The last seven weeks have been really good for Tim Wilkerson.

The driver of the Levi, Ray & Shoup Shelby Mustang Funny Car has earned a pair of race victories and a runner-up finish, while simultaneously while vaulting his won/lost record from 9-8 to 21-12 in just six races.  The end result has been a berth in the Countdown to 1, the NHRA's playoff system.

Wilkeerson now heads to Denver this weekend to compete in the NHRA Full Throttle tour's seventh race in eight weekends still stinging from a first round loss in Sonoma to eventual winner Ron Capps.

The last seven weeks have been really good for Tim Wilkerson.

The driver of the Levi, Ray & Shoup Shelby Mustang Funny Car has earned a pair of race victories and a runner-up finish, while simultaneously while vaulting his won/lost record from 9-8 to 21-12 in just six races.  The end result has been a berth in the Countdown to 1, the NHRA's playoff system.

Wilkeerson now heads to Denver this weekend to compete in the NHRA Full Throttle tour's seventh race in eight weekends still stinging from a first round loss in Sonoma to eventual winner Ron Capps.

"Maybe we didn't do ourselves any favors by having a good Saturday and making a move up the ladder, but that's how this sport goes and you really can't pick your opponents," Wilkerson said.  "You just go out and do your best, and we had a really good Saturday.  As soon as the session is over, believe me, everyone is listening to Bob Frey on the P.A. system to hear the match-ups, because we usually can't keep straight who is in each position.  We moved up a couple of spots to get in the top half, and then heard we had Ron in round one.  Maybe they were sandbagging to get a quick rematch after our final-round race the weekend before, in Seattle.

"Either way, and no matter who we race, we still have to go out there and race the lane, not the man or woman in the other car.  Having gone to three straight finals, we'd obviously been doing a good job at that, but this time we failed and it didn't really matter that Capps was over there.  When we missed on the tune-up and smoked the tires, the car got loose and crossed the center line. At that point, the slowest sportsman car on the property would've gotten the win light.  The Safety Safari tractor could've beaten us.  We were on a pretty good hot streak, but we messed up."

With two races left in the regular season, Wilkerson's focus is solidly on positioning for the championship run.

"Robert Hight proved last year that you can win it from any position, by barely getting in the last spot on the last day, but no one out here would give up a spot if they had the option," Wilkerson said.  "Every spot higher on the list gives you a little more to work with, and then you have to get hot and stay hot if you want to win the championship.  Having been through it the last two years, I can tell you that it's a lot of tension and a lot of pressure, and that's what the playoffs are like in all the stick-and-ball sports, where everything is on the line in the post-season.  

"The original idea with the Countdown was to create a real playoff atmosphere, which we'd never had before, and to make sure nobody ran away with it and wrapped up the championship so early it made the last few races irrelevant.  Well, they achieved all of that with flying colors, because this is just about all we talk about once Memorial Day rolls around.  It's all about earning your playoff spot and knowing what you have to do once you're in.  The team that handles it the best has the best shot at the trophy and the big check."

Wilk will have no lack of support in Denver this weekend, as his pit area will re-expand to accommodate a large number of LRS guests after having been downsized for four straight races while the tour made stops in non-critical geographic markets for the provider of information technology solutions.  In Denver, the standard client entertainment on Friday and Sunday will act as bookends for one of the biggest and most enjoyable days of the year, when Dick Levi hosts a large group of family and friends on Saturday.  All told, more than 240 guests will be hosted in the Team LRS pit this weekend.

"Saturday is a huge day for Dick Levi and his extended family, and it's a day we look forward to all year," Wilkerson said.  "We have some big days in other markets, including St. Louis and Joliet since they're both so close to LRS headquarters, but this one is more a personal thing for Dick, so the object is really to just make sure they have fun, and we hope to give them something to cheer about.

"It will be great to have all those people right there in our pit-side hospitality center, because it's like bringing your own cheering section to the race.  They're right up close, following everything we do and getting a good whiff of nitro when we warm up, then they cheer like we scored a touchdown.  Anyone who says that doesn't pump them up should check their heartbeat.  It's a cool deal."