{"id":1899,"date":"2016-03-01T21:16:35","date_gmt":"2016-03-01T21:16:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/?p=1899"},"modified":"2016-03-01T21:30:20","modified_gmt":"2016-03-01T21:30:20","slug":"wilk-is-a-winner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/?p=1899","title":{"rendered":"“Wilk” is a Winner!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tim Wilkerson earned his 19th career victory and first in Phoenix at the 2016 CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals in the Levi, Ray & Shoup Ford Shelby Mustang. This is Wilkerson\u2019s first win since the Summit Racing NHRA Southern Nationals in May of 2015. It is also the earliest in the season Wilkerson has ever won a race.<\/p>\n

\"PHX-Tim\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cFor my crew this was a spectacular day,\u201d said Wilkerson. \u201cI\u2019m really fortunate to be here and we have a great car. If you told me a 3.99 would get me into the finals I wouldn\u2019t have believed you. The track was trickier today than it was on Saturday, but I think that really helped us get through these rounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilkerson qualified No.8 with a 3.966 E.T. at 317.19 mph and made it past Chad Head in the opening round. In the second round he took out event top qualifier Ron Capps in a nail-biting pedal-fest, with both drivers hazing the tires and battling to see who would recover first. Wilkerson then, went on to defeat Robert Hight in the semifinals after Hight hazed the tires.<\/p>\n

Wilkerson took out longtime rival John Force in the finals with a run of 3.937 at 320.43. This was Wilkerson\u2019s best elapsed time of the weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cRacing John Force is an honor and privilege,\u201d said Wilkerson. \u201cJohn is a great guy. I wouldn\u2019t be racing out here if it wasn\u2019t for him. He constantly helps me. I just bought two Ford bodies from him over the winter. But it also feels really good when I beat him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Drag<\/a>

(Tim Wilkerson took the measure of John Force in the fuel FC final)<\/p><\/div>\n

Unlike most drivers in his class, Wilkerson is also the team owner and crew chief. Many people ask how he does it all. He gives credit to his wife Krista.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife is my biggest advocate and supporter. She always says \u2018Your first hunch is the best. Stop thinking you\u2019re not doing the right thing because I know you are.\u2019 That really helps me out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilkerson revealed during the post-race media center interview that this was probably the final run for this chassis. He is talking about retiring it after this race.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a new car from Murph McKinney that he says is the most tricked out thing he has ever built,\u201d said Wilkerson.<\/p>\n

Another big reveal Wilkerson made: His son Daniel will drive the car that won today at the NHRA race in Charlotte later this season.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"(Robert<\/a>

(Robert Hight set both low ET and top speed in FC)<\/p><\/div>\n

Event Essentials: \u00a0 Carquest Auto Parts Nationals \u00a0(Feb, 26-28th, 2016)\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nNAME<\/strong><\/td>\nET<\/strong><\/td>\nMPH<\/strong><\/td>\nCAREER WIN<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Winner:<\/strong><\/td>\nTim Wilkerson<\/td>\n\u00a03.937<\/td>\n320.43<\/td>\n\u00a019th<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
R\/UP:<\/strong><\/td>\nJohn Force<\/td>\n\u00a04.016<\/td>\n275.34<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Low ET:<\/strong><\/td>\nRobert Hight<\/td>\n\u00a03.905<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Top Speed:<\/strong><\/td>\nRobert Hight<\/td>\n<\/td>\n327.11<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bump Spot:<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\n\u00a09.905<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Event Entries:<\/strong><\/td>\n\u00a016 Cars<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Posted by: Nicole Erickson
\nPhotos by: NHRA – Gary Nastase – Ron Lewis<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tim Wilkerson earned his 19th career victory and first in Phoenix at the 2016 CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals in the Levi, Ray & Shoup Ford Shelby Mustang. This is Wilkerson\u2019s first win since the Summit Racing NHRA Southern Nationals in May of 2015. It is also the earliest in the season Wilkerson has ever […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1899"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1899"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1908,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1899\/revisions\/1908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}