WILK: LAST MINUTE OPPORTUNITY
Sat, 2009-05-30 11:00
Daniel Wilkerson has been getting ready for this moment in time for all his life. More specifically, he's 
been chomping at the bit for the last five years to get behind the wheel of a nitro Funny Car.
The moment has finally around.
“I’ve been looking forward to this moment since I got my first Super Comp car when I was 16,” Wilkerson said. “I’ve just been taking steps to get to this point. It took five years worth of work to get here. It’s a huge relief to be here now.”
Over the course of those five years, Daniel Wilkerson, 21, spent time honing his skills in the sportsman ranks before moving up to the Top Alcohol Funny Car division. Last spring, he made his nitro debut at the IHRA Motor City Nationals and after completing licensing that same weekend, drove to the event runner-up spot. Daniel Wilkerson has been getting ready for this moment in time for all his life. More specifically, he'sbeen chomping at the bit for the last five years to get behind the wheel of a nitro Funny Car.
The moment has finally around.
“I’ve been looking forward to this moment since I got my first Super Comp car when I was 16,” Wilkerson said. “I’ve just been taking steps to get to this point. It took five years worth of work to get here. It’s a huge relief to be here now.”
Over the course of those five years, Daniel Wilkerson, 21, spent time honing his skills in the sportsman ranks before moving up to the Top Alcohol Funny Car division. Last spring, he made his nitro debut at the IHRA Motor City Nationals and after completing licensing that same weekend, drove to the event runner-up spot.
Running at Topeka just made sense. Looking forward, father and son, noted the event had a short field, almost a guarantee to get into the show, get some experience and make a few dollars.
However, the team wasn't wasting parts, which is why they opted to make just two qualifying runs, the night run on Friday and the third round run Saturday morning.
“I believe there are only sixteen cars here and no matter what we’ll make it in if that’s the case,” Wilkerson said.
Are there plans to enter more races in the near future?
“There are no plans after this weekend … actually there were no plans for this weekend. When we found out three weeks ago that there wasn’t likely to be a full field is when we decided.”
Wilkerson is running an older Chevrolet Impala body owned by his father and not a Ford, which appeared to be a something he would have preferred to do.
No matter how well the younger Wilkerson runs, as of late he's been getting some real attention from both his father and the NHRA. Daniel was place in the spec test car at the last minute in Bristol, two weeks ago.
How did that happen?
“I really don’t have a clue how that came together because that was my dad’s deal for quite a while,” Wilkerson said. “We were just talking about the test and I made the offer to drive and it just kind of happened from there.”
It may have been the NHRA's new testing limits that made putting Daniel in the car a no brainer, maybe.
“There’s a possibility that’s what happened, but I think it more or less came from a ‘why not’ kind of deal.
The test, was just that, even though the data collected, while valuable, was hampered by issues on both runs.
“I went to do my burnout and it just fell off,” Wilkerson confirmed, speaking of the throttle stop that fell off during the burnout. “I caught it in a decent amount of time. I just tried to do my burnout the way I normally do and about a second into the burnout I saw the thing flopping around over there. That’s not supposed to happen.”
With the first run quickly aborted the second run went out about 150 before smoking the tires.
“At least we made enough power to smoke the tires,” Wilkerson said, smiling.
While the NHRA go their data, the driver also got his.
“Basically it helps me to get smoother on my burnouts and practice backing up and staging,” Wilkerson explained. “It’s just the little things I can work on like not running the clutch pedal too much. It helps me on procedure.”
As for the next session, tentatively scheduled for the day after Norwalk, Daniel doesn't know if he will drive.
“They keep me in the dark on that,” Wilkerson admitted. “He might call me from Englishtown and say to get ready. I might not even be the driver in the next one.”
been chomping at the bit for the last five years to get behind the wheel of a nitro Funny Car. The moment has finally around.
“I’ve been looking forward to this moment since I got my first Super Comp car when I was 16,” Wilkerson said. “I’ve just been taking steps to get to this point. It took five years worth of work to get here. It’s a huge relief to be here now.”
Over the course of those five years, Daniel Wilkerson, 21, spent time honing his skills in the sportsman ranks before moving up to the Top Alcohol Funny Car division. Last spring, he made his nitro debut at the IHRA Motor City Nationals and after completing licensing that same weekend, drove to the event runner-up spot. Daniel Wilkerson has been getting ready for this moment in time for all his life. More specifically, he's
been chomping at the bit for the last five years to get behind the wheel of a nitro Funny Car. The moment has finally around.
“I’ve been looking forward to this moment since I got my first Super Comp car when I was 16,” Wilkerson said. “I’ve just been taking steps to get to this point. It took five years worth of work to get here. It’s a huge relief to be here now.”
Over the course of those five years, Daniel Wilkerson, 21, spent time honing his skills in the sportsman ranks before moving up to the Top Alcohol Funny Car division. Last spring, he made his nitro debut at the IHRA Motor City Nationals and after completing licensing that same weekend, drove to the event runner-up spot.
Running at Topeka just made sense. Looking forward, father and son, noted the event had a short field, almost a guarantee to get into the show, get some experience and make a few dollars.
However, the team wasn't wasting parts, which is why they opted to make just two qualifying runs, the night run on Friday and the third round run Saturday morning.
“I believe there are only sixteen cars here and no matter what we’ll make it in if that’s the case,” Wilkerson said.
Are there plans to enter more races in the near future?
“There are no plans after this weekend … actually there were no plans for this weekend. When we found out three weeks ago that there wasn’t likely to be a full field is when we decided.”
Wilkerson is running an older Chevrolet Impala body owned by his father and not a Ford, which appeared to be a something he would have preferred to do.
No matter how well the younger Wilkerson runs, as of late he's been getting some real attention from both his father and the NHRA. Daniel was place in the spec test car at the last minute in Bristol, two weeks ago.
How did that happen?
“I really don’t have a clue how that came together because that was my dad’s deal for quite a while,” Wilkerson said. “We were just talking about the test and I made the offer to drive and it just kind of happened from there.”
It may have been the NHRA's new testing limits that made putting Daniel in the car a no brainer, maybe.
“There’s a possibility that’s what happened, but I think it more or less came from a ‘why not’ kind of deal.
The test, was just that, even though the data collected, while valuable, was hampered by issues on both runs.
“I went to do my burnout and it just fell off,” Wilkerson confirmed, speaking of the throttle stop that fell off during the burnout. “I caught it in a decent amount of time. I just tried to do my burnout the way I normally do and about a second into the burnout I saw the thing flopping around over there. That’s not supposed to happen.”
With the first run quickly aborted the second run went out about 150 before smoking the tires.
“At least we made enough power to smoke the tires,” Wilkerson said, smiling.
While the NHRA go their data, the driver also got his.
“Basically it helps me to get smoother on my burnouts and practice backing up and staging,” Wilkerson explained. “It’s just the little things I can work on like not running the clutch pedal too much. It helps me on procedure.”
As for the next session, tentatively scheduled for the day after Norwalk, Daniel doesn't know if he will drive.
“They keep me in the dark on that,” Wilkerson admitted. “He might call me from Englishtown and say to get ready. I might not even be the driver in the next one.”
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