Tim Wilkerson Moves up in Points

Team Summit Racing’s Funny Car team had a strong qualifying performance at the 17th annual NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals. Tim Wilkerson earned the pole position for the 19th time in his career with a 3.895 second/328.22 MPH pass on Friday—the fastest pass of the entire meet, and the only Funny Car to run in the 3.8 second zone.

On Sunday, Wilkerson faced Bob Bode in Round One of eliminations. The track surface was hot, and the Funny Car drivers’ runs were a little slow or plagued by tire smoke in the tricky conditions. Wilkerson took the victory on a 4.367/233.12 pass leaving behind Bode who had traction trouble.

In Round Two of eliminations, Wilkerson and his LRS Ford Shelby Mustang were defeated by Tommy Johnson Jr., 4.083/14.53 to Wilkerson’s 4.220/262.18.

“I could feel the car had cylinders out, and they told me [over the headset] that it was smoking the tires, so I shut it off,” explained Wilkerson.

The day was shorter than Wilkerson and his team had hoped for, but they’re looking forward to the Summit Racing Equipment Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio.  

“Our car is a turtle, but it’s a faster turtle now,” said Wilkerson, laughing. “We got down the track every run this weekend. It makes me feel a lot better than what we had been doing. We’re looking forward to the Summit Racing Nationals next weekend. Hopefully we’ll go more rounds there.”

Wilkerson moves up to eighth place in the Funny Car points standings.

Greg Anderson and Jason Line both lost in Round One of eliminations.
It’s the first time in three years that both Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro drivers exited early.

Jason Line, currently fifth in the Pro Stock standings, lost a very close match with Shane Gray. Line was first to leave the starting line but Gray got to the stripe first with a 6.743/204.54 pass to Line’s 6.748/04.94.

“That was a really close race, from beginning to end,” said Line. “But, I'm looking forward to getting to the next race because this day was far too short for the Summit Racing team.”

Greg Anderson, who is second in the Pro Stock points, fought a hot and bumpy racetrack with Tanner Gray taking the win with a 6.736/ 204.82 pass to Anderson’s 6.758/204.60.

“The bumps got me,” said Anderson. “I got a little too far to the right and the bumps were horrendous. Next week we head to Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, and we’re looking forward to that. We’d like nothing more than to hand our friends at Summit Racing a trophy again.”

Final Round Results
Top Fuel—Clay Millican (3.825/316.38) defeated Leah Pritchett (3.881/307.09)

Funny Car—Ron Capps (4.054/317.05) defeated Jack Beckman (4.040/319.29)

Pro Stock—Alex Laughlin (6.718/205.04) defeated Bo Butner (6.729/205.79)

What's Next
The next event on the 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series tour is the NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio, June 22-25.

For more information and complete race results visit DragRaceCentral.com.