As the clock ticked relentlessly toward the bewitching hour, the evening showers that had blanketed
the Bandimere Speedway area since 6:30 p.m. finally moved away, leaving only a light show of
lightning bolts in the eastern sky, and the Funny Car class got a second shot at Thunder Mountain.
Running after 11:00 p.m., Tim Wilkerson lit up the scoreboards with a huge 4.178 in the scarce
Colorado air, and the number held for the top spot until Tony Pedregon posted his 4.170 as part of
the last pair down the track. Wilkerson will spend the night in the No. 2 spot.
As strong as Wilk's run was, it wasn't perfect, but the Levi, Ray & Shoup driver wasn't
complaining.
"It actually dropped two holes down there, around 900 feet, and when it did that it chucked the
blower belt off, so we left a little bit on the table," Wilkerson said. "But I have no complaints
with that run, at all. This was, literally, about a 14-hour day for the crew guys, the drivers,
and the fans, and it really seemed like the middle of the night when we got to go back up there. I
couldn't believe how many people were still in the stands, so I'm glad we got to give them a show
and let them see the flames up over the roof of the car at night.
"We knew the track was good, and let's face it, that's about as good as you can have it up here on
the mountain. You could just about lay the coals to it and feel like it was going to go for you,
but the coals just don't burn as hot up here at 5,500 feet. Tomorrow, how much do you want to bet
we get the same deal? Hot and sunny all day, then the showers come over the mountain at around
6:00. We get to where we expect it. Whatever the case, you'll see a pretty slow session when the
sun is out, and if we get to run tomorrow night some teams will be going for it again. We'll just
try to get ready for race day, and the first pass on Saturday will be the best one for that."
On his earlier pass, on a very hot track, Wilkerson posted a 4.728 that actually had him 7th after
the run.
Team Wilkerson Racing
NHRA Nitro Funny Car
http://http://www.timwilkerson.com
