Tim Wilkerson is not yet ready to count out his championship chances, but the realist in him is fully aware of the urgency of the situation. Having entered the Countdown playoffs in the No. 10 spot, Wilk still resides in that position after the first two of six playoff races, although he has tightened the gap between himself and those directly ahead of him in the standings. Currently, he is only 11 points behind Jeff Arend and John Force, who are tied for the No. 8 spot, and only 22 points behind Bob Tasca is 7th. Still, he enters this weekend’s Auto Plus NHRA Nationals, at Maple Grove Raceway near Reading, Pa., a full 160 points behind points leader Mike Neff, and with four races left on the docket there is no time to waste.
Wilk went 1-1 at the first playoff race, in Charlotte, and had a potentially major move up the leader board staring him in the face this past weekend in Dallas, but when he came up on the short end of what turned out to be the closest race of the day in round one (running 4.162 but losing to Jack Beckman’s 4.148) that big chance to make up ground evaporated like a thin puddle of water on a blistering Dallas parking lot. Having put that narrow defeat behind him, the Levi, Ray & Shoup driver is now geared up and focused on Maple Grove, and his intent is to make the most of what looks to be a cool weekend on a track known for performance.
“Dallas was tough, but what are you going to do,” Wilkerson asked, rhetorically. “We did better than just about anyone out there in round one, including all but one of the other winners in that round, but we raced the guy who could send us home and he did. So, we could cry about it and wish it was different, or we could get to work and make sure we’re ready for this weekend at Maple Grove. We chose Option B.
“I guess it’s just geography thing, but the weather in Reading always seems to be a big part of whatever happens there, and it looks like they’re getting some rain this week but it’s supposed to be gone by the weekend. It’s also supposed to be pretty cool, so it might get kind of crazy and some low numbers will be popping up. We’re going to have to step it up a notch if we’re going to play with the big kids in weather like that.”
Wilk’s reference to cool and stout racing conditions is a reflection of his team’s reputation for being more of a hot weather winner than a cool track performance-based big hitter. That doesn’t mean he can’t step up and run at the front of the pack, though, and he’s been able to do that on a few occasions this season, qualifying in the top half of the field eight times. Those efforts were led by a No. 1 spot in Seattle and a No. 2 position in Houston, so Wilk can lean on it and maximize his power when the conditions are right.
“I know people think of us as a hot-weather team, and you get a reputation like that for a reason, but it’s not like we curl up and hide when it gets tight and cool out there,” Wilk said. “We do have to adjust our game a little when it’s a mineshaft, but we think we can hang with them and if it’s cool and dry in Reading we’ll be trying to do that.
“Winning the championship from the 10-spot was never going to be easy, and it’s a tougher road now, but until the math adds up and eliminates us we’re going to keep going for every spot and every round we can get. If we can’t get the big check and the big trophy at the end, there’s still plenty of incentive for us to keep going as hard as we can to land as high as possible. We ran this whole season with the number 10 on the car, because that’s where we finished last season, so the main goal is to change that to a single digit for next year, and make that digit as low a number as we can. We’re ready.”
Ready to move up. Ready to win rounds. Ready for Reading.
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