It almost sounds like a line best spoken by John Cleese in a Monty Python skit, but it aptly describes everything surrounding Tim Wilkerson, driver of the Levi, Ray & Shoup Shelby Mustang Funny Car, as he prepares for the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle season: Everything is exactly the same, except it's all completely different.
 
Wilkerson's marvelous run at the 2008 Funny Car championship was the most compelling story of the year, and his selection as the "Pro Driver of the Year" and "Mike Aiello Person of the Year" in on-line voting is all the illustration one needs to know just how the fan base feels about the personable driver from central Illinois. After years of toiling in the underdog role, often overlooked and under-appreciated, Wilkerson burst onto the scene as something of an overnight sensation, despite the fact it was his 13th season in the pro ranks. Again, it was exactly the same, but completely different.
 
By spending much of the '08 season at the top of the charts, before missing out on the championship on the season's final day, Wilkerson experienced the pressure and time-consuming commitments that come with contender status, and those external issues made an even greater impact due to the fact the LRS pro not only drives his car, but tunes it and owns it as well. Having been hands-on and in-command since the first day of his pro career, that was nothing new for Wilkerson, but the added crush of media and fan interest was palpable.

It almost sounds like a line best spoken by John Cleese in a Monty Python skit, but it aptly describes everything surrounding Tim Wilkerson, driver of the Levi, Ray & Shoup Shelby Mustang Funny Car, as he prepares for the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle season: Everything is exactly the same, except it's all completely different.
 
Wilkerson's marvelous run at the 2008 Funny Car championship was the most compelling story of the year, and his selection as the "Pro Driver of the Year" and "Mike Aiello Person of the Year" in on-line voting is all the illustration one needs to know just how the fan base feels about the personable driver from central Illinois. After years of toiling in the underdog role, often overlooked and under-appreciated, Wilkerson burst onto the scene as something of an overnight sensation, despite the fact it was his 13th season in the pro ranks. Again, it was exactly the same, but completely different.
 
By spending much of the '08 season at the top of the charts, before missing out on the championship on the season's final day, Wilkerson experienced the pressure and time-consuming commitments that come with contender status, and those external issues made an even greater impact due to the fact the LRS pro not only drives his car, but tunes it and owns it as well. Having been hands-on and in-command since the first day of his pro career, that was nothing new for Wilkerson, but the added crush of media and fan interest was palpable.
 
"We ran the car just like we always have, and we did our work just like we always have, but as the season went on the rest of it was kind of hard to miss," Wilkerson said. "I've been out here a long time, and any pro driver is used to doing some TV interviews and other media work, but I was a long way down the list of the top guys the reporters always wanted to talk to. All of a sudden, as we got past the midway point and we were still up there giving everyone fits, people kind of discovered me and this team. It wasn't just the media, either, because I think we finally earned our way onto the radar screens of a lot of fans, too. I think they got to know us a little better and appreciated the way we do things.

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"By the end of the year, it was getting to be kind of interesting as we tried to juggle it all, because it wasn't like my typical day was full of a lot of down-time to begin with. We're pretty busy from sun-up until it's time to get some sleep at night, but we ended up being a big story so you had to make room for all of that. It's a good thing I have such a great team around me, because everyone picked up the slack and we just dealt with it. And hey, being the center of attention because you're doing good things is a fine problem to have. It's an honor to have people interested in you, and it's way better than being anonymous because you haven't accomplished anything."
 
By the time his spectacular season was over, Wilkerson was already well on his way toward being ready for 2009, and he made it clear that the basics of Team Wilkerson would stay the same, but everything would also be different. The work ethic, dedication, and determination will remain, as will the hard-working crew and the no-nonsense attitude they exhibit. Levi, Ray & Shoup, the Springfield, Ill.-based software and consulting firm that has backed Wilkerson since 2001, is once again the team's primary sponsor, although Wilkerson is keen on making upgrades and changes that will benefit LRS well into the future. In just about every other way, however, things have clearly changed in Wilkerson territory.
 
The first major move was the formation of an alliance with Bob Tasca III, in which both teams will share concepts and data in an effort to continue battling the high-dollar multi-car teams on something approaching an even playing field. The new alliance brought with it a shift to a Shelby Mustang body, and Wilkerson added to the "new and improved" atmosphere by ordering a pair of new chassis from Murf McKinney, both three-rail cars although one was built in a standard set-up while the other features front suspension.
 
"The Tasca thing was pretty much a no-brainer after we got to talking about it," Wilkerson said. "We both can help each other, and he's got some talented guys over there, like Chris Cunningham and Marc Denner, so it's always good to have extra eyes, extra data, and extra ideas. With it, we made the shift to the Shelby Mustang, and that's a very different thing for us too. It's a nice piece, and the laps we've made have been really encouraging, so I'm pretty optimistic about all of it. Putting new pipe under a new body might be a good way to get confused, but we wanted the safest and the best car available, so that wasn't really an option. We have that now, and we think the car with the suspension might have a real future, too, so it's all good.
 
"Off the track, we probably made some bigger changes than we ever have, and that's all part of what we accomplished last year. There's no getting around it that we took our performance to a new level, and I felt it was probably time to do that with the whole program as well, especially in the hospitality area. LRS has done a great job using our pitside hospitality to drive business and keep customers happy, but we've never had anything that rivaled what you see up and down the pit lane. This year, we will. By Phoenix, we'll have our new hospitality center up and running, and it's a huge step up. We've hired new people, for the hospitality deal as well as marketing, PR, and management, and all of this is just a way of confirming that we're not playing at the same level anymore. If we're competing against the big-time teams, it's time to play in the big leagues."
 
Same guy. Same attitude. Same outlook. But, with a nod to what he was able to do in 2008, Tim Wilkerson has taken the steps to make it all new and improved, knowing his newfound celebrity and nicely enhanced resume' were going to change his surroundings anyway. It's all exactly the same, except it's all completely different.