a charity. If we can do that, and win some rounds in the process, I’ll be a happy guy.”
Wilk will enter this weekend’s race only 11 points behind John Force, who is currently 9th in the standings. Bob Tasca (8th) will enter the race 64 points up on Wilk, and Ron Capps will take a 66-point edge into the race, sitting 7th in the standings. Jeff Arend (6th) will enter Las Vegas 82 points up on Wilk. That mission to “change the number” is still there for the taking, but more solid laps and some round wins are going to have to be part of the equation. Tim Wilkerson and his LRS crew are up for the challenge.
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