Championship Drag Racing

CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals
Pomona, CA
(February 10-13)

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Driver Profile

Tim Wilkerson Levi, Ray & Shoup Shelby Mustang Funny Car

Pomona, Thursday: The 2005 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing season got a "Full Throttle" start today at the opening of the 45^th annual CARQUEST Auto Parts Winternationals at Pomona Raceway.  With only one qualifying attempt on the schedule, Tim Wilkerson wanted to land his new look Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevy Monte Carlo solidly in the field.  Wilkerson is qualified in the No. 12 spot, but not with a number that he is happy with.

In a strange turn of events, the finish line timing electronics malfunctioned in the right lane and the NHRA officials closed the lane.  With both the noise curfew and the rain looming, the entire Funny Car field ran in the left lane, literally making the Pomona Raceway a one-lane racetrack.  As did many of the cars, Wilkerson suffered smoking tires and he tried to save the run by pedaling twice.  He was only able to run 8.615 seconds at 103.48 mph.

"The track got cold," explained Wilkerson, "and we weren't prepared for it.  We sat in the staging lanes for two hours and the weather changed dramatically.  With all the new parts and smoking the tires in Vegas, we went up there a little apprehensive.  We probably should have gone out there with all our guns blazing.  We tried to make a good decision but it didn't work out today.  Hopefully, we'll get to try again tomorrow."

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