After Funny Car driver Tim Wilkerson put his Chevy in the winner's circle at the St. Louis race in May earlier this year, it was
the first time in 13 race seasons the 47-year-old owner/driver had ever sat at the top of the Funny Car points standings.  Wilkerson still occupies that same top spot as the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series enters its Countdown to 1 playoffs with the first of six races, the inaugural NHRA Carolinas Nationals at the new state-of-the-art zMax Dragway @ Concord (N.C.).  The driver of the Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevy Impala SS finished the 18-race regular season with a class-leading four wins (tied with fellow Chevy driver Tony Pedregon), a class-leading four No. 1 qualifiers, and a 137-point advantage over second-place Pedregon.

"It's just a group effort on the whole Levi Ray & Shoup team," Wilkerson said.  "The car is running terrific and the guys are just doing a great job.  We've formed a technical alliance with Don Prudhomme Racing this year, so it gives me some opportunity to have access to some equipment that I never had access to before.  In fact, last year Don Schumacher allowed me to use some of his stuff from time to time, and that really helped me towards the end of the year.  I think there was just a great group of people involved with my old car, and we're very excited to be in the position we're in, and hopefully we can continue with our ride.

"I really think it's a carry over from last year.  At the Finals at Pomona we were the fastest car down the track more than once and just got beat in the semis by a little bit.  At Reading (Pa.) we ran good, at Richmond (Va.) we ran good, and at Dallas we were No. 1 qualifier and ran good.  So I just figured what I did wrong at those races and how I could better prepare myself for each round." After Funny Car driver Tim Wilkerson put his Chevy in the winner's circle at the St. Louis race in May earlier this year, it was the first time in 13 race seasons the 47-year-old owner/driver had ever sat at the top of the Funny Car points standings.  Wilkerson still occupies that same top spot as the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series enters its Countdown to 1 playoffs with the first of six races, the inaugural NHRA Carolinas Nationals at the new state-of-the-art zMax Dragway @ Concord (N.C.).  The driver of the Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevy Impala SS finished the 18-race regular season with a class-leading four wins (tied with fellow Chevy driver Tony Pedregon), a class-leading four No. 1 qualifiers, and a 137-point advantage over second-place Pedregon.

"It's just a group effort on the whole Levi Ray & Shoup team," Wilkerson said.  "The car is running terrific and the guys are just doing a great job.  We've formed a technical alliance with Don Prudhomme Racing this year, so it gives me some opportunity to have access to some equipment that I never had access to before.  In fact, last year Don Schumacher allowed me to use some of his stuff from time to time, and that really helped me towards the end of the year.  I think there was just a great group of people involved with my old car, and we're very excited to be in the position we're in, and hopefully we can continue with our ride.

"I really think it's a carry over from last year.  At the Finals at Pomona we were the fastest car down the track more than once and just got beat in the semis by a little bit.  At Reading (Pa.) we ran good, at Richmond (Va.) we ran good, and at Dallas we were No. 1 qualifier and ran good.  So I just figured what I did wrong at those races and how I could better prepare myself for each round."

As with all class leaders, Wilkerson enters the Charlotte race with his points reset to 2,090 and despite a smaller 30-point cushion over second-place Tony Pedregon, he looks forward to participating in his first Countdown to 1 after finishing 15th in the standings last year.       

"I just need to not worry about (the points lead)," Wilkerson said.  "It took me to the fifth race of the season this year to get the points lead, and I have not relinquished it since then.  And so if it takes me five to get it back; if I stumble a little and I keep going, then that's fine.  But we are not even    believe it or not, it sounds cliché - (worrying) about the Countdown or anything.  I go to each race and we decide we're going to be the fastest car down that lane at that run, and we've been fairly successful at that this year.

"So we are not going to pound our chest about how great we are.  We are going to go out there and say listen, this track is 120 degrees, and by God, we think we can go 4.15 (seconds) down it and that's what we are going to try to do.  If it's 80 degrees, we are going to try to go 4.05.  If we get it done or not, that's how we approach every run."

At Team Wilkerson Racing it's a family affair with the support of wife Krista, daughter Rachel, and sons Kevin and Daniel, from their home and race shop in Springfield, Ill.  In fact, Daniel has shown signs of following in his father's footsteps, claiming his first career Top Alcohol Funny Car victory at Memphis last year, and last month he got a big Nitro Funny Car exhibition win over Ashley Force at Norwalk Raceway Park's annual "Night Under Fire."  This year the 20-year-old continues his pursuit of an accounting degree while running a limited Top Alcohol schedule.

"(Daniel's) a special part of my program," Wilkerson said.  "Until the money is right and all that, I don't think you'll see (a second nitro Funny Car), but there have been some conversations with some other people about it.  I'm not in a position to say anything about it right now.  But it sure would be wonderful to me because he's just such a great kid, and you know he does a good job in a car.  We took him to an IHRA race this year, and was the No. 1 qualifier and had not driven in a year and got in the finals there.  We're having a good time with him and he's a special kid.  But I can't take any credit for that; he gets that from his mother."

Other drivers vying for the 2008 NHRA POWERade Funny Car championship with points leader Wilkerson and second-place Tony Pedregon in his Q Horsepower Chevy Impala SS include Tony's brother Cruz, Robert Hight, John and Ashley Force, Jack Beckman, Gary Densham, driver of the Racebricks Chevy Impala SS, Ron Capps and rookie Mike Neff.  Their six-race battle concludes at the Auto Club NHRA Finals at Pomona on Nov. 16.

"We'll continue racing the way we have all year long," Wilkerson said.  "I talked with John Force about this last week a little bit, and he is a true racer and knows how hard we work to do this.  I told him it's interesting being first.  They take you a little differently than when you were just a guy that went down the racetrack from time to time.

"Again, I'm very proud of our efforts but we need to keep our eye focused on the ball and hopefully we can come out of there    I told John, this really was his fault because everybody aspires to be like him and to be the fastest guy out there; so hopefully we can keep our momentum up and keep those others    at least nine other people there that I can tell you that would have a very good chance of winning this deal, and after Robert Hight's performance last week at Indy and now Jack Beckman's car is running good, and you can't count out the Pedregons and the other Force cars; and Gary Densham will hit you with a left hook when you're looking the wrong way.  It will be an interesting six races and hopefully we can come out on top."