Call Tim Wilkerson practical, pragmatic, or foolhardy.
 
But the owner-tuner-driver knows what is best for his Levi, Ray & Shoup Shelby Ford Mustang. And late Saturday at Bristol Dragway, that was to park it and prepare for his first-round race of the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals against Tommy Johnson Jr.
 
That decision opened the door for John Force to slam his Peak Anti-Freeze and Coolant Chevy Camaro into the No. 1 spot, the quickest among a trio of racers recording 3.9-second passes in the final session with a 3.978-second, 323.43-mph performance on the 1,000-foot course.
 
While this marked the 16-time champion's 153rd No. 1 start, it was just his first of the season.
 
Force's speed also set the track record, as three others – Matt Hagan, Jack Beckman, and Del Worsham – were faster than Worsham's year-old mark of 319.45 mph.  
 
Don Schumacher Racing Dodge teammates Hagan and Beckman posted identical 3.996-second elapsed times in that final session. No. 4 Worsham, in his DHL Toyota for Kalitta Motorsports, barely missed the three-second party with his 4.006, but he headed a group of eight racers (including birthday boy and girl Ron Capps and Courtney Force) with 4.0s.
 
Force will take his 15-8 record in 2105 eliminations into battle against No. 16 qualifier Terry Haddock as he starts his quest for an NHRA-record 144th victory and a second straight after winning last weekend at Epping, N.H.
 
And what's special to him is the progress he said he sees in the young crew he assembled in the tough and tentative off-season.
 
"I'm talking about kids here – who love ya!" Force said.
 
Perhaps Force this year has applied the wisdom of Casey Stengel. The legendary baseball manager said, "The key to being a good manager is keeping the people who hate me away from the people who are undecided." But these young mechanics, one of whom works in hospitality and traded a paring knife for a wrench, love Force because he took a chance on them. And he loves them because they stuck with him when the uncertainty of sponsors and paychecks made life at John Force Racing a little hazy for awhile.
 
"This group that rallied around me – they're the ones that made this happen," the boss said. "A team of 10 kids that put it together made me feel like I was ready to race again."
 
With Fathers Day looming Sunday and Force competing in a class with one daughter, No. 7 Courtney Force, and supporting another, Brittany Force, in the Top Fuel class as the No. 8 starter, the patriarch said a victory would be even sweeter.
 
He said his 3.9-second pass felt terrific. But he also said he knows the weather can pose a challenge as serious as any threat from a rival.
 
"Boy, that thing muscled right through there," he said of his Chevy. "I sat up in the seat. It was just truckin'. It's a great feeling. It's like when you hit a home run. Cool day for me,"
 
Just as quickly, he said, "Tomorrow we're going to be in the heat again. Different ballgame," Force said.
 
As for Wilkerson, whose 4.027-second, 318.32-mph run late Friday still was best through Q3, he said the call "was pretty simple, really. This is the third race in a row and we haven't been back to the shop. Everything we race with is in this trailer, and we don't have any teammates to go borrow stuff from.
 
"I think I could've run a 3.98 out there, but there would've been a good chance of hurting something and we don't have trailer full of race-ready parts right now. We need to get home and recharge, but for now we have to race with what we have," Wilkerson said. "Put it this way, I'd rather skip that last session and slip to sixth than win a couple of rounds on Sunday and run out of parts.
 
"We made three good laps, and we got three bonus points, so that's all good. If you want to see the glass half full," he said, "I'd say we easily could've fallen all the way to 11th or 12th if the whole class would've hit home runs. To be sixth isn't as fun as first, but we have a good race car and we can win from there. It's supposed to be pretty hot tomorrow, so my job is to figure out what I can run, in the lane I pick, at the time we get up there."

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