“The 90% has really helped my deal because my parts are a little weaker than others so the percentages help my car run a little better. My car was already heavy from last year so the weight they put on the car didn't really do anything to affect me." - Tim Wilkerson

If there was any question that Tim Wilkerson’s superb performance in Pomona was a fluke, he provided an encore performance two weeks later in Phoenix by securing a second No. 1 qualifying effort in as many events.

Wilkerson laid down the quickest runs in each of Saturday’s NHRA CSK Nationals Funny Car qualifying sessions.

“With two runs, it was anybody’s ball game,” Wilkerson admitted. “If there had been more runs, it might have been someone else. But, that’s okay. We’ll take number one. We had a mechanical failure last weekend at Pomona when it broke a valve on the starting line.  Hopefully we can stop doing stuff like that and go some rounds.  We've got a good car there's no doubt about that, it's not leaking and beating anything up.”

Wilkerson’s actions send a clear message – twice is not a coincidence.

“The 90% has really helped my deal because my parts are a little weaker than others so the percentages help my car run a little better. My car was already heavy from last year so the weight they put on the car didn't really do anything to affect me." - Tim Wilkerson

If there was any question that Tim Wilkerson’s superb performance in Pomona was a fluke, he provided an encore performance two weeks later in Pomona by securing a second No. 1 qualifying effort in as many events.

Wilkerson laid down the quickest runs in each of Saturday’s NHRA CSK Nationals Funny Car qualifying sessions.

“With two runs, it was anybody’s ball game,” Wilkerson admitted. “If there had been more runs, it might have been someone else. But, that’s okay. We’ll take number one. We had a mechanical failure last weekend at Pomona when it broke a valve on the starting line.  Hopefully we can stop doing stuff like that and go some rounds.  We've got a good car there's no doubt about that, it's not leaking and beating anything up.”

Wilkerson’s actions send a clear message – twice is not a coincidence.

“I don't beat my chest too hard about that kind of thing,” said Wilkerson, not masking his excitement. “I'd like to think it's not a coincidence but I don't know.  We're pretty happy about it, like I said.  I've got a good group of guys working on my car and my sponsors are really coming through for me so it's showing.  Towards the end of the year the car was running better, it's just all working well.”

Wilkerson cited the NHRA’s decision to up the maximum nitro percentage to 90% as a major factor in his rise to competitiveness. He’s also confident the move is cheaper on his wallet. 

“The 90% has really helped my deal because my parts are a little weaker than others so the percentages help my car run a little better,” said Wilkerson. “My car was already heavy from last year so the weight they put on the car didn't really do anything to affect me.  As soon as the other guys catch up to that weight deal, they'll be okay.  They just haven't figured it out yet but they will.  It's just like at 85%, it took a while to get that happening for everybody but I was at the back of the pack.  I don't think you're going to see us at the back but you're going to see some guys being faster.” 

The carnage might be lighter on Wilkerson, but his assessment

“My idea of beating it up is a little different,” confided Wilkerson. “I think on 85% when we went 4.77 -- a lot of that, we threw away six of the pistons and half of the rods probably.  In this run here it's got one piston nicked in it so it's easier on stuff.  The car just runs a whole lot better, that's why it runs so fast early.  Just the small percentage I've got in there, it's really an animal early. 

“Believe it or not I just keep making it go slower and slower and slower and it goes faster and faster and faster.  I'm just trying to get it back to where it's calm again because when it gets hot outside I'm going to be in trouble, I can already tell you that.  It's aggressive and it's fast.  Now I've got to figure out a way to make it go slow.  Like I told Reinhardt down there, I'm a little afraid of that but we'll see.”