Championship Drag Racing

Torco Racing Fuels Route 66 NHRA Nationals
Chicago, IL
(June 7-10)

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Tim Wilkerson Levi, Ray & Shoup Shelby Mustang

Chicago, Friday: The opening day of qualifying at the Torco Racing Fuels Route 66 NHRA Nationals didn't go as Springfield, Ill., native, Tim Wilkerson would have liked. But the popular Funny Car veteran is optimistic that tomorrow will be a better day for his Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevrolet Impala SS.

The track was troublesome for the first qualifying session and only two cars clocked a four second run. Wilkerson had a tire-smoking pass at 5.477, which was good for the No. 8 qualifying position. Then in the coolness of the night, most of the Funny Cars improved, Wilk included. But with the bump a 4.86, Wilkerson's 4.918 left him on the outside looking in as the day came to a close.

"It was going down the race track pretty good on the first run," said Wilkerson, "when it struck the tire in the middle. The track was just terrible. When we went back out tonight, it had a hole out early, and it was in trouble then. It picked it back up, but it wasn't enough to fix it.

"We'll hope for the best tomorrow. Let's hope the track is better than it was early today. But I think they'll get it fixed. I don't think they'll make us run on that again. We've got to go run a low-80 tomorrow. Hopefully we can figure out a way to do that with the sun shining on the race track. I think we can, we're optimistic."

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